Monday, September 11, 2017
Behind The Crown–Part Two
Behind The Crown–Part Two
In the last blog post - “The Crown - Part One” – we examined the movie sets that were used to portray both Buckingham Plaza and Clarence House. Today, in “The Crown - Part Two,” we will discuss Sandringham House, the Queen’s country house located in Norfolk. Today, Sandringham is where the Royal Family spends Christmas. The entire extended family gathers on Christmas Eve for dinner and then, the next day, they attend Church services on the estate.
Since we are now celebrating the Christmas season – I thought this would be the perfect time to visit Sandringham !!!
Sandringham Estate.
Since the Elizabethan Era, there has always been a house of some sorts standing on the Sandringham land, and in 1771, a new, large, white manor known as Sandringham Hall was built there. Later, Queen Victoria’s son, The Prince of Wales, aka King Edward VII, was searching for a country house for himself and his new bride, Princess Alexandra. In 1862, his duchy purchased the white manor house for the newlyweds. The Prince’s father, and Queen Victoria’s husband Prince Albert, had wanted his son to have his own estate to further the idea of the royals as being genteel landed Country Gentlemen. The Sandringham Estate was chosen in part because the shooting was excellent and also because the Norfolk landscape reminded the young Princess Alexandra of her native Denmark.
The comparison between Norfolk and Scandinavia is not an accident. Sandringham lies right off the North Sea on the area called Doggerland, which is where there once was a land bridge between England, and Scandinavia. Since the lands were once linked, it is no wonder the area reminded Alexandra of her homeland.
The royals Alexandra and Edward VII
As the young couple began having children, they quickly outgrew their new house. To make room for a larger home, the old white house was demolished, save for its Conservatory, which was incorporated into the new house.
The Garden Side: Here is the original white manor house before it was torn down. To the right of the house – you can plainly see its red brick conservatory. The conservatory was NOT torn down, but instead was kept and turned into the billiards room for Edward VII. This move was very important since the red brick Jacobean facade of the conservatory provided the design for the new Sandringham House. Later – a new, one story wing was added to the right of the conservatory/billiards room to house a bowling alley!!
A photo of the original red brick conservatory which remained from the old white house. If the conservatory had not be save - Sandringham House would look completely different today.
A rare rendering of the newly built Sandringham House, showing the then one story wing to the right of the house which housed the billiards room and the bowling alley. Later, after a fire, a second story was added onto this wing, creating what the house looks like today. This is the only photo I could find of the complete house with its original one story wing!! And I tried…trust me!!!
A side view of the new billiards room and the new one story wing that housed the bowling alley.
Queen Alexandra took this photo of her grandchildren at Sandringham House from the Garden Side – with awnings at the windows! Those beautiful trees must have died over the years. Today – the lawn on the garden side is bare of trees.
And today – from the Garden Side. The main section is on the left. In the center is the original conservatory and to the right is the wing that King Edward VII added to house the bowling alley. On top of that one story wing – after the fire - he later added the second story, along with 18 bedrooms. The second story was forever known as the “Bachelor Wing.”
The Front Side: 1870 - The view of the original house from the Front Side. The entrance to the house is under the porte cochere. To the far left is the back side of the original conservatory turned billiards room. Later, Edward VII added a new ballroom and clock tower wing – that had it’s own entrance on the Front Side. What is interesting is that the stone arched entrance seen here at the very left side is no longer there – it was incorporated into the ballroom wing when it was added. This is a very rare view of Sandringham House without the ballroom wing – again, the only one I could find!!
And today. The ballroom wing is at the far left. After Edward VII added the two wings and the 18 bedrooms to the second floor, major alterations at Sandringham stopped. Until Queen Elizabeth, that is. She had 90 rooms demolished from the over 350 rooms palace!
An aerial view of the Front Side clearly shows the ballroom wing that was added to the courtyard. Notice the backside of the long wing on the garden side – it looks very plain, even unfinished in this view!! This is the area that was damaged in the fire and 18 bedrooms were added on top of the wing.
Another aerial view of the house from the Front Side with the Ballroom. To the left is where the museum is now housed. You can also see one of the lakes in this view.
Another view of the entrance court – with the ballroom at the front center in the middle of the long facade. A larger view of the rather plain facade on the left wing. In the 1970s, Queen Elizabeth had 90 service rooms on the south side torn down to make the estate more efficient. Is it possible that these rooms were a part of this area and that is why it looks so forlorn? In the bottom very left corner –the tiny white round building is the original Victorian game larder. Sandringham was said to have the largest (or second largest) game larder in existence.
Close up stylized view of the entrance court with the Porte Cochere. Across is the Ballroom Entrance in the Clock Tower.
The Garden Side: Notice the beautiful brick work on the bowling alley wing.
A side view of the original Conservatory from the white manor house – with its three brick arches. This entrance – on an angle – was a later addition which leads to both the dining room at the left and the billiard room at the right of the door.
The north side of the original wing. The Jacobean architecture on this section is quite attractive. King Edward VII’s suite of offices opened up to this side of the house. These extensive gardens were a much later addition.
The most picturesque view of Sandringham House is taken from across its pond.
The first royals to live at Sandringham House: Seated, Mary, Duchess of York, with Prince Edward of York (later Duke of Windsor), Queen Alexandra (with Prince Henry, later Duke of Gloucester) and King Edward VII. The Duke of York, later King George V, is standing behind his mother and wife.
When Sandringham House was built by Edward VII, all the modern amenities of the day were used, including gas lights, flushing toilets, and a shower! After he saw an American styled bowling alley at another grand house, Edward promptly had one built at his own house. Years later, he had the two lanes removed in order to create a large library – something he had also seen at another house. Apparently its shelves were filled with pretty, but worthless books that had to be discarded later in order to make room for more appropriate books. Alexandra was unhappy about the loss of the bowling alleys, which she had enjoyed.
Today, the Sandringham Estate is located on over 20,000 acres and it is one of just two private homes owned by the Royal Family. When the Duke of Windsor abdicated the throne, he had to sell his personal ownership of Sandringham House to the new king, his brother Bertie. Balmoral, the Scottish estate, is the other private estate of the royals.
While Sandringham House is large with over 300 rooms – most are said to be relatively small, especially the bedrooms. Sandringham has the reputation of being a very comfortable family home. Previous generations of royals used the estate much more than it is used today, when the Queen visits only during the deepest winter months.
While the Queen stays ensconced at Sandringham from Christmas Eve until February – the holiday decorations are kept up until after she leaves. The Queen also marks the anniversary of her father’s death at Sandringham – where he indeed, did die in February of 1952. Bertie was also born on the estate at York House, along with all of his siblings. John, his tragic brother, also died there, too.
Many other royal have either been born or died at Sandringham including Queen Alexandra and her two sons Albert Victor and King George V, who all passed away there. King Olav V of Norway (a grandson of King Edward VII) was born on the estate in 1903. And famously, Diana, Princess of Wales was born on Sandringham – at Park House - where she grew up before her father moved to Althorp when he inherited his title. Today, Park House has been turned into a hotel for disabled guests by Queen Elizabeth. William and Kate live at Anmer Hall which is also on the estate, although a few miles away. Previously, Anmer Hall was the country home of the Duke of Kent.
Sandringham Estate is historically most famous for its excellent shooting and over the generations, scores and scores of royal shooting parties have been hosted there. The shoots were legendary – during Edward VII time, over 14,000 birds were recorded shot during season. Rabbits were another popular target. Nothing was wasted and birds and rabbits that were not used at Sandringham or by its guests were delivered to the hospitals and other charities. The excesses of Sandringham’s shoots are today reviled by the public.
Along with hunting, Edward was a very talented horse breeder. He established the Royal Stud at Sandringham which produced two legendary racehorses, one which won the Triple Crown in 1900. The Queen is very active in Sandringham’s Royal Stud. A new sculpture of her legendary horse, Estimate, was just unveiled in the front courtyard.
Besides sports, Sandringham’s gardens and lakes are also popular attractions and through the years, the estate land has been well cared for. Since the 1950s, over 2 million trees have been planted on the estate. King George V even planted an apple orchard there and today, its apples are prized, and the juices are quite profitable.
After King Edward VII died in 1910 his wife Alexandra continued to live at Sandringham House until her death in 1925. The then King George V and his wife Mary stayed at York Cottage all those years until his mother’s death. Normally the non-ruling spouse moves out of the royal house immediately – but since Sandringham is privately owned, the King had left the house in his will to his wife. Today, the sovereign wills the house to his heir instead.
Recently, it was reported that Prince Philip was gradually relinquishing control of Sandringham estate to Prince Charles. I do wonder what will eventually happen to all their houses. When Queen Victoria died, her heir Edward VII gave her country house Osborne House to the government. He loved Sandringham and did not want to give it up for Osborne House. Today, Prince Charles loves his own county house, Highgrove, so much and has put his entire soul into its gardens, that I can’t imagine he will sell it and move to Sandringham or Windsor when he becomes monarch. And then there is the heir-apparent Prince William. He just spent a small fortune (actually a large fortune) renovating Anmer Hall – it’s difficult to imagine he will just sell it and move on to Highgrove. I’m sure the royals have a plan for all their real estate – they just haven’t told us yet!!!!
I found an unfinished floorplan of Sandringham and added the room labels. Some of the labels may not be absolutely accurate. I tried!
Sandringham House - The Interior:
When you enter Sandringham at the courtyard – you first walk into the Entrance Hall that is attached to the Saloon, above. The Saloon has two sections: the single height Entrance Hall and the double Height Saloon section. This room once doubled as a ballroom – until the wing with the new ballroom was built. The Saloon here looks like a hunting lodge, which Sandringham really is. The gas lights and the large mantel are no longer in the present Saloon.
BEFORE: A closer view of the tall, former mantel in the Saloon.
