Waddesdon Manor: The magnificent Manor

On Saturday July 131889The Bucks Herald newspaper carried a report on the lavish parties thrown by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild at Waddesdon Manor: “The genial host has been for many years a widowerand he is never so happy as when his lovely home is full of friends… with the lawns open to them for tennis; the grounds for contemplationand the art gallerieswith their countless treasures of picturestapestrychina and curiositiesan opportunity for study such as is rarely afforded outside the museums of the great capitals of Europe.”

What is the history of Waddesdon Manor?

Visiting Waddesdon Manor today – it is now managed by the Rothschild Foundation (a family charitable trust) on behalf of the National Trust – is no less an enthralling experience.

Built in the of a French Renaissance château of the Loirethe extravagantly turreted house rises incongruously from the Buckinghamshire countryside like a fairytale palace where something magical awaits.

Baron Ferdinand’s exclusive ‘Saturday to Monday’ summer parties were legendarybringing together the Victorian social and political elite with European and British royalty. Walking in their footsteps it’s easy to imagine the scenesnot least in the East Gallery where a large 18th-century elephant automaton catches the eye. On his visit in July 1889the Shah of Persiarather peeved that the Prince of Wales was not presentsulked in his room but was tempted out by the bejewelled elephant swinging its trunk and rolling its eyes in time to music.

Queen Victoriaintrigued by accounts of the Manorinvited herself for a day in May 1890. The Royal Artillery Band boomed forth in the Conservatory while Her Majesty enjoyed lunch in the Dining Roomincluding consommétroutchickenquailtwo helpings of beefduckling and asparaguswith little soufflés and ‘Beignets à la Viennoise’ (a sort of fritter) to conclude. “The royal appetite is proverbial”Ferdinand notedadding“the Royal Cook was subsequently sent to learn from mine the secret of making three of the dishes.”

Here is our guide to the best stately homes in Britain.

King Edward VII at Waddesdon Manor

The most frequent royal guest to Waddesdon was the fun-loving Prince of Waleslater King Edward VII with more than ten visits recorded. In one curious incidenton the morning of July 181898the Prince fell down the West Stairstearing ligaments in his left knee. He was discovered by the Baron’s butleralthough some say the royal mistress Daisy Warwick was first on the scene.

The Rothschilds

The rise of the Rothschild family had been phenomenal. Working its way up with outstanding business acumenfrom Frankfurt’s Jewish ghetto in Germanyit became the most powerful banking dynasty of the 19th century with monarchs and governments alike as customers. The five sons of founder Mayer Amschel would head up family interests in ParisNaplesViennaLondon and Frankfurttheir tight-knit unity symbolised in their coat-of-arms of a fist holding five arrows.

The family also became renowned as great collectors of fine art and furniture of the highest quality and historical importance. Their of collecting and interior decoration in the houses they created became known internationally as the ‘goût Rothschild’: Waddesdon Manorbuilt by Baron Ferdinandis a rare survivor of that splendourits collections intact and still growing.

Ferdinand (1839–1898)Mayer Amschel’s great-grandsonwas descended from the Viennese and English branches of the family via his father and mother respectively. Settled in Englandhe married an English cousinEvelinain 1865but tragically she died in childbirth the following year and grief-stricken Ferdinand never married again. Instead he threw himself into travel and collecting works of art.

In the 1870s Ferdinand bought some farmland with a 600ft hill at its centre in the Aylesbury Vale – an area known at the time as ‘Rothschildshire’ due to the number of family homes there – and he set about building Waddesdon Manor as a country retreat: a “labour of love” where he could house his treasures and entertain friends away from his London home. It was a monumental task. The hilltop was levelled and the mansion constructeddesigned by Gabriel-Hippolyte Destailleur to the Baron’s tastes in the of French Renaissance châteaux. Grounds were landscaped and planted with mature trees.

Waddesdon Manor’s interiors

Visitors todayas in Ferdinand’s timeare dazzled by interiors created using original wall panels from Parisian houses of the 1700s and filled with furniture made for the French royal familySavonnerie carpetsand tapestries from the royal Gobelins and Beauvais workshops. Baron Ferdinand also had a predilection for 18th-century English portraits like the Gainsboroughs and Reynolds in the Red Drawing Roomand Dutch Old Master paintings in the Morning Roomwhere guests relaxed over newspapers during their stay.

It was always a highlight of Baron Ferdinand’s ‘Saturday to Monday’ parties to tour the house to admire his “gimcracks” (as he called his treasures). Look out for the rare Sèvres pot-pourri vase in the shape of a ship (1762) in the Grey Drawing Roomwhich was Ferdinand’s first important purchase as a collector when he was aged just 21.

Meanwhilemirrors and marble in the Dining Room evoke a mini Versailles: a glittering setting where guests tucked into sumptuous feaststhough they were sometimes alarmed to see that Ferdinand preferred to dine frugally on just toast and water! The chandeliers and wall lightselectrified before the royal visit of May 1890fascinated Queen Victoria – one wonders what she would have thought of the ‘Porca Miseria’ (‘Oh my Goodness’ in Italian) chandelier made of broken porcelain and cutlerycommissioned for the Blue Dining Room in 2003 by the present Lord Rothschildwho chairs the Rothschild Foundation and continues to add to collections.

Special mention should be madetooof Ferdinand’s sister ‘Miss Alice’whose surprising collection of arms and armour is displayed in the Bachelors’ Wing where male guests smoked and played billiardsand single men were accommodated. Spinster Miss Alicewho often acted as hostess for Ferdinand and inherited Waddesdon after his death in 1898applied stringent housekeeping rules to protect treasures that even now inform National Trust conservation policies. Miss Alice was also a passionate gardener and introduced the tradition of 3-D ‘carpet bedding’ planted into the shape of birds.

Do the Rothschilds still own Waddesdon Manor?

Towards the end of his life Baron Ferdinand fretted that “Waddesdon will share the fate of most properties whose owners have no descendantsand fall into decay.” He needn’t have worried. Since Waddesdon was bequeathed to the National Trust by Miss Alice’s (childless) great-nephew James in 1957 and has been run on its behalf by the Rothschild Foundationthe housecollections and gardens have enjoyed a new lease of life: welcoming thousands to tour rooms full of fabulous “gimcracks”.