Sandpipers
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Recent History
In the nineteenth century the Island was transformed by the coming of the railways. Queen Victoria took advantage of the island's new accessibility by using Osborne as her retreat. Affairs of the state soon followed her and the modestly furnished family home had to be enhanced with apartments where she could receive foreign heads of state. However, her children enjoyed many hours and a great deal of freedom at Osborne as a visit to Swiss Cottage will indicate. Queen Victoria's affection for Osborne added to the Island's attractions of climate and scenery, and Ryde, Sandown, Shanklin & Ventnor expanded from fishing villages to fashionable resorts.
Queen Victoria's youngest daughter, Princess Beatrice, succeeded her husband, Prince Henry of Battenburg as Governor of the Island in 1896, and regularly used Carisbrooke Castle as her summer residence. After her death in 1944 the office was left vacant until, at the request of the Island, a new Governor was appointed in 1957 - the seventh Duke of Wellington. He was succeeded in 1965 by Admiral of the Fleet, the Earl Mountbatten of Burma, a great nephew of Princess Beatrice. When the Island gained full County status under the Local Government Act in 1972, Earl Mountbatten was appointed the Island's first Lord Lieutenant as well. Since his death in Ireland in 1979, the Island has been without a governor.
Carisbrooke Castle Museum
‘It is my earnest hope and desire that with the help and co-operation of others I may be able to form a full collection of objects of historical interest connected with the Island, so that this memorial gatehouse may become a museum worthy of such an interesting castle.’
With these words, Princess Beatrice, the Island Governor and youngest daughter of Queen Victoria, on 11 August 1898 opened the museum in the gatehouse newly restored as a memorial to her late husband Prince Henry of Battenberg The exhibits related mainly to King Charles I - imprisoned in the castle for the last year of his life - and comprised personal relics, documents, prints, and armour of the English Civil War period.
Princess Beatrice's vision of an Island museum came nearer to realisation in 1911 when local archaeological collections from the old Newport Museum were acquired. As a result the castle became the focus for displays illustrating human settlement on the Island from prehistoric times. Another landmark in the museum’s history was the move in 1951 to the more spacious accommodation of the former Governor’s house, by permission of King George VI. At the same time, the Museum Trustees, with funding support from the Ministry of Works in partnership with the Isle of Wight County Council, were also able to employ a professional curator to care for the enlarged museum.
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