The Swiss Cottage at Osborne, Isle of Wight
Prince Albert built the Swiss Cottage between 1853 and 1854 for his nine young children. The older boys, Bertie and Alfred, played an active part in laying its foundations. Queen Victoria wrote in her journal that Alfred ‘worked as hard and steadily as a regular labourer’ and Albert paid him at the same rate.
Alpine-style chalets like this were popular in the early 19th century, but were usually built to enhance a garden’s picturesque qualities – they were placed where they could be a focal point, or themselves offered attractive views. But the Swiss Cottage at Osborne had an altogether different purpose. Hidden behind a belt of trees, it was instead built to provide a private space for the royal children to learn about the world around them, and to play at being adults and learn housekeeping, cookery, and gardening.
This was the centre of the royal children’s world when they stayed at Osborne. They grew fruit and vegetables in the gardens around the cottage, played on the miniature fort just outside it, and collected natural curiosities to display in a museum originally housed in the cottage.