The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are the new owners of Adelaide Cottage, a charming four-bedroom Grade II listed house that was originally owned by Princess Margaret’s boyfriend Peter Townsend and was supposedly handed to them by the Queen.
In order to be available for the monarch in his capacity as equerry, Townsend and his first wife Rosemary resided in the grace and favor property in the 1940s.
The Townsends and their two young sons would frequently have tea with the then Princess Elizabeth, her mother Queen Elizabeth, and her sister Margaret, who was a teenager before the relationship started.
Although Margaret’s romance shocked the Establishment, the princess declared that they would not wed in 1955.
William, Kate, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis will now be living in Adelaide Cottage in Windsor’s Great Park, just ten minutes’ walk from “Gan Gan” the Queen at Windsor Castle.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex frequently stay at Frogmore Cottage when they are in the UK, yet it is unlikely that they will ever get along again given their long-standing falling out.
The Grade-II listed home was reportedly given to Harry and Meghan by the Queen immediately after their nuptials, according to a source. According to reports, the pair went for a viewing and fell in love with it, but they ultimately relocated to Frogmore Cottage before leaving the UK for good.
When pilot Townsend was appointed the King’s equerry in February 1944, he already had a young boy named Giles and another child on the way.
After three years of marriage amid the chaos of World War II, Adelaide Cottage became the Townsends’ first real marital residence.
Despite being close to the monarch’s home, the cottage’s living situation was very different from that of its more powerful neighbor.
Cables from Windsor Castle brought electricity there, but the quality of the current was so bad that only a vacuum cleaner and a small electric heater could be used at once.
According to reports, the cottage’s interior was “gloomy,” including heavy furniture and Victorian wallpaper. In the 1950s, a commentator called it “pokey and ugly.”
When Townsend’s second son was born, the Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret paid a visit, and King George VI was designated as the child’s godfather. They celebrated the boy’s baptism with a tea in the garden.
It was the first of many Sunday trips, the Daily Mail reported in 1958, recalling the event. While Princess Margaret played with the kids on the lawn and Peter Townsend, who was not on duty, reclined back on a deckchair, Princess Elizabeth enjoyed chatting with Rosemary.
Sometimes the King and Queen came to pick up their daughters, but more often than not, Peter drove them home. Princess Margaret would only visit Adelaide Cottage when Princess Elizabeth or the Queen were with her.
When Townsend was appointed, Margaret was only 13 years old, but she later revealed, “When he first appeared, I had a terrible crush on him.”
Although it is still unknown when the two started dating, the relationship came to light in 1953 when Margaret was spotted carefully removing a piece of fluff from Townsend’s lapel while watching the Queen be crowned.
The Townsends had separated the year before. It is generally accepted that Margaret started seeing Townsend before the Queen was crowned.
During a three-month State trip of South Africa that started in February 1947, the two were virtually inseparable. Margaret would have been 17 at the time, and Townsend would have been 32.
The equerry’s responsibility included watching over the young princess.
We rode together every morning in that magnificent region, in perfect weather, Margaret later recalled to a friend. That is when I truly started to adore him.
When Townsend and his wife divorced in 1952, they departed Adelaide Cottage.
The Royal Marriages Act, which prohibited any member of the Royal Family from marrying a divorcee while the ex-partner was still alive, put an end to his and Margaret’s relationship, which was portrayed in the Netflix series The Crown.
In October 1955, the Princess declared that she and Townsend would not tie the knot.
Simon Rhodes, the son of Margaret Rhodes, the Queen’s cousin and friend, most recently resided in Adelaide Cottage.
There are seven gated entrances and exits to Windsor Castle, so the newlyweds may come and leave without worrying about being photographed, according to a source who said in 2018 that the Queen had offered Harry and Meghan Adelaide Cottage.
More than 190 years ago, the land was reconstructed as a cottage orne, or adorned cottage, for Queen Adelaide, the wife of William IV, to enjoy as a getaway during the summer.
On the North Slopes of Home Park, where the previous Head Keeper’s Lodge stood, it was erected in 1831.
Historic England, the government organization responsible for maintaining England’s historic structures and sites, describes Adelaide Cottage as a “picturesque” two-story stucco-faced home with casement windows and ornate pierced bargeboards edging the roof.
The main bedroom includes a fine marble Graeco-Egyptian fireplace and a coved ceiling embellished with gilded dolphins and rope adornment recycled from the 19th-century royal yacht Royal George.
The house has a porte-cochere, a covered entrance, and the south entrance is flanked by a pair of diagonally positioned chimneys with stepped bases.
On the east side, there is a verandah with bargeboard eaves.
Because of its four bedrooms, Maria Teresa Turrion Borallo, William and Kate’s full-time nanny, will no longer reside with the Cambridges, affording them greater solitude. Other staff members, such as the maid and cook, will also go elsewhere.
The family will have easy access to the private 655-acre Home Park, as well as the network of drives, gardens, and farms on the old royal estate, as well as the neighboring trout stream, Frogmore House and Royal Mausoleum, and Queen Victoria’s Walk, which is bordered by cedar trees.
The nearby Windsor Great Park, which covers more than 5,000 acres and has a Long Walk going up to Windsor Castle, a deer park, and wooded trails in the Valley Gardens are additional advantages.
Sir Jeffry Wyatville erected the building, formerly known as Adelaide Lodge, utilizing components from John Nash’s Royal Lodge designed for the opulent Prince Regent.
The year 1831 and the initials AR (Adelaide Regina) are inscribed on its entryway.
Due to issues with it not being anchored, the Adelaide Lodge building adjacent to it is vacant and uninhabitable.
According to the Royal Collection Trust, Queen Victoria frequently stopped by the cottage for a cup of tea or breakfast.
When her beloved King Charles spaniel Dash passed away in 1840, he was buried there dressed in a scarlet jacket and blue pants.
The eloquent inscription, “Here sleeps Dash, The favorite spaniel of Her Majesty Queen Victoria,” was placed on his tomb to honor him. Reader, in his tenth year, he was devoted without being self-centered, playful without malice, and loyal without lying. If you want to be adored and have people lament your death, follow Dash’s lead.