The tradition of deer hunting in the area goes back as early as 1293, when the site was part of the Manor of Sheen. The land was generally poor and badly drained with vegetation largely of bracken and oaks (some of which survive as veteran trees within the Park to this day).

The area 'emparked' was about 2,500 acres, surrounded by eight miles of brick wall. There was much opposition to emparkment in 1637: from those whose estates were purchased, and from local people objecting to loss of common land and access. So great was the opposition that Charles I was forced to allow people to cross the Park. Ladders were placed to provide access over the walls, and the poor were permitted to continue to collect fallen wood for firewood.

When George I came to the throne in 1714, the Great New Park was his to hunt in, but there was no suitable accommodation in which to eat, rest or to spend the night.

An elegant English Palladian villa, White Lodge was originally known as Stone Lodge. As early as 1751, however, it was variously referred to as ‘New Lodge’, ‘White House’, ‘Stone House’ or ‘White Building’. Built by the King’s Office of Works, White Lodge initially consisted only of the central block, or ‘villa’, five bays wide. It was faced with Hildenley stone, a distinctively ‘white’ Magnesian limestone from Yorkshire.

A single large banqueting hall dominated the interior confirming the specific function of the building: that of a hunting lodge. It was designed as ‘a place of refreshment after the fatigues of the chase’ (Ackermann & Shoberl, 1814). Return from the field took place through the vaulted loggia on the West Front, and banqueting in the room above, with a few rooms providing nocturnal accommodation. When work stopped at White Lodge in 1729, £7,659 had been expended (equivalent to around £700,000 today).

Marble Hill House, situated on the Thames at Twickenham, is regarded as the paradigm of the English Palladian villa. Initially designed by Colen Campbell with Henry Lord Herbert, later 9th Earl of Pembroke, and built by Roger Morris, its perfectly controlled symmetry is expressly based on a Roman temple front. Marble Hill was an expression of Henrietta Howard’s interest in architecture; she was heavily involved in the design process and filled the interior with painted architectural studies.

Born Henrietta Hobart in 1689, she accepted the post of ‘woman of the bedchamber’ to the future Queen Caroline to escape the clutches of her violent and drunken husband, Charles Howard. The royal family provided further protection when she became George II’s long-term mistress. She was tolerated by the pragmatic Queen as a discreet, sensible woman, who obliged by taking the brunt of George II’s bad tempers.

A superlative courtier and a fascinating character, Henrietta was hailed as ‘A Woman of Reason’ and attracted to her supper parties some of the greatest intellectuals of the Georgian age, including Alexander Pope, Jonathan Swift and John Gay.

At this time, the principal benefit of being Ranger of Richmond Park was the deer hunting. Sir Robert Walpole was passionate about this royal recreation. He even instigated the closure of Parliament on Saturdays so that he could go to White Lodge on a regular basis to hunt with the King (both George I and George II). So keen was his interest in Richmond Park that on receiving a pack of letters, he always opened those from his gamekeeper first.

The previous Rangers had allowed Richmond Park to fall into considerable decay. Sir Robert’s youngest son, Horace Walpole, wrote that ‘it was a bog and a harbour for deer-stealers and vagabonds...Sir Robert Walpole drained it and expended great sums upon it’ (Walpole, 2015 edition). In the interest of greater privacy, Walpole had the ladder stiles on the Park walls removed, erected five lodges beside the main Park gates, and initiated a system of controlled access.

‘Her devotion to the king was as great as her desire to govern him’ (Williams, 1860). Queen Caroline was able to manipulate the decisions and actions of her vain, strutting husband, George II, without him realising it. Consequently, she exercised huge influence in the political affairs of the country. She was responsible for the retention of Sir Robert Walpole in office and he relied on her to smooth the way for his audiences with the King. Walpole became known as ‘the Queen’s minister’.

In addition to a lifelong interest in painting, literature, music and philosophy, she favoured religious toleration, contributed generously to charity and championed inoculation against smallpox. She was a friend of Leibnitz, Handel and Voltaire. Her death in 1737 was felt keenly by George II and the nation.

Queen Caroline passed down her love of White Lodge to her daughter, Princess Amelia Sophia Eleanora, who was appointed Ranger of Richmond Park in 1751, following the death of Lord Robert Walpole.

The study of beauty and good taste was an arena of great debate and discussion in the 18th century. In 1753, the painter and satirist, William Hogarth (1697–1764), wrote The Analysis of Beauty, a theoretical treatise outlining his ideas about visual beauty and grace. Prominent was his theory of the ‘line of beauty’: he believed that an S-shaped, or serpentine, line excited the viewer and evoked liveliness and movement. He wanted to explore the point at which curves become beautiful and beyond which they seem excessive. He illustrated this point with drawings of dancers, sculpture, musical instruments, flowers and the human face.

Hogarth’s theories on the beautiful ‘line of grace’ were very influential in the development of the ‘English Landscape Garden’ style, which was supposed to follow such lines of grace in the layout of the landscape. An exponent of the ‘English Landscape Style’, Humphry Repton based his 1805 garden design for White Lodge upon 18th century aesthetic principles (Ward Thompson, 2009).

A keen huntswoman, Princess Amelia created general controversy and alienated the public by closing the Park to them in 1751. However, in 1758 she was forced to back down when John Lewis, a local brewer, took the gatekeeper, Martha Gray, to court for forcibly refusing him entry.

The Rex versus Martha Gray case was heard at the Surrey Assizes and the court found in favour of Lewis, citing King Charles I, who had granted the public rights to use the ancient footways across the Park when it was enclosed in the 17th century. Considering that doors would have to be shut to keep in the deer, Lewis opted for step-ladders to be built over the walls. He became a local celebrity.

The two additional pavilions commissioned by Princess Amelia for White Lodge were built and designed by Stephen Wright, Clerk of Works at Hampton Court. At this time, and until the early 19th century, the curving quadrant links (later known as ‘crescent wings’) from the pavilions to the main villa were at basement level. This work was said to be ‘still incompleted’ when the fourth volume of Vitruvius Brittanicus, in which the design was illustrated, was published in 1767. However, both the pavilions and the curved linking sections are clearly shown in John Eyre’s 1754 map of the Park. ‘If any detail of the work was not completed by 1767, it must, therefore, have been a minor one’ (Cloake, 1996).

Princess Amelia relinquished and sold the Rangership of Richmond Park to King George III, shortly after his accession in 1760, in exchange for an annuity of £1,200.

The kitchen garden of New/White Lodge was known as the Ranger’s Garden. It is visible in the North East corner of Eyre’s map, which lay at some distance from the buildings, by the East Sheen Gate. Although officially separated from the Lodge by orders of George V in 1923, the kitchen garden continued to serve the inhabitants into the 1940s and 50s.

The kitchen garden of any great house was there to provide food, be it vegetables and fruit, chickens and eggs, cows and milk - indeed all that was required to render the house self-sufficient. As White Lodge originally functioned as a hunting lodge, it was not possible to have the walled kitchen garden immediately adjacent, so placing it against the Park wall was the best available option.

Also seen on the map, immediately to the South of the ‘New Lodge’ [White Lodge], are the gravel quarries, marked ‘Pits’. These were eventually filled with water, and became known as Pen Ponds, taking their name from a nearby deer pen.

When Bute resigned as Prime Minister in 1763, his successor, George Grenville, made a bid to obtain White Lodge. George III, however, was determined that he shouldn’t have it. On 20 April 1764, he wrote to Bute, his ‘dear friend’: ‘I told him [Grenville]… that I owne [admit that] I did not chuse to let any one inhabit my own houses, and that, as to that, I had already prepared an apartment where I might drink tea or shelter myself in riding from a shower, that the whole floor consist but of four or at most five rooms and that it would thereafter be impossible for me to grant his request’ (Sedgwick, 1939).

Bute and the King shared White Lodge thereafter. Although Bute did not reside there permanently, he was free to use it as often as he wished.

The Princess Caroline Matilda, later Queen Caroline Mathilde of Denmark (1751–1775), left England for her wedding when she was still just 15. She was treated appallingly by her deeply disturbed and mentally unstable husband. Eventually, she was rescued by agents of George III and removed to the Palace at Celle in Hanover. However, she died from scarlet fever at the tragically early age of 23, having had only three years of respite from her tyrannical husband. The French Garden in the town of Celle is a memorial to Caroline Mathilde.

Many years later, the sad marriage of King Christian and Caroline Mathilde became the subject of a ballet entitled Caroline Mathilde, choreographed for the Royal Danish Ballet in 1991 by Flemming Flindt, with music by Peter Maxwell Davies.

Lady Mary Coke was unimpressed with White Lodge when she was taken to see it by Miss Medows [sic], daughter of the Deputy Ranger: ‘The chief curiosity is an Indian paper in the great Room, which cost three guineas the sheet; it looks like japan [the European method of imitating Chinese or Japanese lacquer], but being on a dark blue ground makes the room appear very dismal. The chimney pieces are, I think, very paltry.’

George III and Queen Charlotte frequented White Lodge throughout Lord Bute’s residency. The royal ciphers ‘G’ and ‘C’ which adorn the wooden chimneypiece in the Salon were carved in their honour. The wooden chimneypiece was a replacement of an older stone and marble chimneypiece which was installed in the 1750s. It is possible, given their shared interest in botanical studies and their collaboration at Kew, that as it used the natural growing material of wood rather than stone, the chimneypiece was a tribute by Lord Bute to Queen Charlotte.

George III’s parents, Prince Frederick and Augusta of Saxe-Gotha had lived at The White House in Kew from 1730. Here, they laid the first foundations of the botanic gardens, assisted by Lord Bute, Prime Minister and resident at White Lodge in Richmond Park. At this time, Kew Palace, also known as ‘The Dutch House’, was used as a schoolhouse for the royal children, where George III received a gruelling education.

On the death of Augusta in 1772, The White House became a summer home to George III and Queen Charlotte. George III was particularly keen on architecture and designed exotic buildings for the gardens at Kew including, most famously, the Pagoda, which still stands today.

Charlotte was a keen amateur botanist and took particular interest in the plants and flowers being imported by Joseph Banks. Banks introduced the ‘Bird of Paradise’ flower to Kew in 1773. He named it Strelitzia Reginae in honour of Queen Charlotte, who came from Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

The ‘beehive’ cold-storage rooms are an interesting feature of White Lodge. There are twelve of them (six in each quadrant tunnel) and a thirteenth which acts as a key ‘sump chamber’. They are now underground, but when first built during the 1750s they were constructed at what was then ground level. Subsequently, they were covered over with earth to bring the natural level of the ground at the Eastern carriageway up to the level of the entrance door, which until that time (1801–16) had been approached across a bridge-causeway. (See the 1727 Robert Walpole entry on this Timeline: Ink drawing by Augustin Heckel from Robert Walpole’s Aedes Walpolianae, first published in 1747).

Due to the sloped terrain upon which White Lodge is built, drainage of the site has always presented a challenge.  Ground and surface water originally moved unimpeded down the hill from East to West; the 1726–28 basement of the King’s Building was kept dry by means of a ventilated cavity perimeter drainage moat. Following the raising of the ground against the tunnels and beehives, a similar system fed water into a catchment pit located at the central meeting point of the tunnels. Unfortunately this ingenious Georgian drainage was disconnected during the Edwardian period, causing problems with damp in the tunnels ever since.  

George III (1738–1820) is often remembered as ‘mad King George’ or ‘the king who lost America’, and he remains one of the most controversial and criticised monarchs in British history. A cultured man, with 15 children, he was also the first King to be born in England since Charles II in 1630. He turned this to his advantage in his accession speech of 1760, declaiming: ‘Born and educated in this country, I glory in the name of Britain’.

George III was a prominent figure in the history of White Lodge, Richmond Park, and neighbouring Kew. In the early years of his reign, he was absolutely dependent upon his former tutor and ‘dearest friend’ John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, and often visited him at White Lodge. The King, himself, was active in Richmond Park as Ranger from 1792, and Kew was a site of recuperation from his bouts of ‘madness’ in 1788, and again in the early 1800s (possibly caused by the rare genetic disease, porphyria). Finally, he was instrumental in developing and extending the new botanic gardens at Kew.

From 1801, George III commissioned various architects to enlarge White Lodge. Extensive repair works had to be undertaken to transform the hunting lodge into a comfortable residence. The bill for these works came to £24,540 - 16s - 7d (equivalent to around £800,000 today). The work was masterminded and put in hand by James Wyatt, then the Deputy Surveyor of Woods and Forests, a Gothic Revivalist whose restorations of medieval cathedrals had earned him the nickname ‘the Destroyer’. Fortunately, his additions to White Lodge were sympathetic to the original 18th century villa.

Princess Amelia’s pavilions were linked to the main building by curved, two-storey, quadrant corridors, which took the place of the open, curved colonnades of the 1750s. The crescents met in a new entrance vestibule, later called the Long Gallery, which was originally used as an orangery. Finally, an elegant porte-cochère [covered entrance] was added by 1816, known as the East Portico it completed the new main entrance of the Lodge.

The whole house was redecorated and the early 19th century ceilings throughout date from these works. The extent of the work reveals the state of disrepair into which the house had previously been allowed to fall.

On 13 June, the King wrote to Addington from Kew: ‘The appearance of the morning makes the King hope the evening will be dry. He therefore trusts Mr Addington will bring his family in his sociable [an open carriage] to the Lodge in Richmond Park, but hopes the lively and engaging youngest daughter will not be omitted’ (Pellew, 1847).

George Pellew also gives an account of what ensued: ‘Unfortunately at the time fixed for his departure, Mr Addington was detained in town by indispensable business; and, in consequence, their Majesties were kept waiting, for nearly an hour, in the unfurnished lodge: nothing, however, could exceed the patience with which they awaited the arrival of their expected visitors…the extreme kindness, indeed, of the King and Queen on this occasion, and the glee with which the Princesses explored the various apartments.’

In The Life and Correspondence of Addington, first Viscount Sidmouth (1847), Addington’s son-in-law, George Pellew, records the personal interest the King took in his Prime Minister’s comfort:

‘Indeed a more gratifying sight cannot readily be imagined, than that of this benevolent monarch employing himself in providing for the comfort and convenience of a faithful and valued servant. The White Lodge was at that time open to the Park and the King on one of his visits to it, took with him a person provided with a number of stakes and himself marked out a space of sixty acres surrounding the house, which he ordered to be enclosed for the use of Mr Addington...Mr Addington gratefully assured his Majesty that so large a quantity of land far exceeded what he required, or felt that he could with propriety receive, and earnestly besought permission to accept only a twelfth part of the defined space.’ The five acres of land that Addington accepted remains the extent of White Lodge’s gardens today.

William Pitt dined and slept at White Lodge on two occasions in January 1803. Great Britain was again at war with Napoleonic France and Pitt had been at loggerheads with Addington over the Governmental Budget for the ‘extraordinary’ necessary war expenditures. Pitt took exception to Addington’s proposal to borrow in order to cover the deficit.

The last months of 1802 can be regarded as the high point of Addington's administration, with notable achievements in foreign policy, finance, and national defence to its credit. Yet important matters continued to be referred to Pitt, and it was at White Lodge, in early 1803, that Addington tried to establish whether Pitt would offer him support in the coming parliamentary session. When parliament met, however, Pitt stayed away altogether.

Addington’s subsequent running of the war was so poor that Pitt and his allies in parliament contrived to have George III remove Addington from office. When Addington resigned in May 1804, the King insisted that he be allowed to live at White Lodge for the duration of his life.

Repton’s ‘before’ and ‘after’ watercolours, reproduced as aquatints in his Fragments on the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening (1816), show that he provided a formal setting for the house. He advocated ‘a decided artificial Character for the Garden; boldly reverting to the ancient formal style, which by some will be condemned as departing from the imitation of Nature…but which is preferable to the uncleanly, pathless grass of a forest, filled with troublesome animals of every kind, and some occasionally dangerous’ (Loudon, 1840).

Using his characteristic hinged-plate device to illustrate his proposals, Repton perhaps exaggerated the ‘troublesome animals’ by showing in his ‘before’ scene half a dozen cattle and a group of deer all within yards of the walls of the house. On the left, a bull is even shown pursuing a frightened young couple!

In early September 1805, Captain Richard Keats, one of Nelson’s most trusted subordinates, had called at the home of Lord Nelson and his mistress Emma, Lady Hamilton. The recorded description of Nelson’s battle plans to Keats would almost certainly have been the same as that given to Addington at White Lodge only a few days later:

‘I shall form the Fleet into three Divisions in three Lines. One Division shall be composed of twelve or fourteen of the fastest two-decked Ships, which I shall keep always to windward, or in a situation of advantage... it will always be in my power to throw them into Battle in any part I may choose...With the remaining part of the Fleet formed in two Lines I shall go at them at once, if I can about one Third of their line from their leading ship...I'll tell you what I think of it. I think it will surprise and confound the Enemy. They won't know what I am about. It will bring forward a pell-mell battle’ (White, 2005).

Addington, who had been created Viscount Sidmouth in January 1805, carefully preserved the table on which Nelson had drawn out his battle plan. He later recalled that Nelson had remarked, 'Rodney broke the line in one point; I will break it in two.' If reported correctly, this remark provides evidence that Nelson intended to emulate and improve upon the tactics used against the French by Admiral Lord George Rodney at the Battle of the Saintes in 1782.

Addington also cherished the final letter he was ever to receive from his illustrious friend: ‘On Tuesday forenoon, if superior powers do not prevent me I will be in Richmond Park, and shall be happy in taking you by the hand, and to wish you a most perfect restoration to health. I am as ever, my dear Lord, your most obliged and faithful friend, Nelson’ (Pellew, 1847).

‘The governance of Richmond Park involved the appointment of Rangers, Deputy Rangers, and Keepers. From the Park’s enclosure up to the 20th century, the precise definitions of these roles varied over time, and sometimes they were used interchangeably. Generally, the Rangership and Deputy Rangership were honorary sinecures with a proprietary interest in the Park, often entitling the holders of the posts to the profits from felled timber etc. In contrast, the role of Keeper was that of an employee, with responsibility for the operational management of the Park’s land, trees, and deer’ (Robert Wood, 2016).

Addington’s son-in-law, George Pellew, recorded the friendship: ‘Mr Sheridan had been his [Addington’s] frequent visitor at Richmond Park and they had reciprocated much friendly and confidential intercourse both private and political...the following anecdote of Lord Sidmouth’s will tend further to explain the footing on which his Lordship and Sheridan stood towards each other: ‘there is no man’, said Sheridan to me, ‘who has told me more painful truths than you have, and yet you will do me the justice to believe that there is no one for whom I feel more respect and regard’ (Pellew, 1847).

Among the party were Lord Huntley, Lord Melville, Sir William Grant and Sir Walter Scott. Pellew recorded that ‘the members of his Lordship’s family still retain a vivid recollection of the shouting and dancing with which, when Lady Huntley sat down to the piano, they accompanied her Ladyship’s feeling execution of their favourite airs’.

Sir Walter Scott’s novel, The Heart of Midlothian (published in four volumes in 1818), features both Richmond Park and Queen Caroline of Ansbach. His heroine, Jeanie Deans, walks to London to plead for the life of her sister with Queen Caroline. The fictional meeting between Queen Caroline and Jeanie Deans did not take place in the garden of White Lodge, as was mis-reported in the Pittsburg Commercial Gazette on 14 February 1900, but at nearby Richmond Lodge.

As a little girl, Victoria had dressed some of her dolls as Marie Taglioni, the most famous dancer of the Romantic era, and the greatest star of the Paris Opera Ballet.  Taglioni had appeared in London during the 1830s, when the young Princess Victoria took great delight in her exquisite and ethereal performances. Together with her Governess, Baroness Louise Lehzen, Victoria set about dressing several small jointed dolls in a variety of dainty costumes, representing the great dancer in her most celebrated roles.

Following the death of her beloved aunt, Mary, Duchess of Gloucester at Gloucester House, Piccadilly in 1857, Queen Victoria wrote: ‘Her age, and her being a link with bygone times and generations…rendered her more and more dear and precious to us all, and we all looked upon her as a sort of grandmother’ (Martin, 1879).

Commonly known as ‘Bertie’ by his family, Prince Edward of Wales, the future Edward VII, was a constant worry to his parents. Reluctant to comply with the detailed plan of education laid out for him, and showing little aptitude for study, he led a rakish lifestyle, socialised with actresses and had a fondness for practical jokes. His father, Prince Albert, explained the move to White Lodge in a letter to Baron Stockmar, dated 2 April 1858:

‘[W]hen he returns to London he is to take up residence at the White Lodge in Richmond Park, so as to prepare for a military examination. As companions for him we have appointed three very distinguished young men from twenty-three to twenty-six years of age...and from whose more intimate intercourse I anticipate no small benefit to Bertie...besides these three, only Mr Gibbs and Mr Tarvor [his tutors] will go with him to Richmond’ (Lee, 1925).

To relieve the tedium of his time at White Lodge, the young Prince often made visits to his great aunt, the Duchess of Cambridge and her daughter, Mary Adelaide, by rowing up river to Kew from Richmond or Mortlake and mooring his boat alongside the old landing stage at Brentford Ferry. He would send letters to Princess Mary Adelaide saying that he intended ‘rowing round by Kew gardens today as I told you yesterday’ (Lee, 1925). He also sent her some pheasant feathers to adorn her hat.

Leitch was a Scottish artist who began his career in Glasgow, augmenting a meagre income as a scene-painter by decorating snuff boxes. Seeking to ‘improve his fortunes’ he moved to London, where his charm and wit made him popular with society. Before long he ‘was introduced to Court by Lady Canning, having been recommended by the Duchess of Sutherland, Victoria’s great friend and her Mistress of the Robes’ (Warner, 1979).

‘Leitch gave the Queen a basic technical knowledge of the potential of watercolour […], “I showed how light, that is brilliancy, was produced by yellow ochre, pink madder, and cobalt blue, and darkness, deeper than black, by sepia, purple lake and indigo […]. I then did skies, distance, middle-ground, foreground, white clouds, and their shadows, no whiter than a lady’s satin dress […].” After attending to this part of the lesson with great earnestness … the Queen turned to Lady Canning and said, “This is very wonderful…”’ (Leitch quoted in Warner, 1979).

Queen Victoria lent White Lodge to her friend, Lady Phipps, for a short time in 1861. It was later made occasional use of as a weekend residence by Edward and Alexandra, the Prince and Princess of Wales, who were married in 1863. In particular, the couple stayed at the Lodge for brief periods during 1867 and 1868.

The Tecks had four children. Princess Victoria Mary, or Princess ‘May’ as she was known, was born just before midnight on 26 May 1867. Her full name was Victoria Mary Augusta Louise Olga Pauline Claudine Agnes. She was to become the wife of the future George V. Her three brothers were Prince Adolphus (born 1868), Prince Francis (born 1870), and Prince Alexander George (born 1874).

The Duchess of Teck’s diary reveals an active and vivid woman intensely absorbed in her home, her husband, and her children. The Duchess was the positive influence at White Lodge; she naturally gravitated to the laughter and colour of life and infused them into all her charitable works. Her friends adored her and Princess May was passionately attached to her. The Duchess moved in a large, varied, cosmopolitan circle of friends who foregathered every Sunday evening at White Lodge.

It was a ‘family life’ in the fullest sense of the term. In the summer evenings, under the apple-tree in the garden, the family regularly gathered before bedtime.

For Princess May, her early childhood at White Lodge was ineffaceably stamped by the infinite kindness of her mother. Richmond looked upon the ‘lady up at White Lodge’ as a never-failing fountain of sympathy, a model of all the wifely and domestic virtues, a constant and vigorous source of practical advice and help; a very embodiment of all English virtues and an incomparable mother to her three little boys and their sister (Woodward, 1927). The Duchess of Teck has become an almost legendary personality in the annals of White Lodge.

In her memoirs, the Countess of Airlie recalled joyful childhood visits to White Lodge: ‘The Duchess always welcomed us with a beaming smile and a big dish of sugar plums…I can still hear her jolly laugh as she worked the swing so vigorously that strands of hair fell over her face’ (Ellis, 1962).

The Duke had a choice collection of blue and white porcelain plates. He suspended them on the wall in special mounts, each designed in the form of a ‘true lover’s knot’, where they were complemented by the soft deep crimson damask with which the dining room was hung. On her 37th birthday, the Duchess recorded in her diary:

‘On our return Francis took me into the drawing-room where the bright red cretonne curtains and loose covers were my first pleasant surprise…The blue parrots on the buff ground of the cretonne curtains and covers are deliciously pretty…after dinner I was taken into the blue boudoir to be agreeably surprised which I most certainly was, for never have I seen a room more improved! Behind the armchair, which takes up the opposite corner of the fireplace, now stands the little black Japanese whatnot from the Green corridor...The whole effect is most perfect and so delighted me…most snug and cosy!’ (Pope-Hennessey, 2000).

The 1st Duke of Wellington had famously led the allied armies that finally defeated Napoleon Bonaparte at Waterloo on Sunday 18 June, 1815. The ducal estate at Stratfield Saye House in Hampshire now contains the Wellington family archives. These include social correspondence from Princess Mary Adelaide, Duchess of Teck, to the 2nd Duchess of Wellington. Written between 1858 and 1891, two of the 12 collected letters are on writing paper headed ‘White Lodge, Richmond Park’. They mainly concern the giving or acceptance of invitations, requests of support for charitable work, and enquiries after the health of family members. The last letter, dated 12 December 1891, discusses the engagement of her daughter Princess ‘May’ (Mary) to Albert, the Duke of Clarence. Sadly, Albert died of pneumonia just four weeks later, leaving Mary to marry his younger brother, the future George V.

The Stratfield Saye archives also contain two earlier letters sent to the 2nd Duke of Wellington by the parents of Princess Mary Adelaide. These were written following the death of the 1st Duke of Wellington in 1852, to ask if they might have a lock of his hair or other mementoes by which to remember the great soldier and statesman (source: Archivist to the Duke of Wellington, 2016).

Mr Thomas Frost, gatekeeper in Richmond Park for over thirty years, wrote in praise of ‘the Queen’, the former Princess May, in The Chronicle, 11 May 1910:

‘She was not only joyous and free but as good as gold. I could almost say that I have known the Queen as well as I know my own children - and there are sixteen of those, ten of them born under the very shadow of White Lodge. I have known her ever since she was a tiny toddler. I watched her grow up. I was here at her marriage and here when little Prince Eddy [Edward VIII, later Duke of Windsor] was born, and Queen Victoria and the Tsar of Russia and all…came to his christening. Well I will tell you this about her, and the same holds true of her good mother, the Duchess of Teck. There’s a kind heart runs in the family, and, as I always says, where there’s a kind heart the rest comes natural.’

‘My, what a bonnie girl she was, as full of fun as a young kitten! Many’s the time she’s played rounders and hide and seek with my little kiddies, who are grown men and women now. The gatekeeper’s wife describes another side to the young Princess: ‘A pretty child she was, with fair hair, blue eyes very English-looking. In her ways, even as a little girl, she was different to her mother quieter-like and she was what you would call an inquiring sort of child. Many's the question she asked me about the flowers and things in the garden that regular stumped me questions you wouldn't expect from a little girl like that.’

‘I think she must have been interested in flowers and shrubs; for so often I came on her round and about the way to Coombe Woods, looking solemn-like at some wild-flower she found by the way.’

May’s childhood playmate, Mabell Countess of Airlie, wrote warmly of her lifelong friend: ‘I admired her more than any other child I knew…. What impressed me most in Princess May… was that peculiar radiance which she never seemed to lose in later years.  It was in the vivid blue of her eyes, in the golden lights of her hair, in the perfection of her fair skin’ (Ellis, 1962).

The dancing lesson attended by Princess May was the most exclusive of all Marie Taglioni’s children’s classes. Attendees had to be approved by Queen Victoria and the girls wore their best party dresses. It was said that the ‘Duchess of Teck, always smiling and pleasant, but fat beyond belief’ blocked the view of the watching mothers and chaperones.

The lesson consisted of curtsies, kneeling exercises, ‘chair exercises’, dancing, and fan practice. The Teck children came twice a week to London’s Connaught Square when they were in residence at Kensington Palace. Otherwise, Taglioni would make a Saturday journey to their home at White Lodge in Richmond Park. Margaret Rolfe, another pupil of Taglioni, described Princess May as ‘shy, and stiff as if she had been made of wood’ (Woodcock, 1989).

Many years later, May, who was by then Queen Mary, shook the hand of an aspiring young ballet dancer named Leo Kersley, telling him that he had just ‘shaken the hand which once shook the hand of the great Marie Taglioni!’ This handshake has now become part of Royal Ballet School tradition, and is passed down ceremonially through the generations of White Lodge students.

The Empress, known as ‘Sissi’, impressed everyone with her beauty, but her lovely exterior masked many hidden secrets. The Austro-Hungarian court was decadent and corrupt. Her son, Crown Prince Rudolf, experienced a brutal and lonely upbringing, becoming dissolute and violent as a young man. He later took his own life and that of his 17 year-old mistress, the Baroness Mary Vetsera, on 30 January 1889 at the royal hunting lodge of Mayerling, in the Vienna Woods.

The tragedy became the story of the ballet Mayerling, choreographed for The Royal Ballet by Kenneth MacMillan in 1978, with music by Franz Liszt. The role of the Empress Elizabeth was created by Georgina Parkinson, graduate of The Royal Ballet School and a Principal of The Royal Ballet. The Empress was again portrayed by a dancer in 1993, when the French ballerina, Sylvie Guillem, appeared in a ballet entitled, Sissi, l'Impératrice anarchiste [Sissi, Anarchist Empress], choreographed by Maurice Béjart, and set to the music of Strauss’ Emperor Waltz.

The Duchess’ diary entry for ‘November 1881’, reads: ‘Mr Irving and Miss Ellen Terry came out to luncheon, at which Irving was my neighbour. Miss Terry was quite done up [exhausted], and rested in the Boudoir with Lady Hopetoun and me, interesting us much by her outpourings. We were sixteen at dinner and afterwards told ghost stories till towards Midnight’ (Kinloch-Cooke, 1909).

Young Princess ‘May’ of Teck (b 1867) was aged 14 when the great actors visited her parents at White Lodge.  She became a devoted admirer of their art, and saw many of their performances: ‘Among members of the royal circle Queen Mary [as she later became] was always known as “the critic”, and she discussed every play she saw with notable perception.’ On her 20th birthday she was given a party by Irving ‘in the famous Beefsteak Room at the Lyceum [Theatre] – when the supper table had been decorated in pink and white may [flowers]…and a set of Shakespeare’s plays bound in white vellum with pink silk markers for a birthday gift that she kept all her life’ (Bevan, 1954).

The Teck family travelled throughout Europe, hosted by their various relations. They stayed in Florence, Italy, for some months where Princess May enjoyed visiting the art galleries, churches and museums. Studying under numerous French and Italian tutors, she discovered a great love of art and culture, developing an interest in literature and art history. When she became Queen, her ‘one great hobby’ became building up the royal art collection.

In her diary Princess May describes her surprise gift as ‘...a phaeton complete with a pony, harness, a bearskin rug for winter, a monogrammed cloth rug for summer, a foot warmer, cushions and two whips [riding crops] - one with an umbrella and one without.’

She writes, ‘Saturday was such an exciting day…In the afternoon a lot of people from Richmond came and presented me with an address and a charming pony and phaeton (a small edition of Mama’s). It was such a surprise and I was so pleased and touched the money was collected all round here and a great many tradespeople subscribed’ (Pope-Hennessey, 2000).

Among the Tecks’ many servants they had a Groom of the Chambers, a Butler, and Under-Butler, two footmen, a steward and a steward’s boy. The Duchess and Princess May had two ‘dressers’ each. There was also a cook, a kitchen maid, a scullery maid, a Head housemaid called ‘Old Liza’, three or four housemaids and three laundry maids. They had a Head coachman, a first and second coachman, strappers and helpers. There were four carriage horses, the phaeton horse named ‘Jumbo’, and one additional horse. For carriages, they had a barouche, a landau, a brougham, a waggonette and a dog-cart.

Mr Adams gave the following statement to the police: ‘On Wednesday 2 April about midnight, I was walking from Mortlake Station to the White Lodge, when near the cross roads in the Park, a man accosted me asking for a light. On feeling in my pockets for one, he attacked me, by hitting me violently in the stomach. On recovering myself I hit out at the man, and caught him between the eyes, knocking him down, another man then appeared and made a rush at me. Having picked up my stick, which was an alpenstock tipped with iron, I met him over the point of it causing him to reel back, upon which both men made off in the direction of Sheen.’ (Source: The National Archives).

The social pages of the same newspaper recorded another visit to Richmond Theatre some years later: ‘Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of York drove to White Lodge, Richmond-park [sic] yesterday afternoon, on a visit to Princess Mary Adelaide and the Duke of Teck, and in the evening they were present at a dramatic performance at the Theatre Royal, Richmond, in aid of the Kew Vicarage House Fund’ (Morning Post, 5 May 1894).

From an unattributed article in The Illustrated London News, 20 June 1891, p 799:

‘The “silver wedding,” or twenty-fifth anniversary of marriage, of her Royal Highness Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge and his Highness the Duke of Teck was celebrated on June 12 with a pleasing demonstration of friendly esteem among their neighbours at Richmond, Kingston, and Kew. The Duke and Duchess of Teck, with their children, attended a special service at Kew parish church, where they were married in 1866, and afterwards, on the lawn of Cambridge House, received an address from the inhabitants of Kew, read by the vicar, the Rev. W. H. Bliss, to which her Royal Highness replied in an affectionate little speech.

Returning home to White Lodge, Richmond Park, the Duke and Duchess received in the afternoon, at a large garden-party, many of the ladies and gentlemen residing in that neighbourhood.  The mayor of Richmond, Sir J. Whittaker Ellis, M.P., read an address of congratulation. Silver-wedding gifts, so different in kind as a grand piano for the Princess and a fine horse, a black cavalry charger, for the Duke, also a pendant of pearls and other jewellery, and a decorated album containing the address with 1500 signatures, were presented, and gratefully accepted. In the evening there was a display of fireworks and an illuminated Venetian fête on the Thames.’

National sympathy for Princess May was expressed in the words of a popular song sung in England that year:

‘A nation wrapped in mourning,

Shed bitter tears today,

For the noble Duke of Clarence,

And fair young Princess May’

The Duke of Cambridge wrote to his cousin, Queen Victoria, on 11 July 1892 that ‘Mary and May and Francis have returned to England looking well and with recovered spirits’ (Letter published in the Ladies’ Home Journal, 1959).

After meeting Princess May, the Dowager Empress wrote to her daughter from Windsor: ‘May is still all in black of course, but she seemed to me a little stiff and cold! I hear her praised on all sides by those who know her well. She is certainly very nice in manner etc…She may have been shy with me seeing me again after all this sorrow! And it is a difficult position for her - as the newspapers are perpetually talking of her betrothal to Georgie’, namely George, the Duke of York (Clay, 2015).

The pair met by chance at Sheen Cottage where Princess May had decided to visit her cousin, Louise, for tea. The Princess recorded in her diary, ‘We walked together afterwards in the garden and he proposed to me and I accepted him...I drove home to announce the news to Mama and Papa and Georgie followed...We telegraphed to all the relations’ (Kinloch-Cooke, 1909).

The betrothal pleased both Queen Victoria and the British public. The couple themselves, however, were not so confident. Princess May wrote to George from White Lodge, ‘I am very sorry I am still so shy with you. I tried not to be the other day, but alas I failed, I was angry with myself!’ Touched by this letter, George replied, ‘Thank God we both understand each other, and I think it really unnecessary for me to tell you how deep my love for you my darling is and I feel it growing stronger and stronger every time I see you; although I may appear shy and cold’ (Clay, 2015).

Princess May’s boudoir was indeed a ‘most interesting portion of White Lodge’: an unattributed floor plan of c1895 shows that her room was previously the School Room. During the 1850s and again in 1861, it had been Queen Victoria’s Sitting Room, while her husband, the Prince Consort, had his own sitting room to the immediate right of the Queen’s. Prince Albert had a further private ‘drawing room’ in the suite; beside it was Her Majesty’s bedroom, and beyond that lay her dressing room.

The walls of Princess May’s boudoir displayed portraits of Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort (sadly, Albert died in December 1861, just nine months after his last stay at White Lodge). Near the French windows in May’s room stood a pretty writing table. This, as well as every available corner, was filled with photographs bearing the autographs of royal personages and celebrities of Europe. On the opposite side of the room was a quaintly-carved white cabinet, and a white book case containing a selection of Princess May’s favourite books, all bound in white vellum.

The christening was attended by Queen Victoria, future monarchs Edward VII and George V and European royals, such as Prince Louis of Battenburg and the future ill-fated Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II, the baby’s Godfather. The ‘four generations’ photograph marks one of the most extraordinary moments in the pageant of White Lodge’s history. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Edward Benson, performed the ceremony, using a font purposely brought from Windsor for the occasion.

Queen Victoria noted in her journal: ‘16 July 1894...A showery morning...I was taken to May’s room to arrange myself...Honiton lace christening robe as used for Vicky’s [the future Empress Frederick] christening...The child was very good. There was an absence of all music, which I thought a pity...When the service was over, I went with May to the Long Gallery where in ’61 I used to sit with Dearest Albert and look through dear Mama’s letters...afterwards were [sic] photographed, I holding the baby on my lap, Bertie and George standing behind me, thus making the four generations. All extremely well arranged’ (source: The Royal Archives, Windsor).

After her first operation, the Duchess wrote from her convalescent bed, ‘I am making wonderful progress, say Nurses and Doctors! Taking roast lamb and mint sauce, boiled mutton, roast chicken, asparagus, spinach etc….my bed is placed in front of window overlooking beech tree, still pink leaved’ (Pope-Hennessey, 2000).

On 26 October, she took a turn for the worse and that evening underwent a second operation. This took place in her room at White Lodge. Her heart failed and she died at 3am the following morning. She lay in state at White Lodge before her funeral took place on 3 November. Princess Mary Adelaide, the Duchess of Teck, was buried in the royal vault at Windsor.

Letters and telegrams in tribute to the Duchess poured into White Lodge. One from Lady Dugdale to Princess May sums up all that the Duchess of Teck had done to help others: ‘Never, never in this world can there have been anyone so full of love and sympathy and thought for everyone and no one so universally beloved’ (Kinloch-Cooke, 1909).

While her nationality seems to be contested, she was very well known in London society and enjoyed the confidence of the King. A dispatch from London to The New York Times reported that the King could ‘rely on her to invite the right sort of people whenever he wants to seek the seclusion which White Lodge affords.’ The Morning Post tactfully observed that the decision to grant such an extensive property to Mrs Hartmann (using the German spelling of her name) was ‘likely to be due to reasons of which the public know nothing’. Tradesmen descended on White Lodge ‘like flies on a jammy opportunity’; the redecoration of one wing alone cost £56,784 19s. 4d. Furthermore, ‘King Edward used White Lodge not only as a hide-out, but also as a dump’ (Hartman, 1964). On one of his overseas tours, the King shot an elephant and decided to give the stuffed head to Mrs Hartman as a souvenir. A weighty honour, the installation of the trophy necessitated the temporary removal of White Lodge’s front door: ‘Operation Elephant… cost at least £1,000’ (Hartman, 1964).

In 1909 Mrs Hartmann was declared bankrupt. This came as some surprise to society as her late husband, Jacques (or James) Hartmann, had left her a large fortune. However, like the Tecks before her, she found the vast expense involved in maintaining White Lodge too costly. As a result, she ‘fell both from grace and favour and went to live with her sister in Paris (Hartman, 1964), dying ten years later in Nice.

Despite having installed 20th century plumbing, Farquhar experienced problems with the new boiler throughout his residence at White Lodge. In 1912 he paid £36 to have the boiler casings renewed. The problem persisted, however, and Farquhar reported in 1916 that the fumes from the coke fuel pervaded the upper rooms and were ‘certainly in unpleasant evidence’. A further £17 10s 1d was expended in vain: in late 1919 a new branch flue was built in an attempt to ‘overcome the difficulty’. The trouble was finally identified as the result of ‘unintelligent stoking’. In March 1920, Lord Farquhar’s stoker was ‘instructed in this matter’ and the domestic saga came to an end.

Coryn de Vere’s Handbook of Richmond Park was also published in 1909; it was a primary source of information for C L Collenette when writing his detailed A History of Richmond Park (1937). The de Vere map records the Richmond Park landscape surrounding White Lodge, including (clockwise from the West): Duchess Wood, White Lodge Hill, White Lodge Plain, and White Lodge Plantations. In the distance in a westerly direction lie Pen Ponds, Walpole’s Oak and Sidmouth Wood. To the South is Spankers Hill Wood, at the edge of which is a ‘shelter box’, possibly for walkers caught in a shower.

Collenette traced the origins of many of these named features of the Park, but was unable to discover why Spankers Hill was so-called. He pointed out that the word ‘spanker’ traditionally meant ‘something striking, from its unusual size or other peculiarity’, but also suggested that ‘like so many other of the park features, the name may commemorate some individual’ (Collenette, 1937).

Several army encampments were set up in the Park during the war where units, including volunteer rifle regiments and the Royal Naval Air Service, trained for battle.

In 1916 a fully equipped military hospital was built in Richmond Park for South African troops injured in the fighting. As part of the war effort, the hospital performed over 2,000 operations and treated over 9,500 patients.

More than 500 people were killed in Britain during the war in bombing raids by German airships called Zeppelins. The government announced an award of £25,000 to anyone who could create a weapon against this threat. In December 1915, just to the west of White Lodge, Pen Ponds became the site of a top secret experiment: inventor, Harry Grindell Matthews successfully demonstrated the use of a remotely controlled boat to detonate mines at a distance. Despite winning the prize, Matthews’ invention was never used.

It is not known if the ropeway was ever in fact used at the Front. The Royal Parks Guild website provides further information on this extraordinary wartime story: ‘An aerial ropeway originally tested at the Ministry of Munition’s Experimental Grounds that was based in the Park in 1917 … the ropeway was the idea of H G Wells, author of War of the Worlds, and developed by Captain Leeming of the Royal Engineers’ Trench Warfare Department at Richmond Park’  (www.trpg.org.uk).

At the time when Mr Waterfield was given his award, it had been recently introduced by the King, as the Empire Gallantry Medal (EGM). In 1940, it was superseded by the George Cross Medal of Honour for Civilian Bravery.

The official account of Albert’s bravery reads: ‘At 2.05am on 10 May 1921, Mr Waterfield, park-keeper, Richmond Park, saw two young men, each armed with a rifle. As he walked towards them they ran off and he gave chase. He followed them for about a mile to a spot not far from Robin Hood Gate when they stopped and called out that if he did not halt, they would fire. He went on towards them and when he was about 50 yards away one of the men fired two shots, both of which missed. The men then turned and ran off, still followed by Mr Waterfield. They scaled a wall into a lane and when captured some distance away were found to be carrying 76 cartridges between them. It was later revealed that they were trying to make an entry into White Lodge, Richmond Park. Mr Waterfield showed great courage and it was due to his persistence in giving chase that the two men were finally arrested’ (Supplement to the London Gazette, 1 January 1923, p 10. See: www.thegazette.co.uk).

The Duchess was already familiar with Richmond Park, having spent part of her childhood with her maternal grandmother at Forbes House, Ham Common. It was Queen Mary's wish that her son and his wife should make their first home in the house which held so many happy memories for her. She wrote in her diary on 23 June, ‘At 12.45 we returned to White Lodge to Luncheon with Bertie and Elizabeth. We went all over the house which they have made very nice!’

It was in preparation for their residency that the grand staircase leading from the Salon to the garden was added, c1922. After almost a century, the Y-shaped symmetrical stairway has since become an established and highly distinctive feature of the building.

Unfortunately, White Lodge proved inconvenient and too expensive. Whereas two hundred years before George II and his Queen had found it a pleasantly secluded, rural retreat, this was no longer true. On weekends and holidays hordes of sightseers arrived, affording the Duke and Duchess no privacy. Moreover, in winter it was very foggy and the chauffeur often lost his way and spent a dispiriting hour wandering around Richmond Park.

As the second son of George V, the Duke of York did not expect to become King and throughout much of his life remained under the shadow of his popular elder brother, Edward. Prince Edward, however, had fallen in love with a twice-divorced American, Mrs Wallis Simpson; he was forced to abdicate the throne in order to marry her, shortly after becoming Edward VIII. Therefore it was with some reluctance and surprise that the Duke of York became King George VI in 1936.

Many years later, in 1970, King George’s widow, Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, visited White Lodge, accompanied by their daughter, Princess Margaret, who was then President of The Royal Ballet (1956–2002).  After slipping away from the group, Her Majesty was found sitting in the Ballet Principal’s office, which had once been her own room, she explained, and her favourite place in the house.

Sir Lionel Earle of HM Office of Works replied to the letter: ‘I knew from the start, when White Lodge was allotted to them, that this young couple would never be satisfied and happy there. They are both passionately fond of dancing, and naturally wish to come to London practically every day for this purpose.’

The Crown Lands Acts of 1702, 1829 and 1851 declared that the hereditary possessions of the Sovereign were rendered inalienable, meaning that White Lodge, as a Royal Palace, could not, by law be leased out or sold. Thus began a saga, which required a new act of Parliament to enable the Duke and Duchess to move into central London.

In July 1926, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Winston Churchill, introduced a Bill to Parliament for a New Crown Lands Act, which would enable a Crown property to be leased out. Consequently he agreed that the Duke and Duchess of York could enter into a lease of 145 Piccadilly when they returned from the Antipodes in the summer of 1927.

The Duke and Duchess of York sought continuing employment for at least two of their servants at White Lodge before they left, offering the services of two of their former gardeners to Lord Lee:

‘A. Stokes (aged 51) Wages £130 a year.

S. Groves (aged 24) Wages £91 a year.’

I can vouch for these men as being extraordinarily good, hardworking men and very well worthy of their hire.’

One of the most interesting aspects of Lord Lee’s activities as a collector was the degree of interest he took in all aspects of the display of his collection. His ideas were first put into practice at White Lodge. While negotiating the lease, Lee sent a letter to Sir Howard Frank, the estate agent: ‘I should, however, regard it as an essential condition that I would have permission to make (at my own expense) certain minor interior alterations (particularly in the North Wing) in order to provide suitable accommodation for the hanging and lighting of my collection of Pictures and other Works of Art.’ Lee’s interests included lighting, hanging systems, ventilation, and wall coverings. The White Lodge scheme was published in Country Life on 8 September 1928.

The original lease of White Lodge was granted from 10 October 1927 for a term of 90 years, carrying an annual rent of £1,750. Had the Lees of Fareham not encountered financial difficulties (when stock markets crashed in 1929), their descendants might still have been in residence today.

A more formal letter from the King’s Private Secretary read: ‘The King and Queen are truly delighted to hear that it has been possible for you and Lady Lee to continue your tenancy of White Lodge, where their Majesties hope you may enjoy many more years of happy married life. The King and Queen have felt much for you both in your recent anxieties.’

Queen Mary claimed an interesting personal connection to ballet.  As a girl, she had been among the most exclusive pupils of the celebrated Franco-Italian ballerina, Marie Taglioni. A great star of the Paris Opera Ballet during the 1830s and 40s, Taglioni was later obliged to flee Paris during the Franco-Prussian war of 1870/1. She moved to Connaught Square in London, where she supported herself by teaching private dancing lessons. On occasion, she even came out to White Lodge to teach the young Princess May. For the rest of her life, May (later Queen Mary), remained proud that she had been taught to curtsey by the great ‘Madame Taglioni’.

Mrs Reynolds Albertini took her patriotic duty very seriously. She invited troops stationed in the Park to call into White Lodge for baths and refreshments. She also presented Richmond Borough Council with two ambulances and an Austin utility vehicle. In 1939, she proposed offering White Lodge to the Red Cross as a hospital, but this never came to fruition.

She permitted her gardener to serve as a member of the Reserve Police, and applied for a licence to cultivate the Lodge’s Kitchen Garden for her Dig for Victory campaign. Among other things she grew raspberries, currants, gooseberries, pears and plums.

World War II brought more new uses and greater disruptions to the Park than ever before. More than a quarter of the Park, (mainly the northeast section) was put under the plough for crops, the deer herd was reduced to below 100 and Pen Ponds were drained as a precautionary measure, being too obvious a landmark for enemy aircraft.

In total, 297 high explosive bombs, 4 flying bombs (V1s) and 1 V2 rocket fell in Richmond Park during the war. On 6 February 1941, the Air Ministry wrote to the Crown Estates that White Lodge had been evacuated ‘for military reasons’. The reason given for the evacuation was that ‘White Lodge was within 800 yards of one of the special defense [sic] schemes required for the protection of Londonʼ.

This ‘special defense scheme’ was probably the nearby ‘Starfish’ decoy, or Special Fire, site. It was equipped with specially-designed boilers and fire baskets to resemble exploding bombs and buildings on fire, so diverting enemy bombers away from real military targets and centres of civilian population (Fowler, 2015).

General Eisenhower’s headquarters were located at ‘Camp Griffiss’ in nearby Bushy Park for the 18 months leading up to the Normandy Landings of 6 June 1944, also known as ‘D-Day’, or ‘Operation Overlord’. Telegraph Cottage in Kingston upon Thames was used as his main residence and the General was able to ride in Richmond Park on days when the public were not admitted.

“It was radiation from a small region in the direction of the constellation of Cygnus.” Understated as ever, Hey was not to realize that he had found the first exploding galaxy – Cygnus A’, until 1946, when he was able to investigate his discovery more thoroughly after the war (Couper & Henbest, 2012). Originally identified as a ‘radio star’, the galaxy was later recognised as the remains of a supernova. The discovery of Cygnus A was to transform post-war observational astronomy. Source: Antony Hewish, Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of The Royal Society DOI: 10.1098/rsbm.2002.0010.

Winston Churchill was prompted by a government official to write a letter of thanks: ‘I hope you will write a short letter to Mrs Reynolds Veitch thanking her for lending the White Lodge to Marshal Tito.  It was really very Public Spirited. She is a Roman Catholic and the Press caused her considerable embarrassment by writing a lot of cheap stuff about her early life, her religious convictions, etc. She has behaved very well over the whole thing.’

Mrs Reynold Veitch’s reply to Churchill’s letter of thanks, written on White Lodge headed writing paper, read: ‘Dear Mr Prime Minister, Thank you indeed for your very kind letter. My husband and self were only too happy to help Her Majesty’s Government for Marshal Tito’s visit. He was most charming and considerate and sweet, the House was left in perfect order for which I am most grateful. Yours sincerely, Nora Reynolds Veitch.’

Mrs Reynolds Veitch wrote in her petition: ‘My lease here runs until 1965, but can be broken in 1958. As you possibly know, my first husband and myself spent large sums of money on White Lodge, modernising it in various ways - putting in central heating throughout bath rooms, indoor swimming pool, etc., without spoiling its Georgian character in any way’. Clearly, White Lodge was proving too costly to run as a private residence.

Several suggestions of possible new schemes for White Lodge were made throughout 1953 including a ‘Country Club’, an exhibition space for the Victoria and Albert Museum, the India Office Library and an office for various commercial firms.

However, it happened that the Sadler’s Wells (later Royal) Ballet School was seeking new premises for its younger students; the Royal Opera House had commissioned Lt-Col Gerald Walker with the task, who learned from the Knightsbridge Estate Agents that White Lodge was available to lease.

On the receipt of Trollope’s letter, the Crown Lands Commission felt some considerable relief and a 50-year lease of White Lodge was granted to the Sadler’s Wells (later Royal) Ballet School. The Ministry of Works declared it to be ‘the most helpful suggestion yet’.

A letter held in The Royal Ballet School Special Collections, written by Mrs P M Walker (dated July 2009), indicates that her husband, Lieutenant-Colonel Gerald Walker, had been entrusted by the Royal Opera House to find, secure and prepare the new premises for the School. Walker worked on the project with the School’s Director, Arnold Haskell, and its architectural advisor, Commander John Loftus Moreton. He was the brother of Ursula Moreton, who was a dancer, teacher and close colleague of the School’s founder, Ninette de Valois.

2004 saw the renewal of The Royal Ballet School’s lease of White Lodge for a further 100 years.

‘When we returned to White Lodge… it was a sad sight to see mattresses, teddy bears and personal effects drying out by the radiators in the corridors downstairs’, recalled Bridget Hearne, one of the original ‘White Lodgers’ (1955-63). Fortunately, no one was hurt in the incident, which caused contained damage to the upper floor and roof of the building.

Other ‘teething problems’ included the discovery of dry rot in parts of the building. However, as more of the refurbishment works were completed, the students’ rides up to Colet Gardens (in a Bedford van!) became less frequent, until it was just the boys who had to trek to Barons Court for a few more weeks. At the time, there were only 17 male students at White Lodge, out of a total number of 100 boarders and 50 day students. By 1957, however, White Lodge could boast a contingent of 30 boys, and a flat was duly provided for a resident housemaster.

Visit our Ballet History Timeline to learn more about the early days of The Royal Ballet School

The ‘Anna Pavlova Memorial Hall’  (now the ‘Pavlova Studio’) was designed by Commander John Loftus Moreton, the brother of Ursula Moreton, the School’s Ballet Principal. It was funded by a £2000 bequest of Victor Dandré (1870–1944), given in memory of his life-partner, Anna Pavlova (1881–1931). Until then, the Salon had been the only ‘ballet studio’ at White Lodge.

On 24 July 1957, a newspaper article entitled ‘Figure Dancing’ reported the fundraising efforts of Princess Margaret on behalf of The Royal Ballet School:

‘A film première with Princess Margaret present certainly draws the money. All 10 guinea seats for tomorrow night’s gala performance of “Island in the Sun” at the Carlton have gone…The cash will go towards making The Royal Ballet’s school solvent…but not enough to meet repairs and developments…[at] White Lodge, Richmond. Repairs and adaptations are costing £83,000-00 of which the Arts Council have contributed £45,000-00…Crown Commissioners and Works Ministry, £10,000-00 for repairing the ravages of dry rot and other defects in White Lodge…For expenditure already undertaken another £28,000-00 is required and a further £25,000-00 for a stand-by fund.’