The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall during a walkabout in front of the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence, Italy.
During the royal visit to Italy, the Duchess of Cornwall has revealed her hopes to buy back the Tuscan home made famous by her great-grandmother Alice Keppel (King Edward VII’s most famous mistress). Villa dell’Ombrellino became Alice’s home in 1925, where she and husband George relocated to spend their final years in the grand style they had been accustomed to. The villa was inherited by Camilla’s grandmother Sonia Keppel and her daughter, Camilla’s mother Rosalind Shand.
A future home for the Duchess of Cornwall? A view of the historic Villa dell’Ombrellino in Tuscany.
Rosalind eventually sold Villa dell’Ombrellino but Camilla, who still remembers her childhood holidays in the idyllic Tuscan setting, would love to buy it back for future generations. Speaking during the visit to Florence, which the villa overlooks, Camilla said “It’s in private hands but is all boarded up. It’s such a tragedy. I feel like I should start a campaign to buy it back up. It was a magnificent place.”
