The Astors' sprawling Cliveden House, set on 150 hectares on the banks of the River Thames. |
Spring Cottage, where Christine Keeler stayed during that ill-fated weekend in July 1961. |
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POSTED: 29 JULY 2010 Sex ... lies ... unfortunately no videoptape Nearly 50 years ago, a couple of British socialites, the second Viscount and Lady Astor, invited some friends to their stately Cliveden House, on the banks of the Thames just outside London, for a summer’s weekend of partying, tennis, croquet, boating on the river, and generally having a good time. Little did they realise that their weekend would take on dimensions greater than anyone could have imaged. It resulted in one of Britain’s greatest sex scandals — a spy exposé, a suicide, the downfall of one of the country’s most senior Cabinet Ministers — and ultimately the fall of the Government itself. Cliveden House has seldom been out of the public eye since the original was built on its 150 hectares in 1666 by the second Duke of Buckingham as an escape-hole with his mistress. That burned down in 1795, and its replacement met a similar fate in 1849. To the horror of many, including “an astonished” Queen Victoria, the third Cliveden House was bought in 1893 by America’s wealthiest man — William Waldorf Astor, who confounded British society even more by becoming a naturalised British subject, and going on to also purchase Hever Castle, which brought with it the title Viscount Astor. Astor’s wife died prematurely and in 1906 he gave Cliveden to his son Waldorf as a wedding gift, and moved himself into Hever Castle. The newly weds lost no time in inviting political leaders, writers, film stars, artists and other celebrities to lavish weekends at Cliveden House, among them Charlie Chaplin, Mahatma Gandhi, FD Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Harold Macmillan, Joseph Kennedy, TE Lawrence, Rudyard Kipling and aviator Amy Johnson. The Astors were generous to a fault, and in World War I built a hospital in their grounds for the Canadian Red Cross. This was dismantled at war’s end, and when World War II erupted the Astors again offered the site for another hospital. And in 1942 they donated the entire property to the British National Trust, with the proviso they could live there for as long as they wished, and giving the trust £250,000 for its perpetual upkeep. It was in 1961 that the Astors’ invited Britain’s then Minister of War John Profumo and his glamorous actress wife Valerie Hobson, Lord Mountbatten of Burma, and the President of Pakistan to a summer party on the weekend of 8 July. Also invited to stay in Cliveden’s separate Spring Cottage was a London society osteopath, Stephen Ward, who took with him several friends, including a 19-year old, fun-loving Christine Keeler and a Russian Assistant Naval Attache, Captain Yevgeny Ivanov. At one stage on that balmy July evening, Profumo and others wandered down to the swimming pool to investigate sounds of much gaiety, and it was there he set eyes for the first time on Christine Keeler. Within days they were lovers. It lasted only several months before Profumo ended the relationship, but a question was raised in Parliament by an Opposition member. Profumo categorically denied any improper relationship, but was floored when Keeler sold “their” story to a London newspaper. Worse, she revealed she had been sleeping at the same time with Ivanov, who, it emerged, was a Soviet spy. Profumo confessed to the House of Commons that he had lied, then resigned. The British Government, hell-bent to distance itself from the scandal, bizarrely charged the osteopath Stephen Ward, who had introduced Profumo and Keeler at Cliveden House, with living off immoral earnings from Keeler’s other relationships. Ward committed suicide before his case ended. The current operators of Cliveden House, Von Essen Hotels, have put together an intriguing Profumo Affair package. The cost of $880 per person includes twin-share accommodation, a “Scandal Tour” around the property with long-time “Affair” researcher and expert Rupert Gavin, a champagne and canapé reception, and a further “inside” talk over a three-course dinner with Rupert Gavin as to what secrets the Government is still so determined to hide. Next morning, there’s full English breakfast and use of the property’s indoor and outdoor pools, tennis and squash courts, gym, and hot tubs. That's happening tomorrow night (30 July) so you'll have to virtually be on the doorstep right now to participate, but Cliveden House, now a stately hotel within a stately house, is always an intriguing place to stay. Check out www.clivedenhouse.co.uk. |
Fun-time Christine Keeler at the time of her illicit relationship with John Profumo. |
