FAMOUS MANSION WITH HISTORIC ROYAL LINKS UP FOR SALE AT £25 MILLION
PHOTO SPECIAL ON THE SALE OF ONE OF BRITAIN’S MOST FAMOUS AND HISTORIC HOMES (Photos, courtesy of Knight Frank)
One of Britain’s grandest and historic homeswith strong links to the late Princess Diana, the current Queen and King and numerous celebrities on Ham Common is up for sale for £25 MILLION.
The mansion, called Ormeley Lodge. was the home of Lord James Goldsmith and his socialite wife Lady Annabel and sits close to Richmond Park with a swimming pool and tennis court.
Their youngest son, Ben, 45, a financier and environmentalist, says his upbringing there was like living in a “commune” — except those who surrounded him were neither hippies nor cult members, but a motley mixture of royalty including Princess Diana and her young sons, William and Harry, were regular guests, politicians and aristocrats.
Diana used to attend Annabel’s legendary Sunday lunches for “two out of every three” weeks in the 1990s.
“She was incredibly close with my mother for the last decade of her life. She was there constantly, lying by the pool,” says Ben.
There were also actors including Hugh Grant, who dated Ben’s older sister, Jemima, between 2004 and 2007. “Jemima would always have her celebrity friends [over],” Ben adds. “She knows lots of people.”
Sir James died of a heart attack 30 years ago and Lady Annabel died aged 91 last October.
Ben added: “My mother was the centre of that place. She was the one that had that planetary pull. Without her there it feels to me like rather an empty shell.”
The Grade II listed, 15,814 sq ft Georgian manor sits on 2.3 acres and has ten bedrooms, seven bathrooms and a news cottage,
An AI description says: “The legendary estate—which served as the social hub for the British aristocracy and hosted figures like Princess Diana—is being handled by prime property agencies.”