Sandringham House: Inside the Royal Family’s New Year's residence - worth a huge £48.5m
NEW Year's Eve is almost upon us and many Britons will be lucky enough to spend the celebration at home with their families this year. The Royal Family, however, has cancelled celebratory plans due to Covid. But, the family usually gathers in Sandringham House in Norfolk for the occasion. What is the residence like inside?
Sandringham House: Aerial views of the royal Norfolk estate
The Royal Family traditionally spends every Christmas and New Year at Sandringham House on the Queen’s Sandringham estate in Norfolk. This custom began in 1988 due to Windsor Castle being rewired. Previously, when Prince Charles and his siblings were small, Christmas was spent in the Castle.
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This week, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and their three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis, would usually be among those participating in the festivities at Sandringham.
The family of five even have their own residence on the Queen’s Norfolk estate, called Anmer Hall, but they would have joined Her Majesty and other family members for Christmas Day and again later this week for New Year's Eve.
All royals staying at Sandringham House would usually attend the service at the local chapel on Christmas Day.
It is unclear what the family will be doing on New Year's Eve, but it is not expected they will gather at Sandringham due to the Omicron Covid variant.
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But what does Sandringham House look like?
Worth a whopping £48.5million, the property has been renovated and refurbished since it was built in Elizabethan times.
Original parts of the house date back to the late 16th century.
It was one of the first houses in England to have gaslights, flushing toilets, and working showers.
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The exterior of the mansion is made of red brick and features a large courtyard and green lawns on either side.
Inside, it has retained its Edwardian design and is filled with dark brown wooden furniture, patterned carpets, and large paintings on the walls.
However, the house’s dining room has evolved over the years, with the walls being painted from a light shade of cream to a pale hue of Braemer green.
Spanish tapestries also adorn the walls.
At the centre of the room is a small table which seats six people.
On Sandringham’s official Instagram account, a post explained the table can be expanded to fit a larger group of people. It read: “Queen Victoria’s mahogany table sits pride of place in the dining room at Sandringham.
“Expanding to seat 22 it was brought back by her son King Edward VII from her residence on the Isle of Wight – Osborne House.
“The King and family would typically eat around 12-14 dishes at Christmas time around this table.”
The drawing room, on the other hand, has cream-coloured walls and a beautiful high roof decorated with colourful paintings, such as of a gold pheasant.
Sandringham House revealed on its Instagram: “The golden pheasant in the Drawing Room keeps a beady eye from his striking trompe l'oeil ceiling panel perch.
“Queen Victoria in her journal in 1871 described this room as a ‘very long and handsome drawing room’.”
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Meanwhile, just off the drawing room is a smaller room known as the music room.
This room has a piano with a small stool, as well as large glass windows looking out towards freshly-cut gardens and trimmed trees.
An impressive room with wooden panelling, balcony, curves, and columns, Sandringham House also has a saloon.
Multiple coats of arms line the back wall, as well as a portrait of the Queen and a photograph of various members of the Royal Family standing and sitting next to one another.
In an Instagram photo of the room, a wooden piano is also seen with framed black and white photographs on top of it.
Like in many of the rooms in the royals’ properties, houseplants are dotted around the space, elevating the place with a splash of green.
