Royal Albert Hall box for sale for £550,000
A private box at the Royal Albert Hall, worth £500 when it was first sold in 1871, has gone on sale for £550,000.
The second tier box, which has five seats, is the only box to retain its original timber veneer and mirrored panel features.
It was one of 1,276 seats originally sold by Queen Victoria to help raise money to complete the Hall in 1871.
A quarter of the Royal Albert Hall’s 5,250 seats were put up for sale for £100 each – all with 999 year leases.
Queen Victoria bought 20 seats in the Grade 1 listed building, and today the Queen’s box on the Grand Tier is still owned by the Royal Family.
Shirley Humphrey from Harrods Estates told Channel 4 News that the last box sold by the agent was located in the circle two years ago, fetching more than £1m.
While boxes rarely come up for sale, the owners or ‘seatholders’ do not have exclusive rights to their seats at all times.
They are allowed to see all performances deemed “ordinary lettings”, but can be excluded in special events or high profile performances – which are labelled “exclusive lettings”.
A Royal Charter set out the rules from the outset and today the Hall flags up all the events members will receive tickets for, and those events designated as exclusive.
Every time seatholders are excluded, their bill towards the annual upkeep of the Hall is cut back. According to Harrods Estates, seatholders pay around £600 a year before rebates.
They can also recoup money lost on events they chose not to attend, though the Hall’s Ticket Return Scheme, which sells tickets on to the public and gives the seatholder a share in the proceeds.