The Royal Family's Nurseries Have Been Over-the-Top Dreamy For Years

As babies, Princess Elizabeth and, later, her sister Princess Margaret slept in an immaculate cot trimmed in pink satin and lace and draped in curtains. As she grew into childhood, Elizabeth progressed to an old-fashioned bed with bed knobs, made up in pink and fawn — her mother's favorite colors. The queen's former nanny, Marion Crawford, wrote in her book, The Little Princesses, "The nursery was a world in miniature, a state within a state." There was a long wooden table with a farm created out of toy animals and lots of books. Unsurprisingly, the pony-mad princess was a big fan of Black Beauty.

The schoolroom was more formal and grown-up, filled with paintings and knickknacks, and it's where Elizabeth and Margaret studied and learned to paint and play piano.

Princess Elizabeth was also the proud owner of a miniature to-scale house which was a gift to her from the people of Wales, called Y Bwthyn Bach — The Little House in Welsh. It featured a roof that was rethatched every few years, proper wiring and plumbing, tiny oil paintings, and a little oak dresser filled with custom child-size glass and china-wear. The windows were fitted with blue chintz curtains, the book shelves were stocked with the complete set of Beatrix Potter, and the kitchen was kitted out with miniature packs of flour and Epsom salts. The princess and her sister kept the house clean themselves and even put the furniture under tiny dustsheets and wrapped the silverware in newspaper when they were going away.

Princess Beatrice has called it "the most glamorous Wendy House ever," and it has been fully maintained over the years, with each generation of royal children in turn playing within its walls.

The London home where William and Harry grew up featured a spacious nursery which took up the whole top floor of Kensington Palace. The color scheme was fresh and light, with lots of white and yellow paint and a strawberry-print carpet. Their mother, Princess Diana, stocked up on stuffed animals from luxury department store Harrods, and the boys were also gifted with some very glamorous gifts. When Harry was born, Barry Manilow sent a miniature white baby grand piano, and London Underground gifted him with a train set.

Every weekend during their childhood, William and Harry would head with their parents to Prince Charles's country house, Highgrove. As in Kensington Palace, the nursery took up the whole top floor of the house and was stuffed with toys, Legos, and board games. In the garden, there was a swing and slide set and a small plastic toy house which they would often play in, but even better was their very own tree house.

The hideaway was built in a holly tree, and when the young princes were asked what they wanted it to be like, William requested: "I want it to be as high as possible so I can get away from everyone and I want a rope ladder which I can pull up so no one can get at me."