Princess Beatrice calls it 'the most glamorous Wendy house ever,' and for more than 90 years it has been the playhouse for four generations of royal children.
‘Y Bwthyn Bach’ (the Little Cottage), a sixth birthday gift from the people of Wales to the future Elizabeth II is hidden away from view on the south side of Prince Andrew’s home, the Royal Lodge, in Windsor Great Park.
Designed by architect Edmund Willmott, as a playhouse in the style of a Welsh-cottage, the gift showcased the skills of Welsh craftsmen at a time when the mining communities of the valleys were suffering more unemployment than any other part of Britain during the Depression of the early Thirties.
Princess Elizabeth stands outside her own miniature house which stands in the grounds at the Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park
The scaled-down version of a country house was specially built for Princess Elizabeth for her sixth birthday. It was a present from the people of Wales
Princess Elizabeth and sister Princess Margaret Rose sit on the steps of Y Bwthyn Bach, their own miniature house
The two-thirds scale thatched cottage was built using stone left over from the construction of Llandough Hospital in the Vale of Glamorgan, which was completed in 1933.
It was 24 feet long and eight feet deep and was made up of four, 5ft-high rooms – a kitchen and a ‘siamber fach’ or Little Chamber downstairs, with a bedroom and bathroom upstairs.
The inside walls were cream coloured and the curtains and carpet were in matching blue.
The house has fully functioning hot and cold running water, a heated towel rail and electricity.
It included a wireless set (complete with a licence) which could be tuned into overseas stations as well as a Magnet gas cooker, a fridge, and a washing machine with a mangle. There was even a working telephone.
The future queen’s linen was embroidered with the initial ‘E’ and her miniature blue and gold china set was displayed in an oak dresser.
The princess’s grandmother, Queen Mary, spotted a reduced sized oak cabinet, on display at the British Industry’s Fair at Olympia.
Only 18 inches high, it nevertheless contained 172 pieces of Sheffield cutlery and silverware. The house also contained a complete set of Beatrix Potter books, pots and pans, food cans, brooms, a packet of Epsom salts and a portrait of the Duchess of York - mother of Princess Elizabeth - over the oak mantelpiece.
The house also had its own front garden with reduced scale hedges and flower beds. There was also a kennel to house a real-life Welsh Terrier puppy called Lanto who came with the cottage.
The house - which had been constructed in Wales before being transported to Lodnon - was presented to Elizabeth’s parents, the Duke and Duchess of York, during their visit to Greyfriars Hall, Cardiff, on 16 March 1932.
Elizabeth was not with them since her parents wanted to keep it as a surprise birthday gift.
The keys were handed to the royal couple by schoolgirl Jean Blake, daughter of plumber and engineer William Blake who helped to construct the cottage on behalf of the 'Princess Elizabeth Model House Committee'.
In 2012 the Mail on Sunday tracked down Jean in Ontario, Canada, and she recalled: ‘It was luck that I was chosen really.
‘I was a similar age Princess Elizabeth and my dad had installed all the plumbing and electricity in the cottage and knew the architect who designed it.
‘The highlight for me was peddling round in a toy car that was also being given to Princess Elizabeth. It had a little space in the back with a small puppy sitting in it that was another gift from the people of Wales.
‘It was really difficult for adults, especially men, to get into the house easily but the Duke of York ducked down and had a look around. I can’t remember what I said to them, but I do remember they were impressed with the cottage.’
The Due of York with his daughters and their pet dogs outside the cottage. The Duchess looks out of the window
Princess Elizabeth playing with her dolls house in her miniature garden attached to her miniature house in 1936
The Illustrated London News gave a full account of the cottage, including the damage caused when it caught light on its journey from Wales to London
The Duchess of York was typically effusive about the gift declaring:
'It is simply wonderful. Why I could play in it myself. I had no idea it was so big. I thought it was a doll’s house and I had a great surprise when I found that I could actually live in it myself.!'
The Duchess took great delight in turning on the hot and cold water, switching on the electric lights and using the telephone.
The house came with its own set of deeds and fortunately on 17 February 1932, a buildings insurance policy was also taken out in the name of Princess Elizabeth of York.
This proved to be lucky since, when it was being transported on a low loader pulled by a steam engine, to take it to London for display at the Daily Mail Ideal Home Exhibition, the thatch on the cottage caught fire.
Sixty percent of the cottage was damaged including the thatch and much of the top floor.
The Daily Mail flew the architect, Edmund Willmott to London where he supervised a team of twenty Welsh craftsmen who worked day and night at Hammersmith to restore it in time to go on display. The final cost for the repair was £1,100.
After Y Bwythn Bach complete with Lanto and his kennel were displayed at Olympia, the princess and her sister Margaret were eventually allowed to play with the cottage which was erected and fitted out by some of the same team of Welsh workmen at the Royal Lodge.
It gave them and their friends years of pleasure as one childhood playmate, Myra Butter, later recalled: 'Oh, how we loved it. It was wonderful, a charming little place. Princess Margaret’s great thing was running up and down the stairs pulling the plug on the little lavatory which worked.’
Grown-ups, who had to wait to be issued with an invitation to visit, were less enthusiastic as the Queen Mother recalled at the time of her 90th birthday.
'You can imagine the children! I’ve had the most awful meals cooked in there – horrors – which you have to eat.'
The cottage featured has featured in numerous TV documentaries.
In 1980 the Queen was shown watching anxiously as her three-year-old grandson Peter Phillips, ran around inside pouring imaginary tea into cups and barging into the miniature grandfather clock.
At the time, the deeds had been handed to Lady Sarah Armstrong Jones, Princess Margaret’s daughter.
In 2008 they were passed on to Princess Beatrice, who like her grandmother, was the elder of two princesses of York. Beatrice supervised a restoration plan, paid for by her father, which included a new pale green and cream colour scheme, new curtains and upholstery, a rewiring, and a re-thatched roof. The princess also added her own teddy bears to the downstairs sofa.
Talking to the journalist Andrew Marr on the documentary The Diamond Queen, she revealed that the Queen was still a regular visitor at the time and had been consulted about the renovation.
A portrait of Princess Elizabeth in the tulip-filled garden of Y Bwthyn Bach (The Litttle House)
Princess Elizabeth holding hands with her little sister Princess Margaret on the steps
The royal sisters standing at the windows of the cottage, which was carefully proportioned at two-thirds scale
It was Prince Charles's turn to play in the cottage in 1954
Queen Elizabeth stands on the steps ot Y Bwthyn Bach with her first grandchild, Peter Phillips
'She still likes to come back and visit... Granny was very clear that for all the fabric she wanted very little designs. It's such a little house that she wanted little flowers and patterns.'
"Granny and her sister played here growing up. And we have been lucky enough to play here and cousins and second cousins. It's a real family treat.
It's beautiful. I've been lucky enough to play here and now Granny's a great granny, so now Savannah [Peter Phillips’s daughter] can enjoy it too.'
Twelve years on from that interview her own daughter Sienna as well as her sister Eugenie’s sons Augustus and Ernest will be newest generation of royal children to enjoy the delights of ‘the most glamourous Wendy house ever.’
