York Cottage at Sandringham: The Ugliest Royal Residence

It was a “glum little villa,” but King George V loved living there

York Cottage on the day George and Mary moved in after their wedding on July 6, 1893

Royal residences are supposed to be grand. The magnificence of Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, Sandringham House, and Balmoral Castle set the standard. Then there was York Cottage on the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk where King George V and Queen Mary lived in cramped conditions for thirty-three years—and where King George VI and four of his siblings were born in their mother’s claustrophobic bedroom. (The eldest, Prince Edward, arrived in a suite at White Lodge in Richmond Park, a spacious and elegant eighteenth-century Palladian mansion suitable for a future king.)

“Has to be seen to be believed”

Thirteen years after King Edward VIII became the Duke of Windsor following his abdication from the throne in 1936, he advised Harold Nicolson, the official biographer of King George V, “Until you have seen York Cottage you will never understand my father.” Nicolson made a pilgrimage to York Cottage in 1949, and wrote in his diary, “It is almost incredible that this heir to so vast a heritage lived in this horrible little house.” He was followed by Queen Mary’s official biographer, James Pope-Hennessy in 1956, who noted that York Cottage “has to be seen to be believed.”

Many years later in 2019 I was fortunate to be shown around the premises by Simon Hickling, the deputy land agent at Sandringham. Much had changed since the house was converted into the estate office and flats for staff after the Second World War, but surprisingly, some features remained. It was possible to sense the atmosphere of the place in the pinched hallways and shockingly small rooms. To frame the story of York Cottage for my Royals Extra readers, I was helped by a series of rare photographs—including a vivid image of George V’s exceptionally messy office—that I am sharing here for the first time. I have also drawn from the trenchant observations of both Nicolson and Pope-Hennessy, along with letters and diaries I read while researching George VI and Elizabeth: The Marriage That Saved the Monarchy.