Queen Victoria's summer home, Osborne House, stands on the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom. The house, built between 1845 and 1851, was a retreat for the royal family, designed by Thomas Cubitt, the same architect responsible for the main façade of Buckingham Palace. The house was built in the style of an Italian Renaissance palazzo - a choice that made sense in 1845, as Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert were admirers of Italian culture, but might raise an eyebrow today.
Times change, though the house remains much as it was, dressed in Italianate splendor. For Queen Victoria, it was a refuge where she could play host and absentee monarch all at once, writing her own rules in every room. Osborne has many names - a vacation house, a summer villa, a royal retreat - but one thing never changed: the Italians it was built to imitate. King Edward VII, who did not enjoy Osborne, presented the house to the state on the day of his coronation.
Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons
Written by Nicolo Ciampini
Discuss this with the author and others
No comments yet. Be the first to start the conversation.