Throughout 2024, The Royal Collection Trust is celebrating the 100th anniversary of Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House at Windsor Castle, the largest and most famous dolls’ house in the world.
Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House was built between 1921 and 1924 as a gift from the nation to Queen Mary following the First World War. It is a perfect 1:12 scale replica of an aristocratic Edwardian residence, complete with electricity, working lifts and running water.
Its tiny rooms range from a fully stocked wine cellar to grand entertaining salons and feature contributions from over 1,500 of the finest artists, craftspeople, and manufacturers of the day. The house went on display at Windsor Castle in 1925 and has been delighting visitors ever since.
The items range from a tiny concert grand piano, fully strung and with functioning keys, to miniature Crown Jewels inset with real diamonds, rubies, sapphires, emeralds and seed pearls. Items from the kitchens and servants’ quarters include a vacuum cleaner, a relatively-new innovation in the 1920s, plus a sewing machine complete with thread and minuscule scissors that can actually cut.
