Britain Meets Britain meets... LORDHever Castle, the childhood residence ASTOR of Anne Boleyn, owes much of its current splendour to William Waldorf Astor, who filled it with treasures. His great grandson talks to us about a magical childhood and his passion for his former home with its fascinating history WORDS AMY LAUGHINGHOUSE www.britain-magazine.com BRITAIN 7 006-012 BRFM13 BRITAIN MEETS_v3.indd 7 19/03/2013 16:00 Britain Meets he idea of upping sticks to live in a castle – bequeathed Hever to Anne of Cleves following their rather particularly one as signifcant as Hever, the amicable divorce, this would serve as her bedroom. childhood home of Anne Boleyn – would seem a Despite its importance during Tudor times, the castle had Tdaunting proposition to most. But when John fallen into decline before it found its saviour in the form of Jacob Astor VIII, 3rd Baron Astor of Hever and the William Waldorf Astor. Between 1903 and 1908, Astor current Under Secretary of State and the Lords Spokesman worked with architect F L Pearson and a team of hundreds on Defence, moved to this historic Kentish estate at the age of craftsmen to update the castle, installing electricity, of 17, he wasn’t leaping blindly into unfamiliar territory. central heating and bathrooms with modern plumbing, and Lord Astor’s great-grandfather, the American millionaire restoring it using the same tools and materials labourers William Waldorf Astor, bought and restored the castle in would have employed centuries before. He also diverted the the early 20th century and passed it down to his younger course of a nearby river to accommodate a new 100-room son, John Jacob Astor, 1st Baron Astor of Hever. So to addition, designed to look like a small Tudor village, to Lord Astor, Hever was, foremost, the home of his house his family, guests and staff. grandparents, a comfortable and Astor’s vision – and seemingly welcoming hive of familial inexhaustible budget – extended activity he had visited countless beyond the castle walls, as well. times before he and his siblings He engaged Joseph Cheal and Son came to live here in 1963 with to turn 125 acres into a series of their mother Irene and their glorious gardens, with an father Gavin, the 2nd Baron orchard, walled Rose Garden, Astor of Hever and Chairman of Yew Maze, and an Italian Garden the Board of the Times specially created to display Astor’s Publishing Company. priceless collection of Italian “It was an exciting place to sculptures, which he amassed grow up as a child. It had all during his appointment as kinds of secret passages and American Ambassador to Italy miles and miles of cellars where from 1882-85. we used to go roller skating,” To the delight of future Lord Astor recalls, settling back generations, Astor also hired 800 on the soft sofa cushions in the men to dig out a 38-acre lake. sitting room of his present home, “The winters were much colder a 15-minute drive from the when I lived there, so we used to castle. “But we were always ice-skate on the lake,” Lord aware of the history of the place – you know, Anne Boleyn and the “IT WAS AN EXCITING PLACE TO GROW UP AS A CHILD. IT fact that Henry VIII had been there and wooed her there.” HAD ALL KINDS OF SECRET PASSAGES AND MILES AND MILES The most ancient portion of the OF CELLARS WHERE WE USED TO GO ROLLER SKATING” castle is the 13th-century gatehouse, and in the 15th century, the Bullen family built Astor remembers. “Then in the summer, there was a Tudor addition within the walls. It is here that Anne – swimming and boating. I remember we had two rowing who changed her last name to Boleyn after a stint in the boats – Kate and Dupli-Kate,” he adds with a grin. French court – lived as a young girl, and it is here where As idyllic as the grounds were – and remain – Lord Astor Henry VIII came in 1525 to win her heart. admits that, as a boy, “it was always quite spooky going Hever is flled with reminders of these formidable into the castle. My oldest cousins would try and terrify me, fgures. Throughout the castle, they gaze out from original you know, with ghosts stories, that sort of thing”. Tudor portraits – looking stern and distant, Anne calm Nor was he exempt from perpetrating such shenanigans and inscrutable behind her famous black eyes. One of himself. “A friend of mine got the arm of one of the suits these portraits, featuring Anne in her iconic ‘B’ pendant of armour in the Long Gallery and tied it up with a long and a French pearl-trimmed hood, hangs in the modest piece of string, and when one of my sisters walked past, we bedroom that is thought to have belonged to her. Another pulled it. It went down and frightened the life out of her,” adorns the wall of the Queen’s Gallery, alongside Henry he recalls, allowing himself a small smile. VIII’s other fve wives; his brother, Arthur; and father, The Astors didn’t have free reign of the entire castle, Henry VII. Two paintings of Henry and Anne’s daughter, however, as his father took the decision to open Hever to Queen Elizabeth I, preside over the Staircase Gallery. the public in 1963. “He was always very conscious of his Near Anne’s bedroom, the Book of Hours Room is fortune and wanted to do something for other people,” Facing page, top: mostly unfurnished, save for a tapestry illustrating the Lord Astor says. “He wanted people to see it and enjoy it.” Looking through the marriage of Louis XII to Henry VIII’s sister, Mary, and It was also partly a fnancial decision. “You couldn’t live rose arch in the castle gardens. Facing page, two elaborately illustrated prayer books that belonged to in a place like that without a huge amount of income. bottom: The lake and Anne, including, quite poignantly, the one that she is said There are 17 miles of central heating pipes. Imagine what loggia. Above: William to have carried to her execution. Years later, when Henry the heating bills were like,” he says. Waldorf Astor www.britain-magazine.com BRITAIN 9 006-012 BRFM13 BRITAIN MEETS_v3.indd 9 19/03/2013 16:00 The 20th-century wing that William Waldorf Astor stone freplace emblazoned with the Bullen coat of arms. built remained the family’s private domain in those days, Two sturdy gilt locks – one of which belonged to Henry although it is now open for special functions and for VIII – are affxed to the doors, which appear more than bed-and-breakfast guests. But the public is welcome to capable of barring any unwelcome visitors. tour nearly 20 rooms of the older parts of the castle, Any unwelcome visitor, that is, apart from the as they have done for the past 50 years. foodwaters which have twice invaded the castle. The frst Entering via the stone gatehouse, through one of the deluge was in 1958. “My grandfather was taken off to oldest working portcullises in the country, visitors pass breakfast in a boat down these passages, which were just like the canals in Venice,” Lord Astor recalls. HISTORIAN DAVID STARKEY DECLARED THAT HEVER CASTLE “The butler who rowed him had on a jacket and a black tie – and swimming trunks.” It POSSESSES “ONE OF THE BEST COLLECTIONS OF TUDOR seems an amusingly incongruous image, but PORTRAITS AFTER THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY” “my grandfather probably didn’t see the funny side of it,” Lord Astor says, shaking his through a cobbled courtyard into the timber-framed head. “It must have been pretty depressing for him to see Bullen addition. Then, turning to the right, one enters the everything destroyed like that.” Inner Hall, a grand Tudor-style room overlooked by a Following an extensive cleanup, life returned to carved gallery, added by William Waldorf Astor and normal. Then an even more devastating food struck the inspired by the screen at King’s College Chapel in castle in 1968. Heavy rains caused the River Eden to Cambridge. At eye level, the Italian walnut-panelled walls overfow its banks, sending a surge of water up to 1.4 display portraits of Henry VII, Henry VIII, Edward VI, metres deep through 100 rooms of the castle. Anne Boleyn and her sister Mary – a glimpse of the “The staff were able to move a lot of the portraits, but it treasure trove that led historian David Starkey to declare came in so quickly and with such force that lots of valuable that Hever possesses “one of the best collections of Tudor books and wonderful manuscripts were damaged,” Lord portraits after the National Portrait Gallery”. Astor says. “The water got into the diesel tanks and the William Waldorf Astor also restored the Dining Hall, sewage, and the worst thing was the smell,” he remembers. where the Bullens would have entertained Henry VIII, “It was just terrible, and it hung around for years. They installing linenfold panelling and a formidable carved had to get all the foorboards up, and industrial 10 BRITAIN www.britain-magazine.com 006-012 BRFM13 BRITAIN MEETS_v3.indd 10 19/03/2013 16:00 Britain Meets This picture: Aerial view of Hever Castle. Facing page: The Dining Room www.britain-magazine.com BRITAIN 11 006-012 BRFM13 BRITAIN MEETS_v3.indd 11 19/03/2013 16:00 The Rochford Room dehumidifying machines were brought in. Lots of things ‘Hever Day’ celebration.