If she were still alive, April 21, 2026, would have been Queen Elizabeth II’s 100th birthday. To mark the occasion, we are revisiting all of Queen Elizabeth’s houses, from birth until death. Meanwhile, the royal family will celebrate the centennial with a festivity-filled day, including a visit to the British Museum to see the final model of the future Elizabeth II memorial that will be built in London’s St. James’s Park, an inauguration of an official garden dedicated to the late queen in Regent’s Park, and a reception at Buckingham Palace. On April 20, King Charles II and Queen Camilla visited “Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style,” a new exhibition at The King’s Gallery at Buckingham. An official collection of pastel-hued chinaware has also been released to mark the occasion.
When she was born, Queen Elizabeth’s house was a dwelling in London’s Mayfair neighborhood that was relatively modest, compared to the grand residences where she spent her later years. Though most monarchs live their entire lives in castles and palaces, the late queen was not born expecting to ascend to the throne. In fact, she was the first British monarch born in a private home. Her early days were spent living in grand, but not technically palatial, surroundings, and she had a somewhat normal childhood until her father unexpectedly became king in 1936. From her birthplace to her beloved Balmoral, where she died peacefully at the age of 96 on September 8, 2022, AD looks back at the many houses of Queen Elizabeth II.
17 Bruton Street
Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor was born on April 21, 1926, at the Mayfair, London, home of her maternal grandparents, the Earl and Countess of Strathmore. Her parents had moved into the town house several weeks before her birth and would remain there for several months. “It’s a reminder of how the royal family was not as flush in those days. Money was an issue,” royal historian Robert Lacey reflected in 2021. The original house was demolished in 1937, along with the surrounding row of town houses. An office complex was built in their place.
