For years, ‘living like royalty’ has been the phrase by which ordinary people have focused their hopes and dreams.
But with the Queen’s decision to spend the next two weeks away from the splendour of Windsor Castle, in the modest surroundings of Wood Farm on the Sandringham estate, that aspiration may not seem quite so inviting.
From the simply furnished sitting room where she likes to put a log on the fire, to the kitchen where she can often be found doing the washing up, this is the most unlikely of royal residences.
But it is just the way the Queen likes it.
From the simply furnished sitting room where she likes to put a log on the fire, to the kitchen where she can often be found doing the washing up, this is the most unlikely of royal residences
Every time she walks through the front door of Wood Farm, it is said that she feels as though she is coming home.
It has been that way since the late 1960s, when she and Prince Philip had the idea of turning what had been the home of the Sandringham resident doctor into a weekend bolthole for Prince Charles while he was a student at Cambridge University.
When Charles moved on, the Queen and Philip moved in, beginning a tradition that would continue for decades.
Whenever the royal couple wanted to get away from the hustle and bustle of palace life, it was usually to the unassuming Wood Farm that they escaped.
Stripped of the kind of suffocating formality of the Queen’s other homes, there are far fewer of the rituals that usually govern her life. For example, the handful of staff who accompanied them were permitted to wear ordinary country clothes rather than the scarlet-and-navy royal livery familiar from Buckingham Palace.
Whenever the royal couple wanted to get away from the hustle and bustle of palace life, it was usually to the unassuming Wood Farm that they escaped
More than anything, it was the place where they could escape the pressures of monarchy and the unceasing spotlight for a life that would not seem much different to that enjoyed by the majority of the Queen’s subjects.
And when the Duke of Edinburgh stood down from public duties in 2017, it was where he chose to spend his retirement — until the Covid-19 pandemic saw him reunite with his wife at Windsor, where he died last April.
So there is something especially poignant about the Queen’s decision to return to the house for the first time since Philip’s death. It is filled with some of her happiest memories. Each year she and Philip liked to spend a week there around Halloween, sometimes with friends but often it was just the two of them.
‘They adored the simplicity of what Wood Farm represented,’ says a courtier. ‘For the Duke, it was the light which he thought was perfect to paint by, and the proximity to the sea only a couple of miles away.
‘The Queen likes the unfussiness — the sense of getting away from it all and being able to slip out for a walk with the dogs whenever she likes.’
The Queen had longed to return to Sandringham over Christmas last year for her traditional winter break, but decided to remain at Windsor because of the surge in Omicron cases.
‘The Queen likes the unfussiness — the sense of getting away from it all and being able to slip out for a walk with the dogs whenever she likes’
It was the second year running that the pandemic had forced her to cancel her festive trip.
This came after she’d suffered a bout of ill health in the autumn, causing her to pull out of a number of official events, including the Remembrance Sunday service at the Cenotaph.
But after spending a night in hospital and resting, she was later able to resume light duties.
Now, with coronavirus restrictions relaxed, the Queen immediately began making plans for a trip to Norfolk. One reason was a wish to give the staff who ‘bubbled’ with her at Windsor a break.
Another is more significant. She will remain on the estate until after February 6, accession day, which marks the 70th anniversary of the death of her father, George VI, who passed away in his sleep while at Sandringham.
The date also heralds the start of Platinum Jubilee celebrations, which will culminate in a bank holiday extravaganza in June.
The break at Wood Farm, where many of Philip’s possessions are just as they were, will help prepare her for these coming events.
At 95, she is not alone. There’s her page, Paul Whybrew, her dresser, Angela Kelly, a footman to help with her dogs — two corgis and a dorgi (a dachshund-corgi cross) — two chefs and a housekeeper to look after her.
A chauffeur and police bodyguards are also close by.
So things can get a little crowded. The front door leads on to a hall with the staff dining area and kitchen, which was modernised five years ago, off to one side.
She will remain on the estate until after February 6, accession day, which marks the 70th anniversary of the death of her father, George VI
Beyond is the Queen’s intimate dining room, and her sitting room with its welcoming fire, where she often likes to put her feet up in the afternoons.
At the back of the property is a large saloon, often used for shooting lunches for up to 20 people.
Upstairs is the Queen’s bedroom, and another four guest rooms. Adjoining the property are around eight staff bedrooms.
‘It’s the one place where you get to see Her Majesty really up close,’ says a former aide.
‘There’s no waiting on ceremony, though — her hands are as likely to be in the kitchen sink as the housekeeper’s.’
She is likely to spend her morning catching up on her government red boxes of official papers — and the afternoons taking her dogs for gentle walks or visiting the Sandringham stud to check on the progress of her racehorses.
In the old days, she and Philip liked to invite friends for the weekend. With great age inevitably comes great loss, especially of companions, but it is unlikely the Queen will be lonely.
Even if none of her children is able to join her, some of her grandchildren are certain to. For all its simplicity, Wood Farm has always been a favourite destination for every royal generation.
It was where Prince William first entertained his then girlfriend Kate Middleton at a shooting party when both were students at St Andrews; and it is where Prince Edward enjoyed discreet weekends with Sophie Rhys-Jones before their marriage.
Tucked away at the end of a long drive and invisible from the road, it is easy to see its appeal for courting couples.
As a bachelor, Prince Charles used Wood Farm for entertaining friends, girls and hosting shooting parties.
After her separation from Prince Andrew, the Duchess of York was allowed to stay at the house for Christmas when an invitation to Sandringham was out of the question.
Decades earlier it had been the secret home of the so-called ‘lost prince’. This was Prince John, the uncle whom the Queen never knew.
The Queen cancelled her festive trip to Sandringham for the second year running because of the pandemic
Prince John, who was born in 1905, suffered from epilepsy and when his condition worsened at the age of 11, his parents, George V and Queen Mary, decided to keep their son out of the public eye.
They sent him to live with a nurse at Wood Farm, where he played with local children and kept a menagerie of farmyard animals.
The nurse took him for walks, helped him with his lessons, and kissed him good night when she tucked him up in bed.
She saw it as her duty to give Johnny the affection his parents denied him. As far as the Royal Family was concerned, however, her real job was to ensure that he was kept out of public sight.
The young prince died after a seizure at the age 13 and is buried in St Mary Magdalene church on the Sandringham estate, where the Queen usually worships on Christmas Day, and where Princess Diana — who was born nearby — was baptised.
For several years the farmhouse was home to the Queen’s physician, Dr James Ansell, before it was renovated for the student Prince of Wales.
The Queen herself first stayed there in 1968 — beginning a love affair with the property that is still going strong more than half a century later.
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