| Queen's Cottage | |
|---|---|
| Alternative names | The Lodge |
| General information | |
| Town or city | Nuwara Eliya |
| Country | Sri Lanka |
| Design and construction | |
| Client | Government of Sri Lanka |
Queen's Cottage (also known as The Lodge) is a country house near Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka. It is the vacationing and country residence of the President of Sri Lanka. Located within the limits of the Nuwara Eliya Municipal Council along the Queen Elizabeth Drive, it is a protected monument under the Antiquities Ordinance.
Built as an English country house, during the late 19th century by the British Colonial administration of the island for the use of the Governor of Ceylon as a vacationing residence in the cold highlands of Nuwara Eliya. It was frequented by Governors and their guests to escape the topical heat of Colombo to Little England as Nuwara Eliya was known.
It was at the Queen's Cottage, Sir John Anderson fell ill and later died on March 24, 1918. He was the only British Governor to die in Ceylon. In 1947, (later Sir) Barclay Nihill, Legal Secretary and Sir Robert Drayton Chief Justice reviewed and approved the draft of the first constitution of Ceylon that had been drafted by Bernard Peiris on the request of D S Senanayake.
Since independence in 1948 the house became the official vacationing residence of the Governor General of Ceylon and since 1972 the President after Sri Lanka became a republic. However since independence it has been used by the Prime Minister as well. On December 31, 1953 the Cabinet of Ceylon meet for an urgent meeting under Prime Minister Sir John Kotelawala.