Sitting over a wonderful dinner at Cliveden House’s Terrace
Dining Room, spellbound by the views of the jaw-dropping gardens and the
Thames, I could not help wondering what stories this house could tell.
Set in over 376 acres of gardens and parkland, Cliveden
House melds together luxury with private home intimacy. It balances perfectly
faultless service and tradition with rustic romance.
Owned by the National Trust and operated by the owners of
Chewton Glen, the luxurious five-star country house hotel and spa in Hampshire,
Cliveden is continually being painstakingly restored and tweaked to
maintain its character and integrity.
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| Cliveden House |
From the moment you enter the oak-panelled Great Hall, you
feel as if you have been transported into a secret world of a bygone
era. As Lady Astor’s portrait, flanked by a medieval stone fireplace, gazed
down on me, I half-expected to see lords and ladies of yesteryear creep out of
the woodwork.
Cliveden House has always proved irresistible to the rich
and powerful. From duelling dukes to lavish parties, to being propelled into
the world’s headlines for its part in the Profumo Scandal, this house deserves
its own TV drama series.
Over 300 years, it has been home to three dukes, an earl,
three viscounts and Frederick, Prince of Wales, son of George ll. This
legendary mansion has seen almost every British monarch since George l,
including the present Queen walk through its doors.
Its story began in 1666, when George Villiers, the second
Duke of Buckingham, renowned for his rakish, scandalous behaviour bought
the Cliveden estate so that he could have a residence close to London where he
could entertain his mistress, the Countess of Shrewsbury, and his friends.
Buckingham’s legacy of grand style entertaining has become the epitome of
Cliveden.
The two former houses were ravaged by fire. The Duke and
Duchess of Sutherland, already owners of several other estates, added Cliveden
to their collection in 1849. In the same year, after the second fire in the
house’s history, Sir Charles Barry, who also designed the Houses of Parliament,
was commissioned to rebuild the present three-storey Italianate villa. The
parterre, the exquisite formal garden that is today one of the stars of the
show, is planted to the designs of the duchess and her head gardener.
Queen Victoria, a guest at the house, was not amused when
she heard that the Italianate estate was sold to William Waldorf Astor,
reputedly, then America’s richest citizen.
Over the following years, Lord Astor and his family
entertained anybody who was anybody. Guests were as diverse as Winston
Churchill, President Roosevelt, Ghandi and Charlie Chaplin.
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| The grounds and parterre |
But, it was a house party in 1961 that had the world
aghast. It was at the swimming pool that one of the guest’s John Profumo, the
Secretary of State for War met the 19-year-old beauty, Christine Keeler. When
the affair came to light two years later, it was alleged that Keeler was also
sleeping with a Soviet spy. Profumo resigned and Prime Minister Harold
Macmillan relinquished his post soon afterwards and the Tory, government
tarnished with sleaze, lost power a year later.
The Astor family, the then occupants of the house, decided
that the National Trust, which had owned Cliveden since the early 1940s, should take
over the reins of the day-to-day management as well. Eventually, in 1985 it
became a hotel. Now having been restored with loving care by its present
owners and management, Cliveden is regarded as one of the world’s best country
house hotels.
All of the 38 bedrooms and suites are named after somebody
who has left their mark on the hotel. (There is not one named after Keeler or
Profumo.) Reminders of the house’s rich and colourful past loom
everywhere.
I stayed in the blue and cream Gibson, named after Charles Dana
Gibson, a graphic artist, renowned for the Gibson Girl. Overlooking the Grand
Drive and the flamboyant Fountain of Love, this room had the most amazing four
poster-bed and a gorgeous dressing table. I loved the cute touches such
as the bowl of fruit and champagne that were waiting for me on arrival as well
as the Asprey Purple Water toiletries.
If you want your own private retreat, Spring Cottage, tucked
away down by the Thames, which has recently been given a glamorous makeover, is
the place to head for. Queen Victoria has had tea here and Keeler was staying
here the weekend she met Profumo.
If your idea of a country house break involves elegance,
style and great leisure activities, Cliveden House will seduce you.
By Daralyn Danns
Cliveden House Hotel, Taplow, Berkshire
www.clivedenhouse.co.uk
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