First cousin of the late Queen Elizabeth, the Duke of Gloucester, is selling his old manor residence.
The beautiful Barnwell Manor in Northamptonshire has been listed for sale by Richard Gloucester, a first cousin once removed of King Charles, for the best offer over £4.75 million.
In addition to its eight-bedroom Tudor manor house, Barnwell boasts an old stone wall and gatehouse with twin round towers that were formerly part of Barnwell Castle, which was erected in 1266.
40 rooms in all, including four reception areas, six toilets, and 2,500 acres of outdoor space, may be found within.
The royal couple resided in the huge Grade II-listed building, but they relocated to Kensington Palace in 1995 after allegedly running out of money.
The Duke and his elder brother, Prince William of Gloucester, who unfortunately passed away in 1972 while competing for the Goodyear International Air Trophy at the age of 30, grew up in this beguiling location.
Princess Alice, the mother of the Duke, who lost her husband two years later, stayed in Barnwell because it was dear to her. Her grandfather, the 6th Duke of Buccleuch, possessed it throughout her youth until he sold it in 1913. It had been given to her ancestors, the Montagus, by Henry VIII.
25 years later, Princess Alice returned to Barnwell when her husband, the third son of George V, purchased it for the magnificent amount of £37,000 while spending a large portion of the inheritance his father left him.
She was comforted by the fact that her younger son, who had succeeded his father as Duke of Gloucester, resided with her at Barnwell together with his Danish wife, Birgitte, and their three children after the tragic deaths of her older son and her husband.
However, the expense of maintaining the home became unaffordable in 1995. Instead of selling, the Duke leased Barnwell to an antiques business while relocating to Kensington Palace’s Apartment 1.
Although Barnwell will soon be sold, it is said that the Gloucester family wants to stay connected to the neighborhood.
They relocated to a smaller home at Kensington Palace in 2018 so Prince Harry and Meghan could utilize Apartment 1. The Sussexes, however, now reside in California.
Kevin Smith has been collecting antiques for more than 60 years and has ran Windsor House Antiques from the home for the last 23 years.
343 items from the mansion were put up for auction earlier this month, with an eye-watering reference price ranging from £1.1 million to £1.7 million.
What is obvious is Kevin’s obsessive and passionate drive to assemble and compile a collection that is unrepentant in its breadth, depth, and evident quality, according to a spokeswoman for the auction company Dreweatts.
Over the course of more than 60 years of expertise and assiduous collecting, “this insatiable thirst for collecting things of quality and historical relevance has given birth to a cornucopia of artifacts.”
“Having admired the company and its well managed collection for many years, I am happy for Dreweatts to have been entrusted with the Windsor House Antiques auction,” said Ben Brown, head of sales at Dreweatts.
“I am sure many may see in themselves a desire and compulsion for beautiful things,” she said. “It reflects a cross section of the style and quality Kevin has supplied for over sixty years.”