When hearing ghost stories about old buildings it is common to hear tales of the ghostly children that continue to cause mischief in the nursery. Having been used by Queen Victoria’s nine children, many of her 42 grandchildren, along with several of her great-grandchildren, it is no surprise that the squeals and giggles of children still echo around the old nursery, which is located on the top floor of the Pavilion (main) wing of the house.
Image taken by Queen.Victoria.Roses, April 2026
Whilst history has often written Victoria as being a bad mother who despised her children, the queen’s own journals show just how much pleasure she found in visiting the royal nursery. Wanting to embrace island life, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert spent much time encouraging their children to learn local activities, such as farming and sailing. In 1846, Queen Victoria commissioned a miniature sailors suit to be made for her eldest son, Prince Albert Edward (later King Edward VII). A portrait of the Prince wearing the sailor’s suit by Franz Xaver Winterher can be seen on display in the Drawing Room. As the years passed, further suits were made for the growing prince and his three younger brothers, beginning a children’s fashion trend that became a staple in any high class Victorian wardrobe. Quite interestingly, back in the 1980s a visitor pointed out to a member of staff that they could see a child in a sailor suit playing upstairs on the nursery floor (1). At that time the nursery was the private apartment of the Governor of the Convalescent Home and no public access was permitted. Although we cannot be certain of the child had been real or not, there are have been other reports of children being sighted, particularly a “pale-faced girl in her early teens, [who] had black plaited hair, red lips, and wore a gingham-patterned or striped dress”. According to former Osborne Employee, Sally Cooper, the mystery girl had peered around the mantelpiece in the Royal day nursery and grimaced, before vanishing (2).
Image taken by Queen.Victoria.Roses, March 2026
Through speaking to locals and reading Gay Baldwin’s books about Isle of Wight ghost stories, I have come across several more accounts of invisible children talking, playing and giggling in the nursery. During a visit to Osborne a few years back, a member of staff informed me that as they outgrew the nursery, the Princes and Princesses would move into a separate part of the house, above the Council Room corridor. Due to their different ranks and education styles, the princes lived on the floor above the princesses. According to the staff member, the mischievous princes would deliberately annoy their sisters by bouncing their footballs on the floor directly above their rooms. Much like this story, in the early 2000s, security guard Michael Ballard told Gay Baldwin about how it was common for his colleague to hear “someone playing with a ball upstairs in the nurseries at night,” adding that there had been “a regular thud as it bounced against the floor or wall” (3). Whilst the noises can likely be explained away by the old Victorian heating systems, it is chilling to wonder who, or even what, could still be playing late night ball games in the old nursery all these years later.
© Queen.Victoria.Roses 2026
Disclaimer: All of the stories that feature in this series are based on local tales which I have discovered either in person with witnesses or through Gay Baldwin’s books of Isle of Wight Ghost stories, which she has kindly given me permission to share.
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Citation:
(1) ‘Most Haunted Island: Book six’ by Gay Baldwin, page 67
(2) ‘Most Haunted Island: volume six’ by Gay Baldwin, page 72
(3) ‘Even More Ghosts: Book seven’ by Gay Baldwin, page 10
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