A look through nearly a century of the Queen’s interiors and gardens
The building the Queen was born in – on Mayfair’s Bruton Street, just off Berkeley Square – is no longer there, having reportedly been demolished by developers before the Second World War; it is now home to an office block and a Rolls-Royce and Bentley dealership. The other buildings that she lived in, however, have fared somewhat better, from the Surrey house the then-Princess Elizabeth and Phillip rented before their marriage in the 1940s to, well, Balmoral and Sandringham. On occasion, the Queen allowed photographers into her residences, offering a window into some of the private spaces in which she lived and worked over the years.
Lisa Sheridan/Getty Images1/12The Princess Elizabeth (left), aged ten, with a six-year-old Princess Margaret and their pet dogs in the grounds of Windsor Castle in June, 1936.
Lisa Sheridan/Getty Images2/12The Queen, then Princess Elizabeth, pictured under a syringa bush on the grounds of Windsor Castle on 8 July 1941. She was, at this time, the heir presumptive – the first in line to the throne, provided her parents didn’t have a son before she became Queen. Which, of course, they didn’t.
Topical Press Agency/Getty Images3/12The Princess Elizabeth (left) and Princess Margaret working on their allotment in the grounds of Windsor Castle, 11 August 1943. They are taking part in the government’s ‘Dig For Victory’ campaign, promoting self-sufficiency at the height of the Second World War.
Keystone-France/Getty Images4/12The Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret (second right and right respectively) at a garden party at Sandringham with their parents, George VI (left) and Elizabeth, the future Queen Mother (second left), on 14 July 1946.
Universal History Archive/Getty Images5/12After their wedding in 1947, Princess Elizabeth and Prince Phillip rented Windlesham Moor, a country house near in Surrey, until 1949 when they moved to Clarence House in London. The Victorian house was owned by Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the deputy ruler of Dubai, until his death in 2021.
Getty Images6/12A picture taken on July 20, 1949 at Windlesham Moor showing Princess Elizabeth, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh with their new baby – Prince Charles.
Hulton Archive/Getty Images7/12The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh in Balmoral in September 1976, with one of their corgis. The Queen owned Balmoral personally, having inherited it ultimately from Queen Victoria via her father, uncle, grandfather and great-grandfather, Kings George VI, Edward VIII, George V and Edward VII. It is not part of the Crown Estate, which includes Windsor Great Park, much of the UK’s foreshore, and a large swathe of Regent Street and St James’, among other assets.
Hulton Archive/Getty Images8/12The Queen leafs through a book with Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, at Balmoral, 1976.
Keystone/Getty Images9/12In another photo taken at Balmoral, this time from 1972, the Queen sits at her personal writing desk.
Fox Photos/Getty Images10/12The Queen and Prince Philip posed with Prince Andrew (left) and Prince Edward in the gardens at Balmoral to mark their Silver Wedding anniversary in September 1972. Balmoral’s estate is huge; the gardens make up just a small part of its 50,000 acres, which include grouse moors, farms and managed forests home to herds of deer and Highland cows.
JOE GIDDENS/Getty Images11/12Sandringham in Norfolk was another of the Queen’s most famous residences. In 2022, she hosted an event anticipating those of this week centred on the Platinum Jubilee, offering a peek into the house’s ballroom, which is decked out with historic, decorative weaponry including daggers, sabres and shields. Traditionally, the Queen spent February in Sandringham, where she marked the day of her accession to the throne (6 February), the day her father died.
WPA Pool/Getty Images12/12Windsor Castle is one of the most famous royal residences in the UK; here, in the Castle’s Oak Room in February this year, the Queen can be seen feeding one of her Dorgis (a Dachshund crossed with a Corgi) called Candy, while looking over memorabilia from her previous jubilees.
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