Primland

its regal grounds having been the site of scandal, intrigue and unbridled glamour. An Italianate mansion built on the banks of the Thames, it has passed through the hands of dukes, countesses, earls, princes and the aristocratic Astor family before being leased to the National Trust, and becoming a hotel in 1984 – the same hotel where Meghan Markle spent her last night as a commoner before the Royal Wedding. Cliveden enjoyed its ‘golden age’ from 1893 to 1966, an era during which the house became the hub of the 1930s Cliveden Set (an elite cohort of politicians, socialites and VIPS of the utmost pedigrees, including Winston Churchill and George Bernard Shaw) thanks to the networking of its proprietress, the indomitable Nancy Astor (who also became the first woman to sit in Westminster as an MP).