How is Sandringham House, the residence where the Royal Family spends Christmas

For the first Christmas without Queen Elizabeth II, King Charles III decided to resume the tradition, gathering all the royal family to Sandringhamthe beloved Norfolk estate where the holidays have been spent for decades.

It is a mythical place, within an estate of 8,000 hectares, near the coast, in a setting of extraordinary beauty.

Sandringham, built in 1771 by the Cornish architect Henley, it became the property of the royal family in 1862 as a country residence for the then Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII, who moved there when he married Alexandra of Denmark in 1863.

Following the death of King Edward VII in 1910, the estate passed to his son, king george v, who described it as “The place I love more than anywhere else in the world”. The estate passed to his son, King Edward VIII, but following his abdication, it was bought by his brother, King George VI, father of Queen Elizabeth.

And so, step after step, it reached King Charles III, who is now undertaking to transform the estate in the name of completely organic agriculture.

Antique black and white photograph of England and Wales: Sandringham houseilbusca

The halls of Sandringham House

The Sandringham halls, where the Queen’s first Christmas speech to the nation was recorded in 1957, have nineteenth-century style interiors: there are magnificent frescoes on the ceilings, surrounded by precious stuccos, large mirrors on the walls and precious Persian carpets on the floor.

The library

There is a library with very old volumes. The furnishings around it are mainly in wood, with a precious briar desk, leather sofas and armchairs.

Bedroom

The bedroom has a circular shape, embellished with damask curtains. The colors of the walls are neutral with some hints of green given by the decorations.

How much is the residence worth?

It is estimated to be worth £48.5 million (the equivalent of around €60 million).

Is it possible to visit it?

In 1977, the year of her silver jubilee, Queen Elizabeth opened the residence and all the property to the public for the first time. But only some parts of the park and the house can be visited: some rooms of the residence and the gardens. Tickets can be purchased on the official website: www.sandringham-estate.

SANDRINGHAM, UNITED KINGDOM – OCTOBER 03: Aerial view of Queen Elizabeth II’s Country residence, Sandringham Hall on October 3, 2006 in Sandringham, England. This Jacobean Country house is surrounded by 20,000 acres of Norfolk parkland. (Photograph by David Goddard/Getty Images)David Goddard/Getty Images

Source: Vanity Fair

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