Tea at Trianon: A House in the Scottish Borders

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Saturday, March 9, 2024

A House in the Scottish Borders

From House and Garden:

Built in 1802 and substantially remodelled between 1861 and 1867 by Scottish architect William Burn, the coral-pink sandstone house has been in Walter’s family – the Buccleuchs – for over 180 years. For photographer Walter, Earl of Dalkeith and heir apparent to the Duke of Buccleuch, the decision to move there with Elizabeth and their children was not without precedent, as the house has traditionally been reserved for whoever is the current Earl of Dalkeith. ‘The fact it has always been a family house means that it is incredibly liveable and well designed,’ explains Elizabeth.
When the couple decided to swap London for Eildon Hall, however, the four-storey house did not exactly scream liveable. The roof was leaking, the decoration had not been touched since Walter’s grandparents had overhauled it in the Fifties and the place had largely been left to lie dormant, save for a caretaker living in one part of it. ‘It needed rewiring, replumbing and reroofing before we could even consider decorating,’ recalls Elizabeth. ‘From the start, it was clear that it would be a long, substantial project.’
The couple recruited interior designer Olivia Emery at the beginning of the renovation in 2018. She had decorated their Victorian terrace in Shepherd’s Bush three years earlier and it was a ‘no-brainer’ to work with her again. ‘She really listens and we knew she’d breathe fresh life into it,’ says Elizabeth. For Olivia, who launched her studio in 2014 after 10 years with interior designer Broosk Saib, a project of such enormity was a little daunting. ‘But I knew from working with them on their London house that we’d all be on the same page,’ she says. (Read more.)