Cliveden

Cliveden (pronounced [ klɪvdən ] ) is a manor house and estate in the Italianate style in Taplow, Buckinghamshire, England. It lies on the shore 40 meters above the River Thames. The building was occupied by a count, three countesses, two Dukes, a crown prince and finally the barons of Astor.

It is the third house at this point: The first of 1666 burned down in 1795, and the second of 1824 was destroyed by a fire in 1849. The present listed building was built in 1851 by architect Charles Barry for George Sutherland - Leveson - Gower, 2nd Duke of Sutherland built in the Italian style. William Waldorf Astor in 1893 acquired the house. He imported the terrace of the Villa Borghese in Rome and had to install it below the terrace in the park. In 1906 he gave Cliveden to his son Waldorf Astor and his wife to the wedding and moved to Hever Castle in Kent over. As home of Nancy Astor, the building was the meeting place of the Cliveden Set, a group of political intellectuals of the 1920s and 1930s. During the 1960s it was the scene for key events of the Profumo affair. During the 1970s it was used by Stanford University in California as an overseas campus. Today it is owned by the National Trust and is rented from this as a 5- star hotel.