Inside the crumbling and forgotten royal home ‘haunted’ by King Charles’ relative

WHEN you think of Royal residencies, you imagine plush furnishings and grand designs. 

But for one home on the Sandringham Estate, it’s a completely different story – as the old and crumbling building is said to be haunted. 

York Cottage, one of the houses that makes up the estate in Norfolk, has been part of the Royal family for decades.

While the exact date of the out-building has never been established, King Edward VII (then the Prince of Wales) gave the home to his son and daughter-in-law, the Duke and Duchess of York as a wedding present in 1893.

Before that, Prince Albert Victor, King Edward VII’s eldest son and the Queen’s great-uncle, had lived in the cottage up until he passed away in 1892.

Yet, despite the clear connections to her history and past, the late Queen chose to never live within its four walls.

This is said to be down to the fact that rumours have long been rife that York Cottage’s original resident never left – and his spirit still roams the rooms. 

Prince Albert Victor, a past relative of King Charles and his mother, was involved in a number of scandals in his tumultuous life. 

He was born in 1864 in Frogmore Cottage in Windsor, but later moved to York Cottage, where he lived out most of his days.

But his life wasn’t without controversy, and, at one point, he was considered suspect number one in the infamous Jack the Ripper murders.

At the time, as the accusations made their way around town, people had two main reasons as to why he could have been behind the brutal murders of prostitutes in London.

The first theory was that Prince Albert Victor slept with a prostitute in the West Indies and later discovered he had contracted syphilis.

The story went that the disease had spread to his brain and made him see red, going on to kill the sex workers in a crazed rage. 

However, there was also another unsubstantiated rumour that the Prince had fallen in love with and had a baby with a girl from Whitechapel. 

According to the rumour, the Royal family weren’t happy with the pairing and therefore organised agents to silence anyone who knew of the set-up.

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However, both theories were dashed when it emerged that Prince Albert Victor had a watertight alibi – he was staying with his grandmother Queen Victoria in Balmoral the night that two girls were killed.

He was also part of another scandal when he was linked to the Cleveland Street Scandal in 1889.

This was when a male, homosexual brother was discovered by authorities – and Prince Albert Victor’s name came up as one of the visitors.

However, despite ups and downs, the Prince later went on to find love and proposed to Queen Mary, then Princess Victoria Mary of Teck.

The happy couple set a date for their wedding, but, in 1891, just a week after his 28th birthday, Prince Albert Victor was struck down with influenza and tragically died.

He was surpassed as heir to the throne by his younger brother – King George V. Yet people claim Prince Albert Victor never let go of his home and there have been reports of spooky goings-on over the years.

Nowadays, it’s used as an estate office for Sandringham and is also a place to stay for employees.

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