As Princess Beatrice celebrates her 36th birthday today, she is likely to be showered with lavish gifts.
Her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi is sure to spoil her with some delightful gifts, but nothing can beat a special present she once received from her late grandmother, the Queen. The monarch was known to spoil her grandchildren and gifted both Prince William and Prince Harry stunning homes for their wedding anniversaries.
It seems that the Queen extended the same generosity to Beatrice and her younger sister, Princess Eugenie. In 1997, she reportedly gave the sisters, then aged just seven and nine, Birch Hall – a seven-bedroom Georgian mansion in Surrey.
The beautiful property features a tennis court, swimming pool and a separate two-bedroom house on the five-acre grounds, making it an ideal home for the princesses and their mother Sarah Ferguson. However, Beatrice and Eugenie never moved in and the house remained empty for two years.
This was reportedly because Fergie refused to move in as she found the huge running and maintenance costs prohibitive, according to the Mail. So the property was sold two years after the Queen bought it, with estate agents attributing the sale to “a change of circumstances,” reports the Mirror.
The money was reportedly put into a trust fund that the sisters could access when they were adults. Andrew Russell of Strutt and Parker gushed about the sale to the Mail: “It’s probably one of the very best village houses in north Surrey, there aren’t many of those on the market.”
“The house itself is a very attractive and imposing property. Some of the rooms are really quite spectacular, with high ceilings and floor-to-ceiling sash windows. The owners bought it in 1999 from the Trustees acting for the Queen.
“The trustees bought it for the princesses in 1997 and I presume they chose it because it’s a lovely house in a popular village and the gardens are a real attraction, it’s more like parkland. But they never moved in.”
But this was not the end of Queen Elizabeth’s generosity towards Beatrice, her fifth grandchild.
For her intimate wedding to Edoardo in July 2020, which had to take place on a smaller scale due to Covid restrictions, Beatrice wore a vintage treasure straight from the Queen’s private collection.
The dress was a Norman Hartnell original that the Queen had previously worn to glamorous events in the 1960s. To complete her look, Beatrice chose Queen Mary’s diamond-encrusted tiara, which is not only stunning but is also steeped in royal history, having adorned the Queen herself on her own wedding day.
Royal expert Penny Junor shared a heartwarming insight, saying: “It’s really touching that the Queen has shown so much solidarity with her, especially with the tiara she wore herself at her wedding. It speaks volumes. I think it shows how much her grandparents care about her, it’s really heartwarming.”
