Sarah Ferguson forced to sell £1.5m gift that she never got to use | Royal | News
The late Queen Elizabeth II The close relationship between Elizabeth and Sarah Ferguson emerged when Her Majesty bought a £1.5 million house in Surrey for Sarah to live with her two daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, as part of her divorce settlement with Prince Andrew in 1996.
Birch Hall is a large estate originally built in 1740 and located in a charming village in Surrey. The house in Surrey was a dream home for many and featured seven bedrooms, five acres of land, a heated outdoor swimming pool and even a tennis court.
Despite the late Queen’s supportive gesture, Sarah reportedly refused to move into the house as she could not afford the huge upkeep costs; this meant the house stood empty for two years until it was sold for £1.5 million in 1999.
Instead, the family continued to live together at Sunninghill Park before Sarah Ferguson and Prince Andrew moved to the Royal Lodge in Windsor, where they currently reside.
It was sold in 1999 after Birch Hall was rejected, with estate agents saying it was “due to a change of condition”. Sun. It is thought that the money from the sale was left in a trust for Eugenie and Beatrice to use when they grow up.
In 2016, Birch Hall was put on the market for £4.2 million after being renovated with features even more jaw-dropping than the original. Recent owners added a media and games room, conservatory and home gym.
Andrew Russell, of estate agent Strutt and Parker, said: Daily Mail: “The owners bought it from trustees acting on behalf of the Queen in 1999. The trustees bought it for the princesses in 1997 and I think it was chosen because it was a beautiful house in a popular village and the gardens were really interesting, more like a parkland. But they never moved.”
When Birch Hall went up for sale in 2016, the estate agent also declared it to be “the best of the village houses in North Surrey”. He added: “There aren’t many coming on the market. It’s a proper country house with five acres of land.
“The house itself is a very attractive and imposing looking property. Some of the rooms are really quite impressive with their high ceilings and floor to ceiling sash windows.”
“The garden has a swimming pool, tennis court and beautiful Victorian trees.”
