Following the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, Osborne House, overlooking the River Medina, where she had spent her final years, was surplus to the requirements of the new king, her son Edward VII.

In 1903, part of the estate, including the Osborne Stable Block, was converted into a naval training college, while the main house became a military hospital.

He said that King Edward had indicated that he wished to present Osborne House and its grounds to the nation, thus providing "a most admirable site, in a situation second to none" for a naval establishment.

There would be a large gymnasium and recreation hall, plus single-storey class-rooms and bungalow dormitories built of Euralite, with concrete floors, heated by steam from a boiler house.

[4] Before admission as naval cadets at about the age of thirteen, boys had to pass an entrance examination, in which they were tested in English, history and geography (with special reference to the British Empire), arithmetic, algebra, geometry (practical and theoretical); French or German, with written and oral examinations; and Latin, with set translations and simple grammatical questions.

[8] Osborne inspired the Merchant Navy's Nautical College, Pangbourne, founded in 1917, where boys continued to wear naval uniform and to maintain some other traditions.

[8] William Mansfield Poole, the head of modern languages at Osborne, proceeded with his boys to the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, and continued to teach there.