Scandalous luxury in Cliveden
Sep 17 2010 By Edward Stephens
Edward Stephens lives the high life in a stately home which formed the backdrop to a low point in British politics.
The four figure per night price of the suite we were staying in at Cliveden made me more than a little wary of leaving our Jack Russell terrier alone in there while we went to dinner.
Not that Nicky is a destructive dog but the hotel was an unknown environment for her and there was rather a lot of antique furniture in the somewhat opulent rooms.
I needn’t have worried, however. When I mentioned it to the duty manager she simply said “no problem sir, we can easily get a dog sitter for you”, which was precisely what she did.
Like two thirds of Von Essen hotels, Cliveden is dog-friendly, which is surprising considering its history – and room rate.
The former stately home of Britain’s first female MP, Lady Astor, is a magnificent property which sits in some 250 acres of National Trust land and has beautiful formal gardens which stretch down to the Thames.
Guests have included every British monarch since George I.
Queen Victoria, a frequent guest, was not amused, however, when the house was bought by William Waldorf Astor, America’s richest man at the time. In 1906 he gave it to his son and daughter-in-law Nancy Astor and it became the centre of the elite social scene attracting everyone from Charlie Chaplin to Winston Churchill, President Roosevelt to George Bernard Shaw.
It hit the headlines in the 1960s for the wrong reasons, however, after the chance meeting of cabinet minister John Profumo and a 19-year-old call girl.
He and other guests happened to walk through the gate of the secluded walled garden which houses the property’s outdoor swimming pool as Christine Keeler was running around topless. The affair that followed rocked the nation.
When it was announced that Cliveden was to become a hotel, Harold Macmillian, a frequent visitor, was said to have remarked: “But my dear boy, it always has been.”
The stately home is set at the end of a long driveway and as you approach you can take in the grandeur of the building for several minutes before you actually arrive at the entrance.
Staff greeted us – and the dog – warmly by name, although how they knew us from other guests is still a mystery.
