Turville Grange Henley, Oxfordshire

TURVILLE GRANGE

HENLEY, OXFORDSHIRE

A magnificent Grade II listed Georgian style country house and c. 49.39 acre estate once home to the Princess Lee Radziwill, sister of First Lady Jackie Kennedy, and most recently of Henry Ford II and his wife Kathleen DuRoss Ford.

Entered through wrought iron entrance gates and wonderful front gardens, set amongst sweeping manicured lawns and landscaped grounds, Turville Grange has an distinguished history that includes Royalty, the Radziwill and Kennedy families of President JFK fame, the Ford automobile dynasty, Hollywood celebrities, tycoons and noted politicians. and leisure complex that have been recently refurbished, providing a 22 meter long pool hall with large swimming pool, gymnasium, sauna, relaxation/sitting room, bedroom/pilates room and changing/shower facilities. The estate is complete with a 1,690 sqft stable block and paddock, an 883 sqft glass house for plants, flowers and vegetables, alongside further store

Overlooking Turville Heath to the front and the Chiltern Valley to the rear the Queen Anne style 7,998 sqft main house provides five bedrooms, five reception rooms, a lift, five staff bedrooms and a guest wing with a sitting room, two guest bedrooms and extensive garaging.

In the grounds of the estate there is also a 1,905 sqft white fronted two bedroom guest house, known as The White House, named in honour of President Kennedy and Jackie Kennedy, along with two cottages, known as Rose Cottage and Turville Cottage, providing a total of 1,808 sqft of accommodation including three bedrooms each.

Further to the residential residences, there is a double height 3,821 sqft pool house rooms and garages.

Turville Grange can trace its origins back to 1700 with the current main house dating from 1887, remodelled by the then owner Stephen Smith, a local landowner. In 1905 the house and estate was purchased by the Marquis and Marquise d’Hautpoul de Seyre who transformed it into a grand Edwardian residence, adding the side wing and creating the formal gardens.

Julia Caroline Stonor, the Marquise, was a close friend of Prince George and Princess Mary of Teck, who were frequent visitors to Turville Grange and were to become King George V and Queen Mary in 1910.

To celebrate the coronation of King George V the current mature trees were planted in the

garden and in 1908 Queen Alexandra, George’s mother, gave the Marquise the magnificent wrought iron entrance gates, a smaller replica of the Royal gates at Sandringham, which still frame the front aspect of the house.

In 1950 Julia died and Turville Grange was sold to Lord and Lady Esher, he (Oliver Brett, the 3rd Viscount Esher) was a chairman of the National Trust and she an American iron/steel heiress. Their son, the renowned country house architect Lionel Brett, remodelled the main three storey house giving it a Georgian look, adding the Georgian front-door surround, several dormer windows and a Tuscan-columned loggia to one side.

In 1961-1962 Lionel Brett (who was made President of the Royal Institute of British Architects) and his cousin August Heckscher II advised American First Lady Jackie Kennedy on the refurbishment of The White House in Washington. In 1963 after his father Lord Esher died, these events led to the purchase of Turville Grange in 1966 by HSH Princess Lee Radziwill (1933-2019), Jackie Kennedy’s sister, and her husband HSH Prince Stanislas Radziwill (19141976), an exiled member of the former Royal family of Lithuania and Poland.

Princess Lee Radziwill had the main rooms and entrance hall at Turville Grange remodelled by Italian interior designer Renzo Mongiardino, with the gardens designed by landscape genius Lanning Roper, the masterpiece featured in Vogue (1971) and Architectural Digest (2018). Lee named the guest cottage The White House in honour of her sister and frequent guest Jackie Kennedy, and the famous sisters used the stables and paddock for riding their horses whilst their children, including JFK Junior and Caroline

Kennedy, played in the extensive gardens and the swimming pool pavilion, which was planned and built by Prince Stanislas.

The sisters would celebrate Christmas at Turville Grange and during the RadziwillKennedy era summer guests included Princess Margaret, Aristotle Onassis, Harold Macmillan, David Niven, Sean Connery, Peter Sellers, Oleg Cassini and the Duke of Beaufort. When the Radziwills divorced in 1974 Turville Grange was purchased by their friends from one of America’s most celebrated dynasties. The house became the UK country estate of Henry Ford II (1917-1987), the eldest grandson of Ford Motor Company founder Henry Ford and between 1945-1979 the CEO of the world renowned firm and the ultimate authority at Ford until his death in 1987.

In 1980 Henry Ford II married former model Kathleen DuRoss Ford (1940-2020) who he had known since 1969 and Turville Grange became the place where the couple hosted film stars, aristocrats, artists and captains of industry. Kathleen commissioned architect Jeffrey Smith and renowned design house Colefax & Fowler to refresh Lee Radziwill’s iconic interiors creating an outstanding example of classic English country-house style.

Guests at Turville Grange included Michael Caine, Liza Minnelli, Nicky Haslam, Sir Evelyn de Rothschild, Victoria wife of Sir John Paul Getty and the Duchess of Marlborough with the Fords giving legendary dinner parties and weekend shoots at the renowned estate. The Sainsbury family were close neighbours and the Ford and Sainsbury children would play an annual game of baseball in the grounds of Turville Grange. Now Turville Grange is for sale and offers a glimpse into the elegant and refined private world of two of America’s most celebrated families. In the main house all the reception rooms flow off the Renzo Mongiardino designed entrance hall with the drawing room, living/garden room, library and dining room benefitting from features including generous ceiling heights, fine cornicing and tall sash windows.