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Polesden Lacey Surrey
Performances
to be staged on the staircase inside
The Main House
Polesden has been
owned by a number of people, who made many alterations and additions to
the property. The most famous owner was the poet and playwright Richard
Brinsley Sheridan, who purchased the house in 1804. Polesden Lacey was
then lived in by two further owners until purchased by Mrs Greville, a
legendary Edwardian hostess, and her husband in 1906. The house was converted
by Mewes and Davis, the architects of the newly built Ritz Hotel. Mrs
Greville was most famous as a collector of royalties and her friendship
with Edward VII (who thought her 'gift of hospitality' amounted to 'positive
genius') inaugurated a lifelong devotion to the House of Windsor. She
was especially fond of Queen Mary (consort of George V) and of Queen Elizabeth
the Queen Mother, part of whose honeymoon was spent at Polesden in 1923,
and whom the childless Mrs Greville loved like a daughter. Mrs Greville
was adored by her friends and feared by her rivals for her indiscreet
and acerbic wit.
On her death, Mrs Greville bequeathed the house to The National Trust, who now host these special performances by Candlelight Opera at the house.