Hedsor House

Hedsor House is a Georgian style mansion in the United Kingdom, located in Hedsor, Buckinghamshire, England. Perched overlooking the River Thames, a manor house at Hedsor can be dated back to 1166 when the estate was owned by the de Hedsor Family. In the 18th Century it was a royal residence of Princess Augusta, Dowager Princess of Wales. It is the film location of Beecham House in Dustin Hoffman's Quartet starring Maggie Smith and Michael Gambon.

Hedsor House has also been used as one of the locations in the film Mortdecai, three of the stars of the film Johnny Depp, Olivia Munn, and Paul Bettany, filming scenes in Hedsor House's Boudoir and Bridal Suites.

History

Hedsor, which dates back to 1166, was once the home of Princess Augusta, Dowager Princess of Wales, mother of George III and the founder of Kew Gardens. The house and its 85 acre park overlooking the Thames then regularly welcomed the Kings and Queens from Windsor Castle as the home of Lord Boston from 1764. The house was originally designed by Sir William Chambers, architect of Somerset House, with the aid of George III and Queen Charlotte, who picked the location specifically for its position high above the Thames. Badly damaged by fire in 1795, a new house was completed in 1868, unusually modeled on the Italian villa style but with a domed hall rather than an open courtyard.

Hedsor

Coordinates: 51°34′12″N 0°40′52″W / 51.570°N 0.681°W / 51.570; -0.681

Hedsor is a small village and civil parish in Wycombe district in Buckinghamshire, England, in the very south of the county, near the River Thames and Bourne End.

The village toponym is derived from the Old English for "Hædde's cliff", referring to the position of the village on a cliff overlooking the Thames.

Hedsor House was the ancient seat of the de Hedsor family, who took their name from the village. They owned it at the time of the Domesday Book in 1086. The modern manor house was built in 1778, and stands on a hill in the village with a commanding view of the Thames and of Berkshire.

In 1583 Roland Hynd built a new Tudor manor house at Hedsor which was badly damaged by fire in 1795 and eventually demolished in 1865. At about this time the fourth Lord Boston commissioned the architect James Knowles to design a new house at Hedsor. Hedsor House remained as the Boston family's country house until early in the 20th century, during which time Queen Victoria was said to be a frequent visitor to the house and its beautiful surrounding parkland.