Sometimes seen as a Queen who spent most of her reign in mourning, a lighter side of Victoria will be seen with her private beach at the Isle of Wight being opened to the general public next week. This beach is at Osborne House, the former monarch’s seaside estate. Victoria and Albert bought the Osborne estate in 1845 as an escape from court life at London and Windsor.

A special feature of this occurrence is that the original wooden bathing machine, which ran down a ramp into the sea and from which Victoria would emerge in her swimming suit, hidden from the public eye, has been returned to the beach. It is more elaborate than most of those used by aristocratic ladies in the 19th century and even has a plumbed-in toilet as well as a changing room and a verandah with curtains. The queen would enter at the back and change into her “costume” and the machine would roll forward on a runway in to the water. She would then emerge on to the curtained verandah, from which she went down the steps into the water. After Victoria’s death in 1901, the bathing machine was removed from the beach and later used as a chicken shed.

Left : Queen Victoria’s Bathing Contraption. Right : The Palatial Osborne Estate, Isle of Wight

It was here that Victoria first swam. Her journal describes the experience thus -  ”I thought it was delightful till I put my head under water, when I thought I should be stifled.” Victoria often rode to the beach on her highland pony or walked. Osborne House was her retreat from the Buckingham Palace, a site that all and sundry will now be able to visit and explore!

That latter option will be available to visitors, as will a minibus. The beach will remain open from 27 July until 4 November.