The Royal Family have a number of royal homes across the country including Buckingham Palace, Balmoral Castle and Sandringham. While members of the public may expect it to be the bigger royal homes and Palaces that are the most historically significant, there is in fact one smaller and lesser-known royal residence that changed the Royal Family forever.
Sat on the Windsor Great Park estate, Fort Belvedere is one of the most significant homes belonging to the Crown Estate. This is because from 1929, it became the main residence of the future King Edward VIII when he was the Prince of Wales, and was even the place where he signed his abdication papers in 1936.
The papers were signed by Edward at the royal home after 11 months on the throne.
He wanted to abdicate at the time because he insisted on marrying American divorcee Wallis Simpson – something which he would not have been allowed to do at the time as monarch.
The abdication papers were signed on December 11 1936, in the study on the ground floor of Fort Belvedere, which was built in the 18th century.
From then on, his brother George – the father of the late Queen Elizabeth II – became King and was known as King George VI.
This changed the royal course of history forever.
After the abdication, the Grade II listed home – just a stone’s throw away from Windsor Castle – was mainly empty before becoming home to the billionaire Weston family.
It is believed Edward made many changes to the building during his time living there, which included making it bigger, installing a swimming pool and making a tennis court.
The fort is believed to have been a happy place for Edward, who hosted many parties at the residence at the weekends, often with Wallis.
After his abdicaton, Edward and Wallis opted to live outside of England and set up home in France soon afterwards.