Royal Lodge

Royal Lodge stands in Windsor Great Park, half a mile north of Cumberland Lodge and 3.2 miles south of Windsor Castle. The house has been on the site since the 17th century, with the present building dating from the 19th century. It was expanded in the 1930s for the Duke of York, later King George VI. The house has about 30 rooms, including seven bedrooms, and a Royal Chapel built in the 1820s. Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother lived there from 1952 until her death in 2002. The house has strong royal connections. King George VI and Queen Elizabeth raised their daughters, Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret, there. The Queen Mother continued to use it as a country retreat after her husband’s death. In 2018, the wedding reception for Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank was held at Royal Lodge. The Duke of Windsor left from there after his abdication in 1936. The grounds include a miniature cottage, Y Bwthyn Bach, gifted to Princess Elizabeth in 1932. A visitor finds a modest, informal house set in 98 acres of grounds. The main building has two-storey wings and a surviving conservatory from the 1840s. The chapel, less than a hundred yards away, was built in 1825. The grounds follow a plan created in the 1930s by the Duke and Duchess of York with Sir Eric Savill. Two lodges mark the entrance, and groups of cottages stand nearby. The house remains a private residence, blending into the landscape of the Great Park.