Cumberland Lodge is a royal house inside a royal park - yet it was built by one of Oliver Cromwell's republican `Ironsides'. After the Restoration it was taken over by Charles II ``for his own diversion'' and became the residence of the Ranger of Windsor Great Park. This coveted office was always granted to someone close to the sovereign. At the Lodge they lived privately, shaping house and gardens to their requirements and architectural tastes.
The great Duke of Marlborough's redoubtable wife, Sarah Churchill, was among them; she was foiled by Walpole in an attempt to arrange a clandestine marriage, in the Lodge, between the (then) Prince of Wales and her favourite grand-daughter, coincidentally also Diana Spencer. The Marlboroughs had followed `Dutch Wiliam's' boyhood friend William Bentinck, first Earl of Portland, who had created formal gardens in the Dutch style; after them came George II's son, the Duke of Cumberland.
The victor of Culloden, `Butcher' Cumberland landscaped the park, creating Great Meadow Pond and Virginia Water, and revived racing at Ascot. George III added Gothic embellishments to the house, and George IV used it to entertain visitors when he lived at the Royal Lodge. One of these was the young Princess Victoria; later, as Queen, she made Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein Ranger when he married her third daughter, Princess Helena. The Lodge became their home for a half a century.
In 1923 it was granted to Lord FitzAlan, the last Viceroy of Ireland, by George V. After FitzAlan's death in 1947, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth granted the house to the St. Catherine's Foundation, an educational charity whose patron is Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother. The Lodge and its modern annex now provide an ideal setting for residential meetings. Recreational facilities include tennis and croquet, as well as opportunities to explore the magnificent surroundings of Windsor Great Park, and Windsor Castle can be visited easily by those undertaking `The Long Walk'.
Maintained by
Kaj Siebert
and
Ian Howarth