Tea at Trianon: Fortwilliam Estate

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

Thursday, June 20, 2024

Fortwilliam Estate

From House and Garden:

Fortwilliam House dates back to 1836 and is built in a Tudor Revival style. It was William Gumbleton who built it on the land – and named it after himself, a move which he stole from Richard Dumbleton three generations before him, who built another house on the land and gave it the title of Castlerichard. Fortwilliam House and its surrounding hectares were bought by the 2nd Duke of Westminster (also called Hugh Grosvenor) in 1946, and he added a lot of embellishments to it. Think Louis XV boiserie detailing in one of the sitting rooms, panelling in the dining room from his yacht and a lot of gilded touches. The 2nd Duke of Westminster was known for the company he kept – notably Coco Chanel, who never quite made it to Fortwilliam but was a regular guest at the Duke's other properties. Since the Duke sold it on, an American socialite by the name of Mrs Murray Mitchell has been its owner (she is responsible for the donkeys), as well as Fred Astaire’s sister Adele. (Read more.)