From weddings to christenings and official events, it’s clear that the British Royal Family have perfected the art of the public appearance. But what are they like when they are off duty and relaxing in one of their numerous castles or palaces?
We trawled through hundreds of archive photographs and selected our favourites, which provide a glimpse of the family through the ages at home, away from the public gaze.
Click or scroll on for a journey back in time….
Queen Victoria was just 42 when her beloved husband, Prince Albert, died in December 1861. She famously wore only black until her own death 40 years later.
This photograph of the couple, taken at Buckingham Palace just nine months before his death, reveals the quiet intimacy between the devoted pair.
Queen Victoria was the first sovereign to reside at the neoclassical palace in 1837, and she built a fourth wing to accommodate her growing family.
A gift from Prince Albert to Queen Victoria in 1852, Balmoral became a summer retreat for the couple and their family.
This photo, taken in 1868, shows the monarch with five of her nine children, including the future King Edward VII, who is sporting a kilt and sporran.
Queen Victoria stands at the front of the group, wearing the mourning dress she donned for the rest of her life following her husband's death seven years previously.
Osborne House on the Isle of Wight was Queen Victoria’s favourite residence, and she brought up her nine children there.
Designed by Thomas Cubitt, its sumptuous rooms evoke a time when Britain was at the centre of a vast British Empire.
In this image, Queen Victoria hosts a garden party with her family, with two Indian servants looking on. The monarch became fascinated by the country after she became Empress of India in 1877 and often employed Indian servants.
George (then Duke of York) and his wife, Elizabeth, Duchess of York, who would later become King George VI and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, are seen on the right of this photograph.
Alongside them is the duke’s mother, Queen Mary, and his brother George, Duke of Kent, who died in an air crash in 1942.
They stand outside the granite walls of the castle, which was designed by William Smith with significant input from Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert, who decided to decorate its interior with tartan, thistle chintzes and hunting trophies.
The future King and Queen, the Duke and Duchess of York, are seen here with their daughter Princess Elizabeth and the Duchess’ niece, Diana, at Glamis Castle in Angus, Scotland. They were attending the Golden Wedding celebrations of the Earl and Countess of Strathmore, the Duchess' parents.
The duchess spent her childhood here, and when she married the duke in 1923, they spent part of their honeymoon at the castle. It’s also where Princess Margaret was born in 1930.
The Duke and Duchess of York squeezed themselves into the ultimate Wendy house when they were gifted Y Bwthyn Bach, 'The Little House', by the Welsh nation ahead of Princess Elizabeth’s birthday on 21 April 1932.
The couple spent many happy times playing with their daughters in the mini thatched cottage, which had been assembled in the grounds of Royal Lodge near Windsor Castle. It had electric lights, hot and cold running water and a bookcase packed with tiny Beatrix Potter books.
Princess Elizabeth was just 13 years old when war broke out on 3 September 1939. Like many children living in London, she and her sister Princess Margaret were evacuated to avoid the danger of the bombing raids.
She gave her first royal address to the nation from a drawing room in Windsor Castle in 1940, as part of the BBC’s radio show Children’s Hour, in an attempt to boost the morale of children who had been separated from their parents.
The princesses spent much of their childhood at Royal Lodge on the Windsor estate, which their parents had taken over as their country home in 1932.
The décor has been updated over the years, but we get a sense of the sumptuous interiors in this charming photograph of the Queen and Princess Margaret reading in the sitting room in 1942.
The last members of the Royal Family to be home-schooled, Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret were tutored by a governess called Marion Crawford, whom they affectionately nicknamed ‘Crawfie’, and a selection of private tutors.
Both sisters were taught to play piano, although Princess Margaret was known for being the singer and pianist of the family, while Elizabeth had a greater passion for the outdoors, horses and dogs.
They are seen here in the school room of Buckingham Palace, where they were taught constitutional history, French and German.
The christening of Princess Anne was held in the Music Room at Buckingham Palace, where the late Queen’s three eldest children were baptised.
On her left are the Queen Mother, tending to an almost two-year-old Prince Charles, while standing alongside are her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, and her grandmother, Queen Mary.
Originally known as the Saloon State Room, the Music Room is divided by a series of blue scagliola columns in between mirrors and doorways, and features two cut-glass chandeliers.
Clarence House became the official London residence of Princess (later Queen) Elizabeth and Prince Philip after their wedding in November 1947. Located next to St James’ Palace, the house was built in the 1820s by renowned architect John Nash for the Duke of Clarence.
Prince Charles, aged two, is seen here in the arms of his father, the Duke of Edinburgh, while Elizabeth holds Princess Anne as they walk in the grounds of the magnificent white stuccoed mansion.
Despite only living here for five years, the couple commissioned extensive renovation works during their time here.
A beloved retreat since childhood, the royals' privately owned Scottish estate, Birkhall, is situated on the edge of Balmoral and sprawls over 53,000 acres (21.4k ha).
Prince Charles, almost three in this photo, and his sister Princess Anne, sit up in their prams to listen to the morning bagpipes, a tradition the King upholds to this day.
The King and Camilla spent their honeymoon here and, as a teenager, Charles would often visit the unpretentious pile to escape the misery of Gordonstoun, the school he described as “Colditz in kilts.”
No longer occupied by the Royal Family, Frogmore House is often used for entertaining, most notably by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex who used the venue for their wedding reception in 2018.
The stunning grounds and striking white building, just a mile from Windsor Castle, make a wonderful backdrop for this image of Queen Elizabeth II with her family, including her youngest son, Prince Edward, seen sitting up in his vintage Silver Cross pram.
Queen Victoria also had a great affection for the house. She and Prince Albert are buried in the mausoleum in the grounds.
Compared to many of the royal residences, Sandringham is well known for a much more relaxed atmosphere, and has even been described as “the most comfortable house in England”. No wonder the Royal Family traditionally spend Christmas here.
Decorated in elegant Edwardian style, a fireplace takes centre stage in this cosy reception room where Prince Edward is reading the newspaper with his father, Prince Philip, while Prince Andrew, next to Prince Charles, seems keen to try out his bow and arrow.
In 1969, the public was given rare access to the interiors of Windsor Castle in an unprecedented BBC documentary, Royal Family. The family were shown eating, chatting and laughing, even watching television.
In this photograph, Queen Elizabeth II is having lunch with Prince Philip and their children Princess Anne and Prince Charles in one of the dining rooms of the castle.
The programme was hugely popular when it was broadcast in June 1969, but was quickly banned by the Queen. It re-emerged on YouTube in 2021.
Although Buckingham Palace was not the late Queen’s favourite residence, she spent her working week there and occupied 25 rooms on the palace’s northwestern flank, which were said to offer fantastic views of Constitution Hill.
She chose the Belgian Suite on the ground floor as a backdrop for an official photo to mark her and Prince Philip’s 25th wedding anniversary in 1972.
The suite was used by the royal couple in the early days of their marriage, and Prince Andrew and Prince Edward were born there. It hosted President Obama and his wife Michelle during their visit in 2011.
A constant visitor to Balmoral since her childhood, the late Queen continued the tradition with her own family and is seen here in front of the castle with her family in kilts.
A fine example of Scottish baronial architecture, the grounds have been open to the public for years. But it wasn’t until after the death of the Queen that the public would be admitted inside the private living quarters.
In 2024, the home itself was opened for the first time since the castle was completed in 1856.
Here, Princess Anne and her then-husband, Captain Mark Phillips, are being interviewed in the drawing room of their Gloucestershire home, Gatcombe Park, by the eminent broadcaster Brian Moore. This is just before the birth of their second child, Zara, in May 1981.
The Grade II-listed nine-bedroom home in the heart of the Cotswolds was a gift from her mother, the Queen, in 1976, and is surrounded by over 700 acres (283ha).
The Princess also maintains a London residence in St James’s Palace.
Prince Charles and Princess Diana took up residence in Apartment 8 of Kensington Palace following their wedding in 1981. Their apartment is within the quadrangle that sits between Clock Court and Ivy Cottage and was one of several royal apartments within the palace.
This family photograph with Prince William, aged eight months, taken in the living room of their Kensington Palace apartment, suggests that the home was traditionally furnished, with blue patterned wallpaper, paintings and floral bouquets.
Diana, Princess of Wales, gave birth to Prince William in 1982 and Prince Harry in 1984, and is seen here in the living room of Kensington Palace at the piano, which is scattered with family photographs.
She turned the apartments into a comfy family home and converted the entire top floor into a playroom with two bedrooms, engaging the services of interior designer Dudley Poplak, who installed furnishings from luxury children’s design company Dragons.
Although the Princess struggled with her royal life, she grew very fond of Kensington Palace and nicknamed it KP.
Charles and Diana split their time between Kensington Palace and their country estate, Highgrove House, which the prince bought in 1980, a year before his marriage, as a country retreat.
Although the princess wasn’t a fan of the nine-bedroom property, which she thought was too small, she did her utmost to create happy family memories there.
She is seen here in the playground of the house with the almost two-year-old Prince Harry wearing the uniform of the Parachute Regiment of the British Army.
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