Queen’s ‘very special’ Malta home to be restored as a museum
AN ELEGANT villa in Malta that was once home to the Queen and Prince Philip will be restored to its former glory and turned into a museum after being bought by the Maltese government.
The Queen has said that the time she spent living in Villa Guardamangia was among the happiest periods of her life.
She and the Duke of Edinburgh spent the first years of their married life in the listed property after the Duke was stationed in Malta as a young officer in the Royal Navy.
They lived in the home between 1949 and 1951, before the then Princess was crowned Queen in 1953 after the death of her father, King George VI.
It is the only residence outside Britain that the Queen has called home.
The stone villa has been in a state of disrepair for years, with debate as to what should become of it.
It has now been bought by the Maltese
government, with Joseph Muscat, the prime minister, saying it has the potential to become a popular tourist attraction.
He did not reveal how much the government had paid for the property, but it had been advertised since June for €6.5 million (£5.6 million).
It was described on a property website as “an amazing grand palazzo-style property located just outside the outskirts and suburbs of Valletta, set just at the crest in the residential area of Guardamangia.
“The property (has) documented great historical value. It is crying out for a great conversion and will make a superb residence or possibly a commercial venue.”
The villa was built in 1900 and was bought by a businessman who leased it to Lord Louis Mountbatten, Prince Philip’s uncle, who then made it available to the young royals.
Overlooking Marsamxett, Malta’s second harbour, which is dominated by leisure craft, it has a large garden, sea views and lies around two miles from Valletta, the capital.
When the Queen attended the 2015 Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Malta, she said the island was “always very special for me. I remember happy days here with Prince Philip when we were first married”.