Sandringham House

Sandringham House is a stately home on 8000 acres of land near the village of Sandringham, Norfolk, owned by the British Royal Family.

The site has been occupied since Elizabethan times, and in 1771 architect Cornish Henley cleared the site to build Sandringham Hall. The hall was modified during the 19th century by Charles Spencer Cowper, a stepson of Lord Palmerston, who added an elaborate porch and conservatory.

In 1861, the hall was purchased by Queen Victoria at the request of the Prince of Wales (the future Edward VII) as a home for himself and his new bride Alexandra. In 1865 however, two years after moving in, the hall's size proved insufficient for the prince's needs, and he commissioned A J Humbert to raze the hall and create a larger building.

The resulting red-brick house was completed in late 1870 and stands largely unchanged to this day. The architecture is unremarkable, but it was ahead of its time in other ways, with gas lighting, flushing water closets, and even an early form of shower. A region of the house was destroyed in a fire during the preparations for Prince Edward's 50th birthday in 1891, and later rebuilt.

The estate has long been a favourite of the Royal Family, who still spend each New Year in the house. It is also an excellent location for shooting, with tens of thousands of pheasants and partridges killed there each year.

The estate is also home to York Cottage, built by Edward VII soon after he moved in, and a favourite of George V. Anmer Hall on the grounds is a Georgian house that has been the country home of the Duke of Kent since 1973.

Both George V and George VI died at Sandringham.