A Getaway by the Sea
As King Charles III prepares to lead the royal family at the Ascot races next week, a look back at how his grandparents slipped the royal leash and escaped Ascot for a family holiday in Sandwich Bay
In the late spring of 1932, the future King George VI and Queen Elizabeth were longing for an escape from the rituals of royal life. As Bertie, then the Duke of York, explained to his speech therapist, Lionel Logue, he had been feeling “tired and worn out” since March. An unexpected opportunity came their way on May 24th when they carried out a busy schedule of engagements in the historic port city of Plymouth. Among the dignitaries they visited were Lord and Lady Astor. American-born Nancy Astor was the MP for Plymouth, the first woman in British history to take a seat in Westminster. Her husband Waldorf, the second Viscount Astor, had previously held the seat until the death of his father compelled him to go into the House of Lords. Both Astors were well known to the royal family.
“It is really too angelic of you”
Sensing the fatigue of the royal couple, Nancy Astor offered them a week with their two daughters, six-year-old Lilibet, and Margaret, soon to turn two, at her “cottage by the sea” overlooking the English Channel in Kent. “It is really too angelic of you to say that we may go to your house next week for a rest,” Elizabeth wrote to Lady Astor on June 8th. “It will be quite wonderful for us to get away” for “a peaceful few days.”
Bertie and Elizabeth faced one somewhat daunting impediment to their planned escape. King George V and Queen Mary expected their son and his wife to join a large royal house party on Monday the 13h for Royal Ascot: four days of formal dinners at Windsor Castle and attendance at the thoroughbred races. From the elaborate arrival in a procession of open landaus to lunch and tea in the Royal Box, this was a yearly command performance for senior members of the royal family, and press reports on the 7th had announced that the Duke and Duchess of York would be arriving with the others on Monday.
“While the rest of Society is making merry at Ascot”
It isn’t known exactly how Bertie and Elizabeth managed to duck this particular royal duty, and no official excuse was offered for their failure to appear as scheduled. One newspaper reported that they were “spending the week quietly in the country.” Another account further explained that “while the rest of Society is making merry at Ascot,” the Duchess of York needed “quiet time” due to “the state of her health. She has never been very strong, and the many public and other engagements she has carried out since the season opened have tired her unduly.”
Bertie and Elizabeth traveled as planned on the 13th to Sandwich Bay and settled into Rest Harrow, the handsome Arts and Crafts style home that Nancy Astor built in 1910. With fourteen bedrooms, a drawing room, study, dining room, two kitchens, and a third-floor nursery suite with a playroom, it was not exactly a “cottage.” The mansion was situated on three acres of lawn and gardens and had a tennis court as well as an indoor squash court.
“Children blissful & very happy”
I have to confess a special fondness for Rest Harrow, having dined there several times and stayed there for one weekend with the current owners who bought the house in 2013 and restored it to Nancy Astor’s impeccable standards. It is unique in many respects, not least the enhancements that reflected Lady Astor’s strong belief in the curative powers of the sea. It was fun to think of Bertie and Elizabeth taking full advantage of all Rest Harrow had to offer. “Children blissful & very happy,” Elizabeth telegraphed Nancy Astor soon after their arrival.
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