What REALLY went on behind closed doors at Cliveden: It was the scene of the Profumo affair and now the house's new chatelaine tells the definitive history of its scandalous 350 year past

  • Cliveden has hosted lavish entertainment and elite parties for centuries
  • In 1961, it played host to the most heinous of all scandals: the Profumo affair
  • Natalie Livingstone, whose husband owns property, has penned new book
  • The Mistresses of Cliveden: Three Centuries of Scandal, Power and Intrigue
  • Tells story of five remarkable women who lived in house

Cliveden House is today known as an opulent 5-star hotel and National Trust managed property with striking gardens and stunning views of the River Thames.

But, as a compelling new book reveals, there's an intriguing and captivating history behind the stately home in Berkshire.

For centuries, Cliveden House has served up lavish entertainment and elite parties attended by a roll-call of Britain's most elite high society with regular guests including Charlie Chaplin and Winston Churchill.

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Cliveden House has served up lavish entertainment and elite parties attended by a roll-call of Britain's most elite high society and - most famously - was the scene of the Profumo affair. Natalie Livingstone, whose husband now owns the Grade 1 listed property, shares an extract of her new book, The Mistresses Of Cliveden, with FEMAIL

In 1961, Cliveden played host to the most heinous of all scandals that nearly brought British parliament to a standstill: the Profumo affair.

Here, historian and author Natalie Livingstone, whose husband now owns the Grade 1 listed property, shares an extract of her new book, The Mistresses of Cliveden: Three Centuries of Scandal, Power and Intrigue, with FEMAIL - and provides a compelling insight into what really went on behind closed doors...

Christine Keeler at Cliveden House, the scene of the 1963 Profumo scandal 

Christine Keeler at Cliveden House, the scene of the 1963 Profumo scandal 

It was a sultry night in July 1961, the hottest of the year so far. Christine Keeler, an arrestingly seductive 19 year-old showgirl, was frolicking in the swimming pool at Cliveden with her friend Stephen Ward. 

At the time, Cliveden was a private residence owned by Ward’s friend Bill Astor, who leased him a cottage at the foot of the estate. 

Usually Ward asked permission to use the pool, but tonight Bill was occupied by a more sober dinner party in the main house. The pool was tucked away in a walled garden on the west side of the property, so the group thought nothing of going for an impromptu swim without giving Astor prior warning. 

Moonlight, warm air and water made for a potent aphrodisiac. The party grew raucous, and at some point, Keeler shed her swimsuit in a bet.

It was a sultry night in July 1961, the hottest of the year so far. Christine Keeler, an arrestingly seductive 19 year-old showgirl, was frolicking in the swimming pool at Cliveden with her friend Stephen Ward
John Profumo, secretary of state for war, spotted her and was mesmerised

Christine Keeler, left, an arrestingly seductive 19 year-old showgirl, was frolicking in the swimming pool at Cliveden with her friend Stephen Ward when John Profumo, secretary of state for war, right, spotted her and was mesmerised

Profumo tracked Keeler down and arranged to meet her while his wife Valerie, left, was visiting his Warwickshire constituency. It marked the beginning of a tepid, half-hearted liaison

Profumo tracked Keeler down and arranged to meet her while his wife Valerie, left, was visiting his Warwickshire constituency. It marked the beginning of a tepid, half-hearted liaison

Up at the main house, the company at dinner included Field Marshal Ayub Khan, President of Pakistan, John Profumo, secretary of state for war, and his film star wife, Valerie. The hosts were Bill Astor, who had inherited the house from his parents, Waldorf and Nancy, and Bill’s wife, Bronwen. 

After dinner, the hosts, Bill and Bronwen Astor, decided to take advantage of the balmy night and suggested a stroll down to the swimming pool to show off a newly-installed bronze statue of their son riding a dolphin. 

What they actually saw, as they rounded the corner, was the lithe form of Christine Keeler standing naked in the moonlight, her feet making damp prints on the terracotta tiles, her pale skin goose-bumping in the night air. Profumo was mesmerised.

Late that night, Keeler returned to London to pick up a couple more of Ward’s girlfriends, and the next morning they were all driven back to Cliveden by the Russian naval attaché and intelligence officer, Yevgeny Ivanov. 

The group spent a lazy Sunday by Bill Astor’s pool, where Ivanov challenged Profumo to a swimming race. 

Just before Keeler left that evening, Profumo, who, according to Ivanov, had been ‘flirting outrageously’ with the young girl, asked for her contact details. Ivanov drove Christine back to Ward’s flat where, the Soviet attaché would later claim, they slept together. 

The struggles and sacrifices of  women, such as Nancy Astor, Cliveden's last great mistress, Britain's first female Member of Parliament, and one of the most controversial and colourful women in British political history, is detailed in Livingstone's new tome
During its dawn in the 1660s as much as its twilight in the 1960s, Cliveden was an emblem of elite misbehaviour and intrigue, explains Livingstone

The struggles and sacrifices of women, such as Nancy Astor, left, Cliveden's last great mistress, Britain's first female Member of Parliament, and one of the most controversial and colourful women in British political history, and Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, right, is detailed in Livingstone's new tome

Two days later, Profumo tracked Keeler down and arranged to meet her while his wife Valerie was visiting his Warwickshire constituency. It marked the beginning of a tepid, half-hearted liaison, which Keeler – who once cooked them sausages before they had sex in front of the television – described as ‘a very, very well-mannered screw of convenience’.

The weekend at Cliveden was the first act in a drama that would bring down a government and change the course of British history. The apparent ménage à trois between the minister of war, a Soviet spy and a good-time girl made Cliveden synonymous with scandal in the collective consciousness of an entire generation.

But the outraged headlines and lurid scoops of the Profumo Affair – as it came to be known – were nothing new. 

During its dawn in the 1660s as much as its twilight in the 1960s, Cliveden was an emblem of elite misbehaviour and intrigue. 

Indeed, the 350-year history of the house began when a powerful politician decided to build a secluded mansion in which to enjoy his affair with an ambitious courtesan not much older than Keeler. 

The courtesan was Anna Maria, Countess of Shrewsbury, and the politician George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, a childhood friend of Charles II and one of the wealthiest men in England. When Buckingham bought Cliveden in the 1660s, it comprised two modest hunting lodges set within 400 acres of land. Over the following decade, he transformed it, landscaping the gardens and constructing a magnificent house as an ode to his passionate affair with the countess.

A monument to the tragic and bloody consequences of the affair remains at Cliveden today. 

Carved into the grass, inlaid in brickwork, is a rapier with an elegant handle, the sort a gentleman would have used in a duel. Alongside it lies a date: 1668. It commemorates the day on which a duel was fought between two of the most powerful people in the land, the Duke of Buckingham and the Earl of Shrewsbury. 

They were fighting for one woman – Anna Maria – Shrewsbury’s wife and Buckingham’s lover. The duel was to the death. Buckingham killed Shrewsbury and claimed Anna Maria as his prize.

At the house in 1668, a duel was fought between two of the most powerful people in the land, the Duke of Buckingham and the Earl of Shrewsbury, over Anna Maria - Shrewsbury's wife and Buckingham's lover
A painting Elizabeth, Countess of Orkney, right, a formidable intellect, power-broker and long-time lover to Britain's conqueror of 1688, William III, still hangs in the house

At the house in 1668, a duel was fought between two of the most powerful people in the land, the Duke of Buckingham and the Earl of Shrewsbury, over Anna Maria - Shrewsbury's wife and Buckingham's lover, left, whilst a painting Elizabeth, Countess of Orkney, right, a formidable intellect, power-broker and long-time lover to Britain's conqueror of 1688, William III, still hangs in the house

A portrait of Harriet, Duchess of Sutherland, a glittering society hostess and the closest confidante of Queen Victoria, presides over the dining room

A portrait of Harriet, Duchess of Sutherland, a glittering society hostess and the closest confidante of Queen Victoria, presides over the dining room

Cliveden sits just five miles upriver from Windsor Castle and fewer than 30 from the Palace of Westminster

Cliveden sits just five miles upriver from Windsor Castle and fewer than 30 from the Palace of Westminster

Cliveden sits just five miles upriver from Windsor Castle and fewer than 30 from the Palace of Westminster in London, a privileged location that would be crucial to the lives of its residents. 

Its outlines have changed little since the 17th century, and, then as now, Cliveden is one of England’s most breathtaking landmarks. 

To the south west, the grounds overlook the Thames from the tall chalk cliffs that give the site its name – over the centuries it has also been spelt Cliefden, Clifden, and Cliffden. 

Further north, the cliffs, which are densely planted with oak, beech, ash and chestnut, dip into a hollow, and the gardens trail like skirts down to the water. At the top of these gardens, at the end of a long parterre, and raised to an even more imperious height by an arcaded terrace, stands the house itself, an elaborate Italianate mansion, flanked by two wings and approached by road from the north, down a long gravel drive.

The Mistresses of Cliveden: Three Centuries of Scandal, Power and Intrigue by Natalie Livingstone is the story of five remarkable women, and a biography of the extraordinary house in which they lived

The Mistresses of Cliveden: Three Centuries of Scandal, Power and Intrigue by Natalie Livingstone is the story of five remarkable women, and a biography of the extraordinary house in which they lived

In April 2012, Cliveden became central to my life when my husband acquired the property. When it came into our possession it was no longer a private residence – Cliveden had been reincarnated as a university and a hospital, and latterly run as a hotel. But amid its faded charms there were clues everywhere to the past lives of the estate, most noticeably in the portraits of the house’s former mistresses.

In the great hall hangs a portrait of Anna Maria, the original inspiration for the house, a courtesan much maligned in her own time and misunderstood by subsequent generations. 

Carved into the staircase is Elizabeth, Countess of Orkney, a formidable intellect, power-broker and long-time lover to Britain’s conqueror of 1688, William III. Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, the Queen that Britain was promised and then denied in the middle of the 18th century, is immortalised in a painting over the grand staircase, while the fourth mistress, Harriet, Duchess of Sutherland, a glittering society hostess and the closest confidante of Queen Victoria, presides over the dining room. 

Finally, hanging beside the fireplace in the great hall is John Singer Sargent’s portrait of Nancy Astor – Cliveden’s last great mistress, Britain’s first female Member of Parliament, and one of the most controversial and colourful women in British political history.

The struggles and sacrifices of these women, their juggling of outer image and inner life, are familiar and universal. Their privileges, however, were extraordinary. 

It is from their elite viewpoint that this book narrates the tumultuous events of the last three centuries: Restoration and Glorious Revolution, aristocratic rise and fall, two world wars and the Cold War. 

Along the way there are tales of fanaticism and fashion, of censorship, disease, slavery and the unlikely correlation between gardening and warfare.

The Mistresses of Cliveden is the story of five remarkable women, and a biography of the extraordinary house in which they lived. 

As strange and various as the house itself, it is by turns a historical epic, a political thriller, a family drama, and an intimate history of the relationships between people and place. 

Above all, it is a story about sex and power, devotion and betrayal, love and loss, seen through the eyes of a dynasty of trailblazing women who steadfastly evaded, exploited, and confronted the expectations of their times.

The Mistresses of Cliveden: Three Centuries of Scandal, Power and Intrigue by Natalie Livingstone is published by Hutchinson (Out now £25 Hardback and Ebook) 

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