Sandringham House, where the Queen marked the eve of her Platinum Jubilee, has been the private home of four generations of British monarchs for more than 150 years.
It was also holds a sad significance for the Queen, being where her much loved father King George VI died in his sleep in the early hours of February 6 1952, triggering the start of her now record-breaking reign.
The Duke of Edinburgh also spent much of his retirement on the royal estate, living at Wood Farm, a farmhouse in Wolferton nestled in the far reaches of country retreat, enjoying the sanctuary and privacy it offered.
The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee is poignantly the first Jubilee she has marked without Philip who died just 10 months ago at the age of 99.
The monarch has been staying on the estate since January 23, reportedly at the duke’s Wood Farm, after missing her traditional Christmas break at Sandringham because of rising Covid-19 cases.
Sandringham was bought in 1862 by the then Prince of Wales, who later became Edward VII as a private country retreat, and the house was rebuilt in 1870 to ensure it was big enough for his growing family.
The prince added the ballroom, where the Queen met Sandringham Women’s Institute members, pensioners from the estate and local charities on Saturday ahead of her milestone Jubilee, in 1881.
The Queen has used the ballroom for a WI gathering in the past.
In 2002, her Golden Jubilee year, her annual January meet with her local branch had to be moved to the large reception room because the regular venue, the nearby West Newton village hall, was too cold.
The Queen became a WI member in 1943 when she was still Princess Elizabeth.
As president of the Sandringham WI, each year she usually joins members for tea and cake at a post-Christmas gathering.
The walls of the ballroom are decorated with many of Edward VII’s gifts of arms and armour from India, which he toured in 1875-6.
In 2021, a ‘Knitted Sandringham’ by 92-year-old Margaret Seaman went on display in the room, allowing visitors to view the wool replica of main house and other landmarks.
Sandringham House has hosted many glittering occasions, from visits by foreign heads of state to balls for the local landed gentry, farmers and servants, and annual shoots.
The future Edward VII even created his own time zone at Sandringham, ST or Sandringham Time.
The idea was to make the most of the winter daylight hours for shooting and so the clocks all over the Sandringham Estate were advanced by half an hour.
King George V maintained this custom during his lifetime, but King Edward VIII abolished it on his accession in 1936.
George V, the Queen’s grandfather, described the house as “Dear old Sandringham, the place I love better than anywhere else in the world”, and George VI wrote to his mother “I have always been so happy here and I love the place”.
The Queen privately owns Sandringham House and often uses it as a retreat away from London life.
Its vast surrounding estate includes 16,000 acres of farmland, 3,500 acres of woodland and 150 properties.
Sandringham is where the monarch hosted the crisis summit after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s bombshell statement that they intended to step down as senior royals in January 2020.
The royal family usually attend the Church of St Mary Magdalene each Christmas Day, greeting well-wishers who have turned out to see them, before heading home for lunch and to watch the monarch’s Christmas speech.
But, in both 2020 and 2021, the Queen remained at Windsor due to the pandemic.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge also have a home on the Sandringham estate, their 10-bedroom country mansion Anmer Hall.
