A repeated reference to the late Queen Elizabeth II’s happy Malta home in the final season of The Crown may have aroused global interest in Villa Guardamangia but it will not be opening to the public as a tourist attraction any time soon.

The home of Britain’s then Princess Elizabeth between 1949 and 1951 will remain a “war zone for quite some time, because the needs are extensive”, said Heritage Malta COO Kenneth Gambin.

He estimated that its restoration would take “at least another five years” – almost a decade after the national agency was entrusted with the project.

But although the prestigious, albeit crumbling, property looks much like it did five years ago, when the government bought it, intensive behind-the-scenes work has meant EU funding can finally be applied for, further discoveries have been made – and even more damage borne.

The application for co-financing will be submitted by March, but Heritage Malta is not losing any time. Works are under way and the money – at least €10 million – will be recouped later.

Next month, parts of neighbouring properties, overlooking the iconic garden of the Grade 2 listed Guardamangia Hill monument, will be demolished at Heritage Malta’s expense, following agreement with their owners – because even the surrounding context counts.

Meanwhile, the situation inside was so bad and the building so fragile that damage was sustained even after Heritage Malta walked into the rundown former royal dwelling, Gambin said.

Water still seeps into the villa, so the ceilings were patched up – but they need to be replaced; while the garden walls were recently rebuilt after they collapsed when storm Helios dealt its heavy blow last February.

“We have done all the first aid required to keep it standing and now it is improving,” Gambin said, underlining the importance of the preparatory phase.

“The place is still in a shambles, but it was worse, I can assure you. It may be difficult to believe…” he said, pointing to the parts that have been propped up.

Tons of inert waste and rubbish have been cleared, including the costly removal of asbestos. The excavation of a corner of the garden unearthed bits of the stone statues used to embellish it; tiles have been removed to be fixed, cleaned and returned; while extensive underground shelters, around three storeys deep, were emptied of the copious amount of rubble that filled them.

Off-site, documentation and research, bills of quantities and architectural surveys have been compiled, so once the application is processed and approved, the ball will get rolling immediately.

The groundwork, a major task in itself, was ready; the walls have spoken, and information has been gleaned from interviews with people who lived and worked in the villa, as well as from local and foreign archives – although the architect of the property, a classic baroque example of an 18th-century Maltese country summer house, has not yet been discovered.

“We can now confidently say that we know what we are going to do, but only now,” Gambin emphasised.

“It was not a matter of just walking in and starting. We have gathered much precious information on how to restore the building.

“Everybody is impatient, but in such properties, which have such a long history, before intervening, you have to know how, and that requires lots of research from scratch,” Gambin said.

“All we knew when the property was bought was that Prince Philip and Princess Elizabeth lived here on and off for around two years (when the Duke of Edinburgh was a naval officer stationed on the island). That was it!

“But in reality, the history of the building is much more than that, going back to at least the mid-18th century.”

Heritage Malta is taking a historic house approach to the restoration, focusing on the mid-20th century, while making sure not to cover up all the other layers of history and leave enough information to be read, interpreted and enjoyed.

“This is not Buckingham Palace… and that is why she enjoyed it”

Wall paintings, whitewashed under the instructions of Prince Philip’s uncle Lord Mountbatten, are being uncovered and restored, only to be covered again, leaving some areas exposed to explain the history of the building.

Heritage Malta is also working to get its hands on furniture that is known from inventories to have been in the house and is now privately owned – “if they are decently priced”, Gambin said.

“The villa is important for other reasons, but the last episode of the royal couple residing here was the cherry on the cake.”

The only place outside the UK that Queen Elizabeth II lived in is a testimony to her “normal” life, and walking through her former bedroom, bathroom and walk-in wardrobe emphasises the point.

Name-checked on Netflix

Name-checked in an emotional and nostalgic penultimate episode of The Crown’s sixth season, Hope Street, the queen tells grandson Prince William he need not accompany her at her Golden Jubilee celebrations at a time when he has just met future wife Kate Middleton and should be leading as normal a life as possible.

She then goes on to describe her stay in Malta with Prince Philip, as a young married couple, before she acceded to the throne in 1953, describing living in their home outside Valletta as “some of the happiest years of my life”.

Then a young naval wife, her character describes how she went grocery shopping and got her hair done locally.

Later in the episode, the queen sends Prince William a framed photo of her and Prince Philip in Malta to her grandson’s new home at university with Kate, with a note saying: “I hope it can be your ‘Villa Guardamagia’.”

In real life, she too had been presented with paintings of No. 49 by Maltese dignitaries.

According to Forbes Business, in 2020, The Crown ‒ the “streamer’s biggest awards juggernaut” ‒ had already been watched by 73 million households worldwide since its 2016 debut.

Interest in the series spiked after the monarch’s death in September 2022.

Gambin is used to the interest in Villa Guardamangia, saying the decrepit building did not need any publicity and received daily knocks on its door from people from all over the world.

He acknowledged, however, that its mention in a positive – “accurate and true” – light will also “increase expectations, which we happily accept”.

The most important aspect of the princess’s stay in Malta was the human element, Gambin stressed.

“This is not Buckingham Palace, and it never was, and that is why she enjoyed it. It is as simple as that.”

Undoubtedly, the queen’s former home will be a strong crowd-puller. It comes with high – and justified – expectations, maintained the COO of Heritage Malta, which is prepared for this and used to challenges of such magnitude.

“It will take some time and money, inevitably. But we will get there,” Gambin said.

And possibly, on inauguration day, when it finally opens, the reigning monarch will get there too.