427.Section 62 amends the Osborne Estate Act 1902 (“OEA 1902”) to remove the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport’s existing statutory obligation to use parts of Osborne House and grounds for the benefit of members of the armed forces and civil service, while retaining the obligation to preserve the royal apartments and keep them open to the public. Subsection (2) of this section changes the basis on which Osborne House and grounds are managed, so that the Secretary of State’s powers and duties are governed by section 21 rather than section 22 of the Crown Lands Act 1851. Section 21 of that Act already applies to unoccupied Royal Palaces such as Hampton Court Palace and the Tower of London and is more suitable to a property like the Osborne Estate which consists primarily of a substantial house rather than a park or garden.
428.Subsection (3) removes the requirement in section 1(4)(b) of the OEA 1902 for parts of Osborne House and grounds other than the royal apartments to be used for the benefit of naval and military officers, their wives, widows or families. Subsection (4) removes obsolete provisions of the OEA 1902 which relate to a part of the Osborne estate (Barton House and its grounds) which was sold to a private purchaser in 1922 and so no longer forms part of the estate. Subsection (5) repeals the Osborne Estate Act 1914, which gave power to extend the classes of persons who may benefit under section 1(4)(b) of the OEA 1902.
429.The statutory obligation for the Secretary of State (in practice carried out by English Heritage under a direction given under section 34 of the National Heritage Act 1983) to manage the estate and preserve the royal apartments in Osborne House and to keep them open to the public as a memorial to Queen Victoria is not affected.