A Mansfield business is handling the sale of a previously unknown royal piano that once belonged to Queen Victoria.

The queen, an accomplished pianist, was presented with the rosewood boudoir grand piano – model number 22,204 — by John Broadwood & Sons, the leading piano maker in the country — to mark her golden jubilee.

She used it for the next five years and then, following royal custom, it was later given to her former lady-in-waiting, a Mrs F. Boston, on the occasion of her marriage.

Eight years ago a couple from Oxfordshire found the piano neglected in the aisle of a local church, where it had been used for decades for choir practice and amateur recitals.

In 2012, the owners embarked on an extensive project of restoration and research lasting more than a year.
Stephen Pringle, founder of Sherwood Phoenix, Mansfield, a leading antique piano specialist that is handling the sale, said: “This piano is such a one-off — with such an incredible provenance — that it is actually quite difficult to put a value on it.

“Objects with similar provenance have attracted serious money — in 2009, Harrods was offering Queen Victoria’s billiard table for $1.6m and even her undergarments made £16,250 at a Christies auction in 2016.

“I can see this piano going to a modern-day royal family, serious collector or, perhaps, a great female performer on the international concert circuit.”