Princess Beatrice: Queen Victoria's daughter at Carisbrooke

Princess Beatrice was Queen Victoria's youngest child, and from 1913 to 1938 she made Carisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Wight her summer home. English Heritage's page on Princess Beatrice tells how she went from her mother's constant companion to Governor of the island. This post follows her life and what she changed at the old castle.

If you like the idea of making an old castle your own, Two Towers is a free tower defense game in your browser where you pick two towers for a city gate, upgrade them and hold it stage after stage.

Who was Princess Beatrice?

Beatrice was born in 1857, the fifth daughter and last of the nine children of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. She was her mother's favourite and spent much of her life as the queen's companion at Osborne House, the royal seaside home on the Isle of Wight. That is where her long link with the island began.

The family called her "Baby" well into adult life. English Heritage describes a sad and solitary childhood. Her father died in 1861, leaving the queen deep in grief. Her nearest brother in age, Leopold, was often ill, and with no other children to play with she grew up quiet and reserved.

She could also be naughty. In the summer of 1862 she shut her governess in the barracks of the children's miniature fort at Osborne, and said she would only let her out if she barked like a dog.

A marriage on the queen's terms

Beatrice was meant to stay at her mother's side, and marriage seemed unlikely. Then in 1884, aged 27, she fell in love with Prince Henry of Battenberg. The queen reacted coldly and did not speak to her daughter for months.

In the end Victoria allowed the match, on two conditions: Henry had to resign his commission in the Prussian army, and the couple had to live with her. They married at St Mildred's Church, Whippingham, near Osborne, on 23 July 1885. In 1890 they were given a private suite in Osborne's new Durbar Wing, and their four children were born between 1886 and 1891.

From princess to Governor of the Isle of Wight

In 1889 the queen made Prince Henry Governor of the Isle of Wight. He grew restless at Osborne. Once he slipped away to Corsica, and the queen sent a warship to bring him back. In late 1895 he persuaded her to let him fight in the Ashanti war in West Africa. He caught malaria there and died on the voyage home in January 1896.

Beatrice succeeded him as Governor. She stayed the queen's companion and, in all but title, her secretary, living at Osborne Cottage on the estate. When Victoria died at Osborne in 1901, the new king, Edward VII, had no interest in the house, and it became a convalescent home.

Princess Beatrice and Carisbrooke Castle

Carisbrooke had a long history before she arrived: a Saxon fortress, a Norman castle and the prison of Charles I in 1647 and 1648, told in our post on Carisbrooke Castle history. The history of Carisbrooke Castle says that by the mid-1800s nobody lived there. The gatehouse had lost its roof and floors and many buildings were in poor repair, though tourists were coming. The castle passed to the Office of Works in 1856.

Beatrice's appointment as Governor in 1896 brought fresh royal interest. The architect and island historian Percy Stone restored the gatehouse, and in 1898 Beatrice opened a museum there in memory of her husband. It was the first home of the Carisbrooke Castle Museum, which then focused mainly on Charles I.

The traditional home of the island's governors was the castle itself. When it fell vacant on the death of the last deputy governor in 1913, she made the governor's residence her summer home. Before moving in she had it brought up to date:

• Her rooms. The medieval hall range and the Constable's Lodging next to it were adapted for her, with a new bathroom. Much of the panelling and many window seats from her time survive.
• Her staff. The L-shaped range in the south-east corner became rooms for her staff, with a tunnel to her apartments.
• Her garden. The walled garden behind St Nicholas Chapel had served captains and governors since the 17th century. From 1913 it was her private, or privy, garden.

War, the chapel and the last years

Her youngest son, Maurice, was killed at Ypres in 1914. In 1919 the Chapel of St Nicholas, restored by Stone in 1904, became the island's war memorial. The names of 2,000 island men killed in both world wars are carved on stone panels between its windows, and Beatrice commissioned the altar painting in memory of Maurice.

For 25 years, until 1938, her personal standard flew over the castle keep whenever she was in residence. She died aged 87 in 1944 at Brantridge Park in Sussex, and was buried beside her husband at Whippingham. After her death the museum moved into the more spacious hall range she had lived in, where it still is.

In 2009 the garden designer Chris Beardshaw created the Princess Beatrice Garden on the site of her privy garden. Its layout draws on plans of the original, and it weaves in the blue, red and gold of her heraldic crest. For an earlier woman who ruled the island from Carisbrooke, read our post on Isabella de Fortibus, and for a royal prisoner's helper, Jane Whorwood.

A worked example: adapt an old defense, stage by stage

Beatrice did not rebuild Carisbrooke. She took what stood and adapted it. Two Towers rewards the same habit: you keep your two gate towers and improve them as gold comes in. Every stage comes stronger, faster or in greater numbers, and there is no final stage. Here is a plan built only from the game's own text.

1. Start with what stands. On the title screen choose a tower for each side of the gate: Archer Tower, Trebuchet, Ballista or Fire Tower.
2. Improve, do not replace. Click or tap a tower to buy damage, fire rate, range or its special. Each upgrade shows on the tower, from Plain through Trimmed, Fine and Grand to Masterwork.
3. Answer the crowd. "Peasants win by numbers: a Trebuchet or Fire Tower hits the whole crowd at once."
4. Reach further. "Archers shoot the gate from the road: buy Range so your towers reach them before they stop." A hill tower costs 150 gold for the first and 300 for the second.
5. Keep the gate sound. Its sheet says "Repair what the attackers broke, or reinforce it." The game's general tip: "Spend your gold on Damage between stages, and Reinforce the gate."

Every five stages your towers are rebuilt stronger, from Timber to Legendary, so an early choice keeps paying off.

Frequently asked questions

Who was Princess Beatrice?

She was the youngest of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert's nine children, born in 1857. She became Governor of the Isle of Wight in 1896 and died in 1944.

Did Princess Beatrice live at Carisbrooke Castle?

Yes. From 1913 the governor's residence in the hall range was her summer home, and her standard flew over the keep when she was there until 1938.

Why was Princess Beatrice Governor of the Isle of Wight?

Her husband, Prince Henry of Battenberg, was made Governor in 1889. When he died in January 1896, she succeeded him.

What is the Princess Beatrice Garden?

It is a garden at Carisbrooke Castle designed by Chris Beardshaw in 2009, on the site of her privy garden. It uses the colours of her heraldic crest.

Get started

Princess Beatrice made an old castle fit for its time. To make a gate of your own hold, play Two Towers: choose your two towers, upgrade them and see how many stages you can hold.