A London house with a history of royal affairs and surprising connections. Built in 1626 for a royal favorite, Bridgewater House in the St James's area has a lineage of notable owners. Two centuries later, it became the London residence of the Egerton family, with a line of dukes and a connection to the royal court that is still a topic of conversation today.
The earliest known house on the site was Berkshire House, built for Thomas Howard, a second son of the Earl of Suffolk, who was Master of the Horse to Charles I of England as Prince of Wales. Howard was later created Earl of Berkshire. After being occupied by Parliamentarian troops in the English Civil War, used for the Portuguese Embassy, and inhabited by Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, the house was lived in by Charles II's mistress Barbara Villiers, who was made Duchess of Cleveland in 1670, following which the house was known as Cleveland House. She refaced the old house and added new wings.
Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons
Written by Nicolo Ciampini
Discuss this with the author and others
No comments yet. Be the first to start the conversation.