As royal residences go, Adelaide Cottage has neither the proportions nor grandeur of its larger, more illustrious neighbour.
But what it lacks in stature, this picture-postcard cottage standing in the shadows of Windsor Castle more than makes up for in its intriguing role in one of the best-known love affairs of the 20th century.
For back in the years following the Second World War, Adelaide Cottage was the grace-and-favour home of Group Captain Peter Townsend.
He, of course, was the dashing RAF pilot and later equerry to King George VI who would precipitate a scandal, becoming the divorced lover of Princess Margaret.
Princess Margaret, pictured centre, had a scandalous affair with Group Captain Peter Townsend, pictured left, wearing sunglasses at the Farborough Air Show
Adelaide Cottage is only a short walk from Windsor Castle and is on the 655 acre estate
Back when it was built in 1831 by King William IV for his wife Queen Adelaide, the cottage was a day retreat for the royal couple.
Although it seemingly fell out of favour with the queen after the death of her husband in 1837, it remained a popular destination for breakfast or tea with his successor, the young Queen Victoria.
So popular, in fact, that a new private carriageway was created for her. Not only that, her beloved King Charles spaniel, Dash, was buried in the grounds.
But the most intriguing interlude in the cottage’s history came with the appointment of Peter Townsend to the King’s staff.
The Battle of Britain pilot was married to Rosemary and had a toddler son, Giles, and another, Hugo, on the way, when he was made the King’s equerry in February 1944 and granted the use of a grace-and-favour property, tucked behind a ten-foot privet hedge, within walking distance of the ‘office’.
Adelaide Cottage became the first proper marital home for Townsend and his wife after three years of wartime marriage – though back then it was far from a glamorous proposition.
Power was delivered along cables running from Windsor Castle, but the current was so poor it could only support a vacuum cleaner and a small electric heater at any one time.
King George VI, pictured left with the then Princess Elizabeth, appointed war hero Townsend as his equerry and allowed him to stay in the cottage
The inside of the cottage was apparently a gloomy affair, decorated with Victorian wallpaper and heavy furniture, which might explain why one 1950s commentator described it as ‘poky and unattractive’. Not that it deterred a certain young princess – and her family – from visiting.
When Townsend’s second son was born, King George VI was named the boy’s godfather and the christening tea, with two princesses in attendance, was held at Adelaide.
As a 1950s report from this newspaper would later remark: ‘It was the first of many Sunday visits. Princess Elizabeth liked to chat with Rosemary, while Princess Margaret played with the children on the lawn and Peter Townsend, off duty, sat back in a deckchair.
‘Sometimes the King and Queen arrived to collect their daughters, more often Peter ran them home himself. Princess Margaret never came to Adelaide Cottage
