PAGE 1 | Explore VICTORIA’S ISLAND | HERITAGE TRAIL visitisleofwight.co.uk VICTORIA’SExplore ISLAND Heritage Trail When Queen Victoria and Prince Albert chose the Isle of Wight as their favourite holiday spot in the 1840s, little did they know they’d be changing the destiny of a compact and stunningly beautiful Island forever. The creation of their family holiday home at 1890s, featured in the 2017 film ‘Victoria and Osborne brought a new status to the Isle of Abdul’ and the ITV series of ‘Victoria’ features Wight. Not only was the Isle of Wight the place the Queen and her husband buying the house where the family relaxed in private, it was also that will become their “beloved Osborne”. the location where affairs of state were managed. When on the Island, the royals enjoyed many Queen Victoria ruled her worldwide empire from of the pleasures we consider to be modern day the tranquillity of her seaside palace on the Isle holiday activities: dining al fresco, swimming of Wight, entertaining foreign royalty and visiting in the sea, visiting local attractions and simply ministers. taking time out from busy mainland life. Stays on the Isle of Wight reflected Queen Let the Victoria’s Island Trail take you on a Victoria’s private life as well as that of her role as journey across the Isle of Wight. You will visit Head of Empire. Visits with family and friends to some of the places the Queen loved alongside local scenic spots were paired with the creation lesser known locations that reveal the strong of state rooms for formal visits at Osborne. connection that the royal family had with the The Durbar Room, designed and installed by Island; both as off duty, private people and as Lockwood Kipling and Bhai Ram Singh in the heads of state. VICTORIA ON SCREEN See more at www.english-heritage.org.uk/victoria One of Britain’s most iconic monarchs, Queen Victoria has captured our imaginations for decades. From Jenna Colemans’s young Victoria ascending to the throne to Dame Judi Dench’s mournful widow, each adaptation of her life tells a different story. But beyond the many TV and film versions of this royal icon, who was the real Victoria? The wife. The widow. The mother of nine. The Empress. Victoria (ITV, Masterpiece PBS/ Netflix, 2016 Some of the scenes in Mrs Brown were filmed Osborne appears in a significant portion - ) This blockbuster period drama follows at Osborne – including Dame Judy Dench of the film. It was the first time the house’s Victoria’s accession to the throne in 1837, and swimming in the sea at Osborne’s beach, and interiors were used as a location for a feature her courtship and marriage to Prince Albert of a scene with Billy Connolly where the Queen film, and is the only one of Queen Victoria’s Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. rode a horse down Osborne’s Valley Walk. homes to be used as a location. Mrs. Brown (1997) Judi Dench was nominated Victoria & Abdul (2017) The extraordinary The Indian inspired Durbar Room with its for the Academy Award for Best Actress for true story of an unexpected friendship in elaborate ceiling designed by Lockwood her performance in Mrs Brown, which follows the later years of Queen Victoria’s (Academy Kipling is just one of the rooms to appear a heartbroken Victoria after Albert dies. The Award® winner* Judi Dench) remarkable rule. on screen, along with the opulent yellow story is based on the real relationship between When Abdul Karim, a young clerk, travels drawing room and the stunning Grand Victoria and John Brown, the cause of much from India to participate in the Queen’s Corridor. The Italianate architecture of the speculation and resentment among the Golden Jubilee, he is surprised to find favour house and its extensive grounds and views Queen’s other advisors. with the Queen herself. are also showcased. *1998, Best Supporting Actress, Shakespeare in Love. “Academy Award” is the registered trademark and service mark of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. EXPLORE THE RICH CONNECTIONS BETWEEN QUEEN VICTORIA AND THE ISLAND visitisleofwight.co.uk PAGE 2 PAGE | 8 14 Explore Explore 13 1 VICTORIA’S Cowes 2 5 East Cowes Gurnard ISLAND VICTORIA’S B 3 3 ISLAND Rew Street 2 Whippingham RYDE 12 PIER HEAD RYDE Northwood ESPLANADE A 3 0 2 Fishbourne Marks A 1 Corner 3 0 2 A 3 0 5 4 Ryde 0 Quarr Hill Binstead RYDE Wootton ST JOHN’S ROAD Spring Vale Bridge Seaview WOOTTON Porchfield Wootton Hamstead Common Newtown Parkhurst Nettlestone SMALLBROOK B 3 3 JUNCTION 4 0 Havenstreet | HERITAGE TRAIL HERITAGE Cranmore HAVENSTREET A 3 0 5 4 Norton Bouldnor 11 Ashey Yarmouth Shalfleet A 3 0 5 St Helens Cliff End Ningwood Newport 4 5 0 ASHEY B 3 3 3 A 3 0 5 Norton Thorley Thorley Street 3 Green B 3 3 Bembridge B Carisbrooke 9 0 3 4 0 1 Wellow 1 Shide B 3 4 0 Downend Five Houses Brading 9 5 Newbridge 3 3 B A 3 0 5 5 Freshwater BRADING Bowcombe Calbourne Arreton Totland 10 Blackwater Morton B 3 1 3 9 4 0 Middleton 9 B 3 Adgestone Afton Langbridge 2 2 3 Alverstone Yaverland B 3 Freshwater Bay B 3 3 2 Newchurch Chessell Horringford 4 3 Gatcombe Merstone 3 3 9 5 B SANDOWN A Rookley 3 0 5 6 Winford Hulverstone Sandown Brook LAKE Mottistone Chillerton Lake Apse Heath Moortown A 3 0 2 0 Shorwell Brighstone Limerstone B 3 3 9 9 Sandford SHANKLIN Yafford Godshill Whiteley Bank Thorncross Shanklin Upper Hyde 6 A 3 0 5 5 Roud Luccombe Chale Green Wroxall Atherfield Green B 3 B 3 2 7 3 3 Southford 9 9 7 Bonchurch Kingates Whitwell Chale 9 5 Ventnor visitisleofwight.co.uk View the interacti ve version Niton Blackgang of this map at St Lawrence A 3 0 5 5 visiti sleofwight.co.uk PAGE 3 | Explore VICTORIA’S ISLAND | HERITAGE TRAIL visitisleofwight.co.uk 1. Osborne, East Cowes | PO32 6JX 5. Blackgang Chine | PO38 2HN Designed by Prince Albert in an Blackgang Chine received the Italianate style, Osborne was royal seal of approval when the much-loved seaside home of Queen Victoria visited in August Queen Victoria, her husband and 1853 to see the skeleton of the their nine children. Osborne was whale that had washed up near a regal dwelling but also very the Needles – it was Blackgang much a private family home. It Chine’s very fi rst att racti on and refl ected the royal family’s personal taste as well as the needs of is sti ll on view today. the monarch. blackgangchine.com Long holidays at Osborne gave the family much valued ti me together; swimming, breakfasti ng al fresco and gardening in the 6. Shanklin Chine | PO37 6BW grounds, as well as the chance to take excursions across the Isle First open to the public in of Wight. 1817, Princess Victoria visited english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/osborne Shanklin Chine aged 14 in 1833 with her mother. Entry was via 2. St Mildred’s Church, Whippingham Fisherman’s Cott age (open as a PO32 6HR pub today) where local fi sherman and smuggler William Colenutt Just a short carriage ride from charged an entrance fee. According to local legend, the then Osborne, St Mildred’s Church, Princess Victoria helped herself to a prawn on the way in! Whippingham was redesigned by Prince Albert and rebuilt Queen Victoria conti nued to visit Shanklin Chine regularly when in a style considered to be in residence on the Island. more suitable for the royal shanklinchine.co.uk family. The family worshipped at St Mildred’s and Queen Victoria’s youngest daughter 7. The Royal Hotel, Ventnor | PO38 1JJ Princess Beatrice and her husband were married and buried “Nothing along the south coast will here. View the permanent exhibiti on of royal memorabilia bear comparison with it”. including a replica of Princess Beatrice’s wedding dress. In Victorian ti mes Ventnor iow.uk.com/whippingham-church became a fashionable holiday resort, partly because Sir James 3. Carisbrooke Castle | PO30 1XY Clark, Queen Victoria’s surgeon, A royal prison in the Civil War of recommended the health-giving 1642 – 1651, part of Carisbrooke properti es of Ventnor’s climate. was used as a residence by The Ventnor Hotel was re-named The Royal Hotel aft er Queen Princess Beatrice from 1912 Victoria visited and endorsed it for aft ernoon tea in 1855. You onwards. Aft er the death of can sti ll enjoy aft ernoon tea at the Royal Hotel today. her husband in 1896, she was royalhoteliow.co.uk appointed Governor of the Isle of Wight, and lived with Queen Victoria at Osborne. 8. Egypt Point, Cowes | PO31 8BP Princess Beatrice made many changes to Carisbrooke Castle, The coastal viewpoint between including creati ng a museum of local history as a memorial to her Cowes and Gurnard was one husband and commissioning an altar painti ng for the chapel to of Queen Victoria’s favourite commemorate the death of her son at Ypres in 1914. places. The Queen had an english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/carisbrooke-castle irresisti bly romanti c nature and it was from here that she enjoyed 4. The Needles | PO39 OJD the magnifi cent sunsets and a The Marconi Monument at The panoramic view of the Solent which people sti ll love today. Needles Landmark Att racti on cowes.co.uk commemorates the spot where Guglielmo Marconi set 9.