Villa Guardamangia, Queen Elizabeth II’s former Malta home, is being restored seven years after the government bought it, but the royal museum is still closed

Villa Guardamangia, Queen Elizabeth II’s former Malta home in Pietà, is undergoing a multimillion-euro restoration led by Heritage Malta, the national heritage agency, seven years after the government bought the residence. Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip lived there as newlyweds between 1949 and 1951, while he was stationed with the Royal Navy. The house remains closed to visitors as conservators work to return it to its mid-twentieth-century appearance. The project is expected to cost just over €12 million and take around three years to complete. No reopening date has been confirmed, so the planned museum has yet to welcome visitors.How the Maltese government bought Villa Guardamangia after heritage groups urged it to step inThen Prime Minister Joseph Muscat told parliament in October 2019 that the government had bought the villa, saying it could become a major tourist attraction, Times of Malta reported. He did not reveal the price, although the property had been advertised at €6.5 million. Heritage organisations including Flimkien Għal Ambjent Aħjar, Heritage Malta and Din L-Art Ħelwa had long argued that the neglected building needed saving. Muscat added that talks would begin with the Pietà Council on how to handle the visitors the site was expected to draw. The villa was formally entrusted to Heritage Malta in June 2020, according to the agency.Restoration work at Villa Guardamangia is under way and has already secured the crumbling façadeThe works were signalled a year before they began. Minister for National Heritage Owen Bonnici said at a press conference held at the villa in October 2024 that Heritage Malta would issue the first tenders, TVM News reported. By 1 October 2025, restoration and conservation were under way. Ruben Abela, an architect with Heritage Malta, told TVM News that parts of the façade at risk of collapse had been stabilised and other sections reinforced. Garden statues and household furnishings left to deteriorate for years have been conserved, and painted decorations on the walls have been uncovered so they can be restored. European sources are covering €10 million of the bill.Why Princess Elizabeth remembered Malta as her happiest time and a chance to live a normal lifeThe late Queen regarded the time she spent living at the villa as the happiest of her life, Times of Malta reported, and it remains the only place outside Britain she called home. Lady Pamela Hicks, one of her bridesmaids and a cousin of Prince Philip, told the Daily Mail that Princess Elizabeth loved the island because she could wander through town and shop, living as any other naval officer’s wife did, according to Nine. Royal commentator Victoria Arbiter told the podcast The Windsors that it was the only time the couple were free simply to be newlyweds. The Queen was driven past the villa during a visit in 1992 and was given a painting of it in 2015. On seeing it that year, Nine reported, she is said to have remarked that it looked rather sad.Heritage Malta says the aim is to open the villa as a historic house representing how the royal family used it. The agency’s visitor page currently describes the museum as temporarily closed.You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.