Historic royal retreat of Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon listed for $5.3 million

Blue Book Agency has put The Old House, the former West Sussex retreat of Princess Margaret and Antony Armstrong-Jones (Lord Snowdon), on the market for roughly $5.3 million, marking the first public listing in its history. The 5,750-square-foot property, dating back to 1481, entered the Messel family in 1890 and was later presented to the royal couple by Oliver Messel before their 1960 marriage. Lord Snowdon restored the rundown cottage, installing a redesigned kitchen, a balcony salvaged from Ascot Racecourse’s Royal Box, a man-made lake and a curated “time capsule” of royal and cultural newspaper clippings.

The house became a discreet gathering spot for celebrities including Peter Sellers, Dame Margot Fonteyn, Bianca Jagger and Sir Evelyn de Rothschild. The grounds feature six bedrooms, a guest-suite pool house, garden office, library, tractor shed and other amenities. Although the property was sold privately in 2003 and bought off-market in 2005, this public offering is described as a rare opportunity to acquire a residence with significant cultural provenance.