MON REPOS - House of "Countess Mavrodaki"

In the ITV adaptation of The Durrells, Mon Repos is owned by the reclusive "Countess Mavrodaki". The Countess is a fictitious creation for the TV show, but the incident of the stolen goldfish, that occurs in the grounds of the house, was told by Gerald Durrell in The Corfu Trilogy..

The Mon Repos mansion was built by the English Commissioner of the Ionian Islands, Frederick Adam, in 1831. It is said that it was a gift to his beloved wife, the Corfiot Nina Palantianou, The Colonel architect was George Whitmore and famous for other buildings in Corfu.

Prince Phillip was born here, and it was used as the summer house of the Greek royal family and is now a museum and can be visited - as can the extensive grounds. Officially named by King George I, the estate Mon Repos meaning "my rest", hosted the Empress Elizabeth of Austria known as "Sissi" before she built the Achillion, while it is the place where Prince Philip was born who later married Elizabeth II of England.

Today this palace houses the Museum of Palaiopoli and although there have been many battles to determine its true ownership it was ruled by the courts that it came under the ownership of the Municipality of Corfu.