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Privacy NoticeThe royal residences are no strangers to eerie tales, with Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, and Kensington Palace all having their share of ghostly rumours. But it’s Sandringham House that takes the crown for one of the most bizarre incidents, as disclosed in the diaries of the late high-society columnist Kenneth Rose, which came to light posthumously. He wrote about a peculiar “little service” held in a downstairs bedroom of the grand 18th Century mansion back in 2000, after staff reported supernatural encounters. A pastor was brought in to conduct the ceremony, attended by none other than the late Queen Mother and her Lady-in-Waiting, Prue Penn, with the late Queen herself present.
Queen Elizabeth II and The Queen Mother attended the service
(Image: 1990 John Shelley Collection/Avalon)
Nestled within a sprawling 20,000-acre estate in the Norfolk Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Sandringham House is the traditional festive retreat for the Royal Family. Its storied past is peppered with spectral sightings and unexplained occurrences, but there’s one particular tale that’s bound to send shivers down your spine. The servants at Sandringham were once so petrified of a certain room where King George VI spent his final days before passing away in 1952 that they openly refused to enter it, claiming it was plagued by paranormal activity. Kenneth Rose’s gripping account of this ghostly service was first shared with the world through The Daily Mail.
Sandringham House is the Royal Family’s retreat in Norfolk
(Image: Getty Images)
Kenneth recounted a spooky tale in his diaries, revealing that the late Queen Mother called in a priest to perform an unusual service at Sandringham. He wrote: “Prue Penn [the Queen Mother’s lady-in-waiting] tells me that at Sandringham in the summer, the Queen invited her to attend a little service in one of its rooms conducted by the local parson. The only other person present was the Queen Mother.” The service was reportedly held after “Some of the servants had complained that the room was haunted and did not want to work in it. The parson walked from room to room and did indeed feel some sort of restlessness in one of them.” Kenneth continued: “This, the Queen Mother identified, was a ground-floor room which had been turned into a bedroom for George VI during his last months. So the parson held a service there, not exactly of exorcism, which is the driving out of an evil spirit, but of bringing tranquillity.”
The Queen Mother identified the room as the one King George VI stayed in
(Image: Mondadori via Getty Images)
He added: “The congregation of three took Holy Communion and special prayers were said, I think for the repose of the King’s soul in the room in which he died.” However, the parson had another theory, with Kenneth revealing: “The parson said that the oppressive or disturbing atmosphere may have been because of Princess Diana: he had known such things before when someone died a violent death.” This isn’t the only spooky tale to come from the royal residence, as King Charles was reportedly left unnerved after viewing some old paintings at Sandringham in the mid-1980s.
The King also reportedly experienced some paranormal activity at Sandringham
(Image: (Image: Getty))
A courtier is said to have revealed in 2011: “Everyone believes there are ghosts because so many have experienced them, including [King] Charles. There are old parts of the house where nobody wants to go or be alone.” One insider shared a spooky tale about Charles and his valet feeling an eerie presence while perusing prints, despite being alone in the room. The source disclosed: “After crying, ‘Oh heck! ‘, the Prince grabbed the first print and got out as quickly as he could. He was petrified. There have been lots of incidents in the library.” They added: “There is an old clock in there and the hands move by themselves. There is a smaller part of the library where a servant once had a kip, only to be woken by books flying from the shelves.”Story SavedYou can find this story in  My Bookmarks.Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right.Follow OK! MagazineFacebookTwitterCommentMore OnQueen Elizabeth IIQueen MotherRoyal FamilySandringhamKing George VI
