Sunday, April 28, 2024

Frogmore House Historic House Palace in Windsor, Windsor and Maidenhead

frogmore house and gardens

The Queen had a passionate interest in botany and introduced over 4,000 trees and shrubs to create a picturesque landscape. The income from your ticket contributes directly to The Royal Collection Trust, a registered charity. The aimsof The Royal Collection Trust are the care and conservation of the Royal Collection, and the promotion ofaccess and enjoyment through exhibitions, publications, loans and educational activities. Frogmore is rarely open to the public, but over three dates – each in aid of a different charity – it will be possible to visit the house and its surrounding gardens. On 30 August, proceeds will go to the National Garden Scheme, while 31 August will support the Mothers’ Union, a charity that supports families in difficulty worldwide, and 1 September will be in aid of Guide Dogs.

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Visiting with children

The House and its surrounding grounds will be open to the public for the first time since 2019, as part of a series of charity garden open days. Queen Charlotte – that’s the Queen from Bridgerton – lived in Frogmore House for a period with her unmarried daughters, and treated it as a welcome escape from the social pressures of court. They practiced painting, drawing, needlework and, notably, botany, and the gardens around the house remain spectacular.

Visitor Information Centre

It is important to mention however, that much of the contents of Frogmore House were sold after the death of the Queen, after which the house passed into the ownership of her daughter, Princess Augusta. Following the death in turn of Princess Augusta in 1840, the Crown bought the Frogmore estate and it was granted to Queen Victoria’s mother, Victoire Duchess of Kent the following year. However, the estate’s roots reach further back into the previous century, with the building of Frogmore House, whose occupants left their own mark upon the estate. Frogmore House remains a popular choice within the Royal Family today, also having been the place where the future George VI and Queen Elizabeth spent part of their honeymoon. The interests and talents of several generations of the royal family influenced Frogmore's interior as you see it today.

Windsor Duck Tours

Frogmore House is only open on a select number of days each year – these days are Charity Open Days with all proceeds from entry tickets going to the selected charity. In 1792 the house was purchased by George III for Queen Charlotte, who planted many unusual botanical specimens in the garden. The house was said to be a favourite of Queen Victoria, King George V and Queen Mary. A more detailed history can be found at the Official Royal Website – Frogmore House page. Frogmore’s garden was commissioned by Queen Charlotte in 1792 as an exercise in the fashionable picturesque style. Today, it retains its picturesque combination of serpentine lake, island and follies, topped up with later royal additions.

Architect designed 'Domestead' for a young woman

frogmore house and gardens

In consideration of other visitors, mobile phones must be switched off inside Frogmore House. Some items, such as large items of baggage, backpacks, pen-knives and scissors will have to be checked in and reclaimed at the end of the visit. Next to the house is the Royal Mausoleum, built by Queen Victoria, and in which she and her husband Prince Albert are buried.

Tickets are £10 and can be bought directly from the charities or at the gate to the garden, in cash (under-fives go free). The design and planting scheme of the gardens today incorporates additions made under the direction of Queen Victoria and Queen Mary, as well as a number of trees and shrubs added to mark Her Majesty The Queen's Silver Jubilee in 1977. Today, visitors can enjoy gentle garden walks and views of Queen Victoria's Tea House and the 18th-century lake. For the first time since 2019, Frogmore House and Garden, the charming royal retreat set within Windsor Castle's magnificent Home Park, will open to the public for three days as part of the annual charity garden open days. Several of the Duchess’s rooms may be viewed today, including her Sitting Room, which she used for reading and writing, together with her Drawing and Dining Room, the latter being in the space formerly used to accommodate Queen Charlotte’s Library. It is pleasant to note that a piano is still in the Duchess’s Sitting Room today, which bears a strong resemblance to the instrument in the watercolours made after the Duchess’s death.

Built in the 17th century, Frogmore House became a royal residence in 1792 when it was purchased by Queen Charlotte, the wife of George III. Since then, successive monarchs have enjoyed the tranquil surroundings and delightful interiors. Although it is no longer an occupied royal residence, Frogmore House is frequently used by the Royal Family for private entertaining. Of the interiors within Frogmore House, much remains that commemorates Queen Charlotte, chiefly in the room known as the Green Pavilion which has portraits of many of her immediate family and the so-called Mary Moser Room, named after the artist.

From 1866 to 1872, the house was lived in by Queen Victoria's third daughter, Princess Helena, and her husband, Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein before they moved to the nearby Cumberland Lodge. She visited regularly during her long widowhood and is buried in the mausoleum on the grounds alongside Prince Albert. She added the gothic Tea House and white-marble Indian Kiosk to the garden and used Queen Charlotte's Gothic ruin as a breakfast and reading room. It became a royal residence in 1792 when it was bought by George III’s wife, Queen Charlotte. The creation of the gardens at Frogmore House in the Home Park at Windsor Castle played a central part in Queen Charlotte’s activities there after its purchase in 1792.

Many people who fit the bill have come to see the house, but it has also attracted a wider range of potential buyers like a chef who would use it entertain, and other business people who are interested in the home as a piece of art. "It has like this wild garden feel, but very, like sophisticated in a way. It's all native plants and trees and like fruit trees, everywhere," Putnam said. The toilets in the car park at the entrance to Home Park (located off the Long Walk) are at the very start of the visit; there are also full toilet facilities available outside the House. Pushchairs will need to be checked in and collected at the end of your visit.Baby care facilities are available in the disabled toilets both in the car park and outside the House.

There is parking available at the site, alternatively there are various car parking facilities in the town of Windsor that are within a 5 to 15 minute walk of the house. The house continued to be in use by the royal family for entertaining, and has been used as a venue for wedding receptions for figures such as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in 2018. Standing in the Home Park of Windsor Castle, the gardens at Frogmore House have been an enduring attraction for monarchs and their families since the house was purchased by Queen Charlotte in 1790. Gambino said the Glassell Park area where the home is located is popular among artists, musicians and actors.

Other memorials include a cross in memory of Baron Stockmar and a Swiss Seat, which was recently restored and bears the initials “E.R”. Also at Frogmore is the grave of the Duchess of Kent’s beloved dog Sambkin, marked by a simple stone. This place was later renamed Amelia Lodge – following the birth of the Queen’s fifth daughter Princess Amelia.

However, the gardens also formed the setting for receptions and in particular, for the Frogmore Fete of 1795. The Gothic ruin of Princess Elizabeth, designed with the assistance of James Wyatt, survives today. The historic plantings, including tulip trees and redwoods, provide a rich setting for the garden's seasonal variations. A 18th-century summerhouse in the form of a Gothic ruin is covered in wisteria in the summer, and a teahouse made for Queen Victoria are both still standing. Queen Charlotte had an extensive collection of books, including a botanical library, which spanned across several rooms at Frogmore.

The queen had some 4,000 trees and shrubs planted to shape the landscape, and more alterations were undertaken by Queen Victoria, George V’s wife Queen Mary, and the current Queen. Victoria, Prince Albert and Victoria’s mother the Duchess of Kent are all buried in the estate’s grounds. Built in the 17th century, Frogmore House became a royal residence in 1792, when it was obtained by Queen Charlotte. The Royal Collection Trust describes the house as, ‘A favourite royal retreat for more than 300 years’. Famous former residents include Abdul Karim, Queen Victoria’s servant and confidant, as well as Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna, King George V’s relative who fled the Bolshevik revolution.

Please note that the Royal Mausoleum is not open to visitors but the external areas are included as part of a tour. The three charities that will benefit from the proceeds of the open days in Her Majesty The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee year are the National Garden Scheme on 30 August, Mothers’ Union on 31 August, and Guide Dogs on 1 September. Set amidst the extensive Home Park of Windsor Castle, Frogmore House is surrounded by fine and picturesque gardens. The grounds so beloved of Queen Charlotte and Princess Elizabeth came to be filled with memorials to Queen Victoria’s family. These include a sundial commemorating the accession to the Belgian throne of the Queen’s uncle, Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, and smaller memorials such as a fountain to the Queen’s ghillie, John Brown and an Indian Kiosk.

The 35-acre gardens are only a mile from Windsor Castle, but their hush and emptiness are a million miles from Windsor’s pomp and circumstance – and its tourists. Frogmore is off-limits to the public, except for one day later this month, when it opens for charity. In 1997, following the decommissioning of the Royal Yacht Britannia, Prince Phillip, The Duke of Edinburgh furnished what had previously been Queen Charlotte's library and the Duchess of York's dining room with a selection of items from the vessel. James Wyatt was George III's favourite architect and he was tasked with making the necessary changes. Within 3 years, Wyatt had extended the second floor and added single-story pavilions to the north and south of the garden front. The fronts were linked by an open colonnade, a row of evenly spaced columns supporting a roof.

Nearby is a circular, colonnaded mausoleum for Queen Victoria’s mother, the Duchess of Kent, who lived at Frogmore. Your visit ends in the Britannia Room which is furnished with a selection of items from the Royal Yacht Britannia. When the much-loved vessel was decommissioned in 1997, Prince Phillip, The Duke of Edinburgh arranged for the items to be moved to Frogmore. Queen Charlotte died in 1818 and left the house to her eldest unmarried daughter, Princess Augusta, who lived at Frogmore until 1840. From 1709 to 1738 the house was leased by the Duke of Northumberland, son of Charles II by the Duchess of Cleveland. Following the death of the Duchess of Northumberland in 1738, Frogmore had a succession of occupants, including Edward Walpole, second son of the Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole.

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