A national treasure in its own right and a blue-chip player in British Colonial Malta, Villa Guardamangia is a classic Baroque example of a summer palace.
The building, which was built in the mid-18th century and is located in Pietá, was scheduled at Grade 2 by the Planning Authority for its protection due to its architectural, cultural and historical value.
Villa Guardamangia has a special place in the heart of her majesty the Queen of England. The villa served as the residence of Queen Elizabeth II from 1949 to 1951 when she was still a princess and her husband, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, was stationed in Malta as an officer of the Royal Navy – captain of HMS Magpie which was moored at Senglea.
Referred to fondly by the Queen as ‘home’, Villa Guardamangia is the only property outside Great Britain in which the royal family has resided. The Villa has an area of around 1,500 square metres, and includes eighteen rooms, stables, a large garden, wells, a war-shelter and other facilities. Another illustrious tenant of Villa Guardamangia, was Lord Louis Mountbatten who rented the property from the Bartolo Family and in all likelihood introduced it to the royal couple. In 1949, ownership of the villa changed hands when Joseph Schembri, purchased the Villa from the Bartolos. Schembri, who was a member of parliament, was also one of the foremost businessmen on the island at the time. Both families were strongly pro-British.
Villa Guardamangia, which by now had fallen into a despondent state of neglect, was purchased in turn from the descendants of the Schembri family by the Government of Malta on the 5th June 2020 and entrusted to Heritage Malta for custodianship. To inaugurate this significant acquisition, Heritage Malta Members were invited to participate in exclusively curated tours of the premises. Villa Guardamangia is currently closed to the public as it will soon be undergoing an extensive process of restoration.
With this virtual experience, a collaboration between Heritage Malta and Dhalia Real Estate Services we invite you to explore Villa Guardamangia as it is today, before it becomes rehabilitated, back to its former glory.
Follow in the footsteps of the Queen, as the camera sweeps you up the stairs of the imposing porch and overhanging covered loggia of no 49, Gwardamangia hill. Enter the high-ceilinged hallway
and reception rooms and observe the patterned tiles underfoot. Open the doors with their patterned wrought-iron inserts and walk out under a shaded colonnade to a large garden beyond.
As you continue up past the carved dolphin, cherub and nymph sculptures adorning the landings of the stairwell, look past the dust on the ornate stuccoed doorways, the flaking plasterwork concealing painted motifs, and imagine the palace, airy and bright in its heyday.
An elevated walkway that runs the length of the garden beneath, where the Queen and Prince Phillip once posed for photos with radiant smiles in the flush of their marriage, now leads to nowhere, having long crumbled away in parts. A staircase that formerly led to the terrace, now hovers in mid-air, framing the Baroque niche at the back of the overgrown, once manicured garden. Another flight of stairs takes you to the roof which previously commanded impressive panoramic views of Marsamxett harbour and Valletta’s iconic bastions.
The queen’s yellow and black tiled en-suite bathroom is on the right of the building. Cross the Piano Nobile looking out to the front street Loggia and walk through Prince Phillip’s bedroom to the servants’ quarters, where a warren of back staircases, take you down again to an internal courtyard where subterranean world war two shelters dug out from the rock lie adjacent to cisterns dating back to the Knights of St. John.
The virtual platform not only serves as an important visual memory of the past and a documentation of the villa in its present state for posterity, it also provides access to the general public during this period of restoration, besides affording a privileged glimpse into a bygone era.
To access the Virtual Tour click HERE
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