It is interesting to contemplate why Beatrice sold the house. She was receipt of a parliamentary annuity of 6,000 pounds pa and presumably received the dowry of 30,000 pounds that her sisters received. I know Prince Henry obviously did not bring much more than his army pay into the marriage and consequently the family relied heavily upon Beatrice's annuity, and that after 1901 they family no longer lived free of charge with QV and that Beatrice had to establish a completely independent household similar to that of the Christians. As non of her children were eligible to receive parliamentary annuities I assume Beatrice must have had to provide allowances etc for her sons herself which out of 6,000 a year was hardly auspicious. I am sure that I read somewhere that QV left Helena around 100,000 pounds in capital in her will and assume that a similar amount may well have been bequeathed to Beatrice, if so perhaps Beatrice felt it better to sell Osborne Cottage rather than try to maintain the house and her apartment at Kensington Palace on her annuity without using capital in addition to meet higher costs. Saying that, if Beatrice did inherit capital of 100,000 pounds from QV, this would yield at least 3,000 pounds per annum in interest if invested wisely giving Beatrice an annual income of 9,000 a year which for that time was certainly enough for a peer of the realm to live on in comfort if spent wisely.
Just a musing!
