Osborne House was purpose-built as a private summer residence and rural retreat for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. The lavishly decorated building, quietly tucked away on the secluded Isle of Wight, was much loved by the royal couple, who spent some four months a year there to escape the pressures of court life in London. Queen Victoria died there in 1901. It was subsequently gifted to the nation becoming become a naval college and a WWI officers' convalescent home. Today it is open to the public under the care of English Heritage.