I’m honestly still worked up about Princess Anne’s shabby living room. We saw her living room because Anne wanted to prove that she was watching a rugby match and supporting her patronage, the Scottish rugby team. Anne’s living featured a decrepit couch, tons of clutter, dog beds and ‘80s decor. It was… a lot. I expected something different from Bagshot Park, the royal residence of The Earl and Countess of Wessex, also known as Edward and Sophie. They don’t seem to give off the shabby-’80s vibe of Anne, but I was still curious.
Buckingham Palace posted this photo (above) of Sophie in what looks like her den, library or living room. I really enjoy the colors and competing patterns, honestly. You would think with patterned wallpaper, a colorful patterned rug and old paintings and ceramics, the place would look too “busy.” But it doesn’t really? It looks colorful, bright and tasteful. I would be curious to see this entire room! I honestly want to see all of Bagshot. I looked up Bagshot’s Wiki page and they say that it’s a Crown Estate which was leased to Edward and Sophie, which I didn’t know. I thought they were given the property outright as a wedding present, but they don’t own it. Their lease was extended for 150 years though, so Viscount Severn and Lady Louise will always have a home, and their kids and grandkids will always have a home too.
Anyway, the reason why Sophie posted this glimpse into Bagshot was because she did a virtual engagement (from home) for the British Fashion Council. She presented the 2021 Queen Elizabeth II Award for British Design to Priya Ahluwalia. Sophie also chatted about her own style and style icons:
Wearing a stylish navy and white printed Victoria Beckham dress, the mother-of-two took part in the Zoom webinar hosted by Caroline Rush, the British Fashion Council’s Chief Executive. During the discussion she revealed her style ‘icon’ is actress Angelina Jolie, adding: ‘I always think she looks amazing – and also Queen Rania of Jordan always looks stunning.’
The royal humbly described her own style sense as a “work in progress.”
“Britain is an island – albeit a big island – and if you look at what royal women have worn over generations they have made huge fashion statements reflected from foreign shores, and that’s what helps make our style,” she said.
I like Sophie a little bit more knowing that she stans Angelina Jolie. Of all the things to like about Jolie, though, you’re going to stan her STYLE? I love La Jolie as well, but her default style is sh-t like leather joggers, sack dresses and flimsy-looking nightgown dresses. Perhaps Sophie is just referring to Angelina’s red carpet style which, admittedly, is a lot better than her personal style.
Photos courtesy of Buckingham Palace’s IG.
I am honestly getting so sick of the modern farmhouse hotel house. It’s fun to see color and print.
Yeah I’m tired of that architectural style on 90% of new builds and the all beige interiors with the white kitchens
Here every house is gray and white. I like the look as a thing, but when it’s every single house? Too much.
I bought an old Victorian that has a LOT going on and many patterns and colors that didn’t go together, so I’ve been slowly making things a bit more harmonious. But I like color. The all gray walls would get to me over time.
Me too. We painted some of our rooms while inside this fall and winter and I decided to use color. Being stuck inside and only seeing gray walls and white kitchen must be a drag.
I work everyday at the table in my white kitchen with grey walls…. haha but I love it! I have 2 vases of flowers – tulips and daffodils so there is some color 🙂
@Louisa, don’t get me wrong, I like how it looks but I just needed some pops of color and it’s paint, so I can always cover it when I grow tired of it. I turned one room into my office: Green and white and a gray desk 🙂
Yes, when it became a thing, I thought- oh, that’s beautiful. But it seems so impersonal now when it’s all you see on all the houses. It makes me want to paint my rooms bright yellow or green to compensate.
ALL of the new builds in our neighborhood are white with black trim, big windows in front with no coverings like shutters, no privacy. I like the modern farmhouse look fine but a little variety would be nice. And the way everything has to be white. We are thinking of moving and my agent said we should replace our (very neutral) granite counters with marble or white quartzite, and I said no, the new owner can do that if they want. Our house is only 15 years old, and it’s already “dated” even though it’s a very classic Georgian style house. Well, in ten years all those white, stark houses will be dated too, so why bother?
There’s a new build going up in my neighborhood and I’m sure it’ll be white clapboard (or is it shiplap? who CARES it’s totally overdone) with black industrial windows. It will stick out like an HGTV sore thumb and ruin the woodsy vibe of the street.
Ours is very neutral (cream, beige, gray) with a white and dark-wood kitchen and I LOVE it. It’s so calming. We’ve got paintings and family pictures for pops of color and personalization, but I personally find a light neutral color scheme very soothing. I absolutely adore the kitchen in this house. Too many colors and patterns (and too much stuff) makes me anxious. Ann’s living room from the other week was my nightmare scenario, I HATE clutter.
The woman literally wore that to speak to fashion students 😀😀😀😀😀, no wonder the carnival cant seem to stop talking about the pple they called “irrelevant “. The MAGA 7 is sad
In terms of wearing something to a fashion event, this makes sense to me. It’s quirky, fits her well. I would probably buy something similar to have something “out there” to wear on occasion.
I would totally wear this. And of course, Victoria Beckham is a British designer.
I think she’s referring to Angelina’s work style. They’ve met each other at some UN conference. As for the house, it just as dowdy as Anne’s. The side table looks 1970s and she should send that hutch and its contents back to the Queen. I’m waiting for the press to start scrutinising her wardrobe. She only wears designer clothes, a lot of Oscar de la Renta, Victoria Beckham, Valentino, Prada and Emilia Wickham.
Yep she gets a pass on all her designer gear. She’s even got a dresser / organiser for her wardrobe.
Oh, I didn’t know she had a dresser.
They all have dressers.
I adore the rug!!!
Me too!
The celadon green ties all the patterns in the room together.
Well, after Andrew messed up his awful residence not much else got gifted to the queen’s kids.
They are really pushing the few remaining royals out front, but it won’t do much good. I’m here for the crash and burn. They all got their hands dirty.
I mean but that dress is hideous and doesn’t suit her one iota (IMHO). For a fashion zoom of all things.
I not a fan of Sophie. But she made the most of that marriage of convenience and scored the 50 room house.
The dress is apparently Victoria Beckham and yes it’s not a good one. But I have never liked VB’s stuff. It’s no wonder her fashion business never makes money.
VB does make a lot of good clothes; the iconic picture of H&M has Meghan wearing a VB dress.
I do own some VB pieces so I can attest to the quality of her clothes. The only thing I don’t like much are VB shoes……..perhaps because I already have some favorites
The problem here is that dress is NOT Sophie’s dress. She is not tall enough to pull it off and the shoes are even worse (if that’s even possible)
She looks terrible but that’s not VB’s fault; the color is also all wrong for Sophie’s skin tone; the dress is too long, etc….so many things to criticize but Victoria is not Sophie’s stylist and if Sophie does have one, she should fire that person right now!
I’ve liked a few VB pieces in the past, but don’t care for this one.
I had some topographical drapes that looked like this dress.
Hate that dress! Ugly and seems sized wrong.
Beautifully put👍
Reminds me of something a Keen Kween would wear. I think she’s still brown-nosing the camebridges ~
I don’t mind the dress, it’s not horrible but it really doesn’t do anything for her but the shoes are all wrong, it looks like she’s wearing boots when a great pump would have looked much better.
I thought she was wearing slippers at first, like 90% of the population working from home (I may be projecting here…)
hahaha, I actually like the dress. It’s missing something on the bottom. maybe shorter? Or maybe it could have been turned into pants?
Yeah yeah, pants would have worked well I think and tailored some.
Her den is exactly what I imagined all those palaces looked like. Dated. I wasn’t expecting anything modern, but at least at bit more updated and bright, not out of the 1920’s.
I love it! The furniture SCREAMS $$$$$. We were furniture shopping last week and that, I can say without hesitation, is some expensive furniture. I like how the home looks. And these are homes that will not be put up for sale, so they don’t have to appeal to the masses.
Oh I did not doubt that it is expensive. My father has a few furniture pieces from the 1800’s that he inherited from his family and they look just like Sophie’s, expensive as hell, but really stuffy looking. I’m just not a fan of the style.
Im sorry but i hate this type of interior design. It’s too old and stuffy for my taste.
It’s very English country style, and I love it! Not everything needs to be white and minimal.
Hard yes!! Everything in my area is a bright white basic as* kitchen with greige interior. I miss color and pattern so much. I just got a antelope and navy runner for my stairs and I couldn’t be more excited!
My husband is German and I always figured that is why he loves white and minimal. Then my son was diagnosed with autism (high functioning) and needs things to be monochromatic neutral and uncluttered in order to be relaxed. My 50 something engineer husband has so many of the traits that contributed to my son’s diagnosis that I think he was just never diagnosed because doctors were not looking for that in the 60’s/70’s. So although beige minimal is not my preferred style it can be soothing for some people.
Exactly! I left a very minimalist (colour & furnishings) home back in Scotland and am now in a fairly dark (rental) in rural Dordogne. Colours arent a thing in this home but the French for sure arent afraid of colour on their walls! If I had to choose between the lovely rich woods or flat Ikea white, rich woods will win out every single time. Theres nothhing wrong with the furniture/wallpaper/rug etc that Sophie is pictured in front of, everyone has differing tastes and mine is most definitely hers.
This room is too busy for me, and the dress is awful. Also, she should do something about her Zoom lighting, because what she has going on here is not flattering. Buy a ring light, Sophie.
Agree, a whole bunch of wrongs here imo. Stuffy.
yes, busy but dull at the same time. altogether looking dirty or untidy not bright or colourful.
I kind of like the interior, kind of don’t. I wonder how much of it reflects her personal tastes and how much of it was already decorated or she chose that decor because “its an english country house and needs to look like it.”
I think the latter is likely the right answer here. How much can they truly change the decor/look when so much of it entrenched in history.
At least the plates are in a cabinet and not just hanging off a wall.
Zing
I love the dress–the cut, the pattern, and the color.
I know some people say the look of Princess Anne’s room was typical of ‘old money’ or ‘true blue blood aristocracy’ but frankly I was disgusted. A space can look lived in/not be magazine display home (and still look nice) but Anne’s room just made me think ‘gross and dirty’. I wish could unsee it! Not big Sophie fan but the room she is showing looks clean at least.
I felt the same way about Anne’s home. I would use grody to describe it.
Grody! Haven’t heard that in a long time but it totally fits.
Looks like someone tried coordinating with the aqua blue hues in the rug and the vase and the painted side table but overall it clashes and isn’t really well-done. I’m gaga over the dark blue room though in the zoom view.
I just have to say that I don’t believe for a SECOND that the pic of Anne in “her” living room was even taken AT Gatcombe Whatever. Anyone who has seen pics of it knows its HUGE and IF that is an actual living room in Anne’s house then it must be one of about 50.
That or it’s a living room in the servants quarters or something.
As someone who has been at Gatcombe, I can confirm that it is Gatcombe.
Reggie, care to share?
Beautiful rug!
@Kaiser, she did a photoshoot at Bagshot for Harper’s in Feb 2015 for her 50th birthday, if you want to see more inside pics.
The lease is for 150 years, but the costs of living at Bagshot are not paid. That’s part of why Sophie wants to remain a working royal, when Charles had them slated for the retirement pile. As long as they’re working royals, they get piles of Sovereign Grant funds to help pay ‘household expenses’. The kids will inherit the lease, but they will not inherit enough money to afford to live there. Ditto Beatrice/Eugenie and Royal Lodge.
Wow those are some spectacular rooms! The wall of carved wood! Thanks for sharing.
Wikipedia says that the house has 120 rooms! Sickening to think of the kind of wealth that thinks it’s OK for a family of just four people to live so extravagantly. They’ve done nothing to earn it.
But Harry and Meghan’s California mansion with its 16 bathrooms or whatever is the problem.
That is an expensive room. Already see 2 museum worthy antique pieces in it. Won’t hear taxpayers going on about the cost though. It’s obvious Sophie’s been trying to up her style game since M left. The dress is a nice print but the length is too long and her shoes do not look good. It’s a colorful room, which is nice, but not a stylish room. Seriously, a China cabinet displaying the Wedgwood?
Your last sentence made me laugh so much, L4frimaire. Hilariously indignant.
Didn’t someone forget to put the estimated value of the home in the article? I thought that was standard but I guess it’s only if you buy the home yourself. Anyway, I think the dress is not flattering to Sophie and definitely not with those shoes/ boots. I like the rug. And I cringe at wallpaper because after my mom died and we were getting her home updated to sell we pulled off some paneling and there was at least three layers of wallpaper underneath. After spending days steaming and scraping that mess off, its a no for me anytime I see it!
…
They really think they are going to replace Meghan with *this* person? Um ok.
it boggles my mind how a society that prides itself on fairness and not jumping the queue can praise people that do exactly that running it.
The Palace PR machine are really pushing Sophie and Edward as they are being promoted to fill the Sussex void….but it won’t work. Also the tabloids will find a way to expose the children to ridicule.
It works because they have that light teal color pulling it all together – from the wallpaper, to the legs of the console table, the ashtray, and teal accents on both the giant vase and the rug. Well done, indeed. Also p.s. I’m still surprised by all the framed family photos that all the royals seem to have.
She’s a nice woman but too late to make her happen.
What happened to them after that tawdry exposé on her where she had to atone by doing that humiliating interview saying Edward wasn’t gay? Did they just kind of lay low and raise their kids until 2016?