Exploring Cliveden House, the Royal Estate Where Meghan Markle Will Spend the Night Before Her Wedding | Vogue
"There’s a line in Pride and Prejudice where Jane Austen describes the complete awe Elizabeth Bennet felt the first time she saw Pemberley, Mr. Darcy’s estate. 'She had never seen a place where nature had done more, or where natural beauty had been so little counteracted by an awkward taste. They were all of them warm in their admiration; and at that moment she felt that to be mistress of Pemberley might be something.' That’s exactly what it feels like arriving at Cliveden House, in Taplow, England. You can’t see the house from the road, or even the first hundred feet of the driveway. But after a bend in the road, boom: a 47-room golden Palladian palace which abuts the River Thames. The cars that sit out front—Bentleys, Rolls Royces, Range Rovers—almost seem like anachronisms, their modern mechanics at odds with the grandeur of the 350-year-old home. Over three centuries, the home’s seen a lot, including multiple owners, among them the Duke of Buckingham, the Prince of Wales, and Lord and Lady Astor. It’s also been subject to devastating fires, and multiple scandals—the most famous being the Profumo Affair, where a government official had an affair with a woman linked to a Russian spy on Cliveden grounds. The whole thing toppled the conservative government of Harold MacMillan, and even ensnared Prince Philip in the process (see: Season 2 of The Crown). But nowadays, the home has taken on a second life: as a luxury hotel—one where, Meghan Markle and her mother will stay the night before her May 19 wedding." - Elise Taylor
