Glamour, grandeur and a literary festival – it must be Cliveden
As the famous hotel prepares to welcome the literary glitterati, we chat to the lady of the house, Natalie Livingstone
There is something about the women of Cliveden.
Its first chatelaine was Anna Maria, Countess of Shrewsbury, who inspired it. The house was built in the 17th century as a place for George Villiers, the Duke of Buckingham, to conduct their scandalous affair. From the start Cliveden was – in the words of Alexander Pope – a disreputable but magical place, “the bower of wanton Shrewsbury and love”.
There was always an air of mystique, excitement, possibly even a hint of danger associated with beautiful Cliveden (pronounced, for those in the know, as cliv-din). Society hostess Harriet, Duchess of Sutherland, was followed by Nancy Astor, the first woman to take a seat in Parliament. She might have had a tinge of the antisemite about her – she’s said to have discouraged the hiring of Jews and Catholics to her husband’s paper The Observer and openly made sneery comments about them – but that didn’t stop the great and the good, from Charlie Chaplin to Winston Churchill, and Rudyard Kipling to FD Roosevelt, all flocking to be entertained in the gorgeous splendour of Cliveden’s French dining room.
And then, perhaps most infamous of all the Cliveden women, there was Christine Keeler, who was just a guest at the house. The young woman met minister of war John Profumo at Cliveden leading to an affair while she was concurrently sleeping with a Soviet naval attaché. That in turn led to a scandal which brought down a government and is also credited with heralding the start of the Swinging Sixties.
Today’s keeper is a very different beast. For a start, the house is no longer a home but a stunning luxury hotel, the glittering jewel in the crown of a property empire belonging to tycoon Ian Livingstone. What’s more, instead of a sneering aristocrat or sharp-elbowed American heiress, the woman at the helm is a Jewish girl from Finchley (although home is now Notting Hill). But in terms of gathering the elite of today’s world of literature, politics and arts, Natalie Livingstone is just as polished as the society women she follows.
For the last few years, she’s hosted the Cliveden literary festival and this, her fifth, may be her most salubrious yet. Hollywood glamour, in the form of Succession’s Brian Cox will be rubbing shoulders with literary stars William Boyd and Robert Harris alongside fashion royalty with Vogue editor Edward Enninful there to talk about his memoirs.
Royal experts Tina Brown, Robert Hardman and Camilla Tominey will be fraternising with politicians Michael Gove and Nadhim Zahawi. There are a few Jewish writers including Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland, there with his fantastic book The Escape Artist, technology writer Jamie Susskind and Natalie herself who has written two historical books – one on the women of Cliveden and another on the Rothschild women.
And there is even a real genuine King – HM King Simeon of the Bulgarians.
“While in the popular imagination Cliveden is often associated with scandal, what is lesser known is that its been a treasure trove of supreme creativity from Alexander Pope, Jonathan Swift and Tennyson, to George Bernard Shaw and Rudyard Kipling,” says Natalie, 45, a mother of three. “All of the glittering greats have been inspired by Cliveden and have written at Cliveden. That’s why I wanted to revive its history as a literary icon and recreate it as a sanctuary for lovers of literature. For one weekend a year, it becomes just that.
“I am particularly excited about the King of Bulgaria, who is the last head of state from World War Two. It’s going to be fascinating to hear about his life from when Bulgaria was invaded by Hitler to the present day. We’ve also got fabulous panels on women’s history, China and India; I think there is something to cater for everyone’s interest.”
Natalie spends all year organising the festival, aided by her co-founders – historians Simon Sebag Montefiore and Andrew Roberts, and former Tatler editor Catherine Ostler. “It is a juggle to ensure we have the right mix of speakers for our guests but I love it, its an abiding passion of mine.”
Each year the weekend-long festival, which starts at £110 a day, attracts more than 600 visitors and this year’s is already almost sold out.
“I think there is something special about the atmosphere here,” says Natalie. “There is this sense of history which you can feel in all the rooms, knowing what’s happened in them. The house itself really is an ode to poetry and literature and art and architecture. The whole house is infused with a glorious history and I am very lucky to be part of that.”
Cliveden Literary Festival takes place on 15 and 16 October.
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