feature
Island Life - June/July 2010
owner’s initials are in a thatched
under the water, when I thought I
Queen ordered the Prince’s belongings
summerhouse near the cottage.
should be stifled”, she wrote after her
to be left exactly as they had been
first dip on 30 July 1847.
when he last used them, a photograph
Edward VII wrote later that he spent
many happy hours in the cottage and
Osborne House had to be enlarged
of his corpse was hung a foot above
for the fifteen years before Albert’s
to accommodate visiting royalty and
her bed and hot water and a clean
death, Osborne was a happy family
the Queen’s large household as a
nightshirt were laid out for him every
home. The children learned to swim
procession of prime ministers, foreign
evening.
from the private beach in a ‘swimming
dignitaries and ambassadors crossed
bath’ designed by the prince and
the Solent to visit the Queen. When
life – John Brown, the handsome,
protected by a wood and zinc grating
the family and their guests gathered in
red-haired ghillie chosen by Albert
suspended between two pontoons in
the Renaissance Rococo style drawing
years ago, who coaxed her out of
the sea.
room for music and games, the guests
her melancholia and was resented
commented on the informality of these
by the family and courtiers when he
butterflies, to collect antiquities
occasions. The Queen often played
was raised to the position of indoor
and curiosities, besides geological
billiards after lunch with her ladies in
personal servant. Mr. Disraeli often
specimens and shells that were kept in
waiting, so different to the image of
visited Osborne and the Queen picked
the chalet until the collection grew so
Victoria’s court in London.
primroses, his favourite flower, in the
He taught them to fly kites, to catch
large a museum had to be built next
door.
The Queen’s bathing machine, a green
These happy family gatherings with
the royal couple’s children Victoria,
But new characters appeared in her
woods to send to him in London.
It was Disraeli who made her Empress
Edward, Alice, Alfred, Helena, Louise
of India in 1876 although she never
hut on cart wheels with an ornate
Arthur, Leopold and Beatrice ended
visited the subcontinent. A series
canopy, still stands on the beach. “I
abruptly when Prince Albert died of
of paintings were commissioned to
thought it delightful til I put my head
typhoid in 1861. Heartbroken, the
represent the Indian people in their
60
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