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 Cliveden, 1868-1966 - The Duke, the Astors and Cliveden’s ‘golden age’
On the Duchess of Sutherland’s death in 1868, Cliveden was sold to Hugh Grosvenor, 1st Duke of Westminster, who fell in love with the place after spending his honeymoon there. The Duke went on to spend 25 happy years at Cliveden with his first wife Constance, followed by his second wife, Katherine. It ended when he reluctantly sold the House in 1893, using part of the proceeds to maintain his ever-increasing expenditure on charities.
Queen Victoria was famously ‘not amused’ at the Duke’s decision to sell up, and wrote to him in April 1893 saying curtly “The Duke must excuse the Queen if she says she thinks he has built too much at Eaton [the Westminsters’ main residence] and that if that had not been so, Cliveden might have been retained”.
However, little did Victoria guess that the chapter was about to open on what is commonly thought to be Cliveden’s golden age. 1893 was when the House became the home of one William Waldorf Astor, a fabulously wealthy American entrepreneur. The asking price he paid for Cliveden – a breathtaking US$1.25 million.
William’s legacy at Cliveden is more architectural than social – he himself was an awkward and austere figure, ill at ease in company of any sort. Instead he let loose his artistic taste all over the House and grounds, most famously of all importing every last facet of a Louis XV wood-panelled room from the Château d’Asnières near Paris in 1897 for what has become known as the French Dining Room. Cliveden also became the setting for his extensive collections of sculpture, tapestries and furniture.
But it was in 1905 when Cliveden’s overwhelming physical splendour was matched by social sparkle in the shape of the beautiful and captivating American, Nancy Langhorne. William made Cliveden a gift to his son, Waldorf Astor, upon his marriage to Nancy in 1906. To Nancy, he gave a magnificent tiara containing the famous 55-carat Sancy diamond (now kept in the Louvre).
More History ...
The 2nd Duke of Buckingham
The First Earl of Orkney
Frederick, Prince of Wales
Three Countesses of Orkney
Second Fire and Rebirth
Nancy, Lady Astor
Cliveden and the Profumo Affair
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Duke of Westminster
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William Waldorf Astor by Herkomer
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Fountain of Love by Thomas Waldo Storey
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