Beatrice and Eugenie never accepted expensive gift from Queen because of Fergie

24 May 2024 , 21:55

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Princess Beatrice and Queen Elizabeth II pictured in 2016 (Image: UK Press via Getty Images)

Princess Beatrice and her sister Eugenie never accepted an expensive gift from the late Queen - because of their mother Sarah Ferguson.

Queen Elizabeth II was known to buy expensive homes for members of the Royal Family as gifts, like she did for both William and Harry for their weddings. And it wasn’t just senior figures in the family as she also bought a home for Beatrice and Eugenie.

Back in 1997 she splashed out a huge sum for Birch Hall, a seven-bedroom Georgian mansion in Surrey, which she gave to the young royals - who were seven and nine at the time. But Beatrice and Eugenie never moved in and it sat empty for two years.

The stunning house boasts a tennis court, swimming pool and a separate two-bedroom house on the five acre site, so it sounds like it would have been the perfect home for the princesses and their mother.

The sisters never got to live in the gorgeous mansion their gran bought them (Strutt&Parker/BNPS)

But Sarah refused to move in, saying she couldn't afford the huge running and upkeep costs, reported the Mail at the time. So two years after the Queen bought it, it was sold for £1.5million with estate agents saying the sale was "due to a change of circumstance".

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It was reported that the cash was put into a trust for the sisters to access when they were older. But had they chosen to keep it and sold it themselves, they could have made a lot of cash as the value increased drastically in the following years.

In 2016 it was sold again for a staggering £4.2million. Speaking at the time of the second sale, Andrew Russell, from estate agents Strutt & Parker, told the Mail: "It is probably one of the very best of north Surrey's village houses, there's not many that come on the market.

Sarah reportedly decided against moving in due to the living costs (Getty Images for amfAR)

"The house itself is a very attractive and imposing-looking property. Some of the rooms are really quite dramatic, with high ceilings and full floor to ceiling sash windows. Every summer the owners have opened up the gardens for a charity event with picnics and a live band, so the house is quite prominent in the village.

"The owners bought it from the trustees acting for the Queen in 1999. The trustees bought it in 1997 for the princesses and I imagine it was chosen because it's a pretty house in a popular village and the gardens are a real draw, it's more like parkland. But they never moved in."

Beatrice married her boyfriend Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi in a secret lockdown wedding in Windsor in 2020, with the late Queen and Prince Philip among the small group of guests who were allowed to attend under the Covid 30-guest limit restrictions.

Tim Hanlon