| Bagshot Park | |
|---|---|
.jpg) The house from the park | |
  Location within Surrey | |
| General information | |
| Coordinates | 51°22′14″N0°41′46″W / 51.37056°N 0.69611°W /51.37056; -0.69611 |
| Current tenants | TheDuke andDuchess of Edinburgh |
| Completed | 1879 |
| Owner | The Crown Estate |
Listed Building – Grade II | |
| Official name | Bagshot Park Mansion |
| Designated | 4 August 1976 |
| Reference no. | 1030005 |
| Official name | Bagshot Park |
| Designated | 27 February 1998 |
| Reference no. | 1001381 |
Bagshot Park is aroyal residence located nearBagshot, a village 11 miles (18 km) south ofWindsor. It is on Bagshot Heath, a 50-square-mile (130 km2) tract of formerly open land inSurrey andBerkshire. Bagshot Park occupies 51 acres (21 ha) within the designated area ofWindsor Great Park.[1]
The Mansion house was listed,Grade II, as a building of special architectural or historic interest in 1976.[2] The present building was built on the site of an earlier mansion in 1879 with red brick and stone dressings in Tudor gothic style, forPrince Arthur, Duke of Connaught. Side and rear extensions were added in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The landscaped grounds are also Grade II listed on theRegister of Historic Parks and Gardens.[3]
Prince Henry came to Bagshot Lodge on 4 September 1609 and gave £1 to the musicians who entertained him.[4] In 1612 King James appointedNoël de Caron as Keeper of the Park in 1612, a post he kept until his death in 1624.[5] The Lodge was rebuilt between 1631 and 1633 as one of a series of small lodges designed forCharles I byInigo Jones.[6] It was remodelled between 1766 and 1772 according to designs ofJames Paine forGeorge Keppel, the 3rdEarl of Albemarle,[7] and altered in 1798 bySir John Soane[8] for the Duke of Clarence (later KingWilliam IV), who lived there until 1816.
Bagshot Park was subsequently used byPrince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester, nephew of KingGeorge III. The Duke added pieces of property between the estate and Sunningdale; his widow,Princess Mary, daughter of King George III, continued to live there after his death until she moved out in 1847.[9] The original house was demolished in 1877–78.[10]
A new building with 120 rooms was completed in 1879. The 1881census records anequerry and 26servants living in the main house: an underbutler, ahousekeeper, fourvalets, two lady's maids, two dressers, acook, threekitchen maids, three housemaids, threefootmen, a page, a porter, ascullery maid, two other junior posts and asoldier. Acoachman and sevengrooms lived in thestables. Two other domestic staff lived in one of the lodges, three agricultural workers lived in another, and onegardener is recorded as living on the estate.[11] From 1880 this was the principal residence ofPrince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, a son ofQueen Victoria. The Duke, who wasGovernor General of Canada from 1911 until 1916, died at Bagshot Park in 1942. The property had been ingrace and favour occupation.
Following the Duke's death, Bagshot Park was requisitioned by the Army for the Auxiliary Territorial Service (later to become the WRAC) to use as their Staff College. This closed at the end of the war.
In 1946George VI offered the house to theRoyal Army Chaplains' Department to be used as a Church House and Chaplains' Depot. The Army Chaplains were in residence from 1947 but relocated toAndover, Hampshire, in April 1996, shortly before the thenEarl andCountess of Wessex took over the tenancy. The Army Chaplains famously placed a notice by the pond reading "Please do not walk on the water". The original sign was removed when the chaplains left, but a new one, made by J. M. J. Holland Chairmakers and given to the Earl of Wessex, has replaced it.
Although the house was criticised as ugly by the architectural historianNikolaus Pevsner,[12] it was said to be the most adventurous royal house to be created since the death ofAlbert, thePrince Consort of Queen Victoria, in 1861. It is also a remarkable monument in the history ofIndian taste in Britain: an Indianbilliard room wing, which inspired the more famous Durbar Room atOsborne House, was prefabricated in India and installed in the 1880s. This was a result of the Duke of Connaught's Indian tour, when the Duke metJohn Lockwood Kipling and asked him to design and oversee the installation of a billiard room in Indian taste. The Indian craftsmen who assembled and installed the room at Bagshot were housed in a tent in the grounds. The work took two years and was a wedding gift from Indian princes to the Duke and Duchess of Connaught.[13]
In March 1998, Bagshot Park and a block of stables and Sunningdale Lodge was leased by the Crown Estate toPrince Edward for 50 years. The house was renovated as a residence for the prince. The renovation was partly funded by theCrown Estate and partly funded by Prince Edward. The renovation was originally estimated to cost £2.18m, with £1.6m from the Crown Estate and the remainder being paid by the prince. TheNational Audit Office (NAO) report on the transaction states that the final cost of renovations was £2.98m; the Crown Estate paid £1.6m and the estimated excess of £1.38m was paid by Prince Edward. The prince rented it from the Crown Estate initially for £5,000 a year then after renovation rising to £90,000 a year subject to 15-year rent reviews linked toRPI. According to the NAO report, the property leased by the prince does not include commercial farmland or woodland. The lease agreement permits subletting of the stable block.[1]
Prince Edward has since extended the lease to 150 years for £5m.[14]
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