Hever Castle is located in the village of Hever in Kent. The oldest part of the castle was built in 1270 and includes the gatehouse and a walled bailey.
The Boleyns
The house is most associated the family of Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII. Anne’s great-grandfather, Geoffrey Bullen, bought Hever Castle and Blickling Hall, located in Norfolk, in 1459. This was the same year Geoffrey became Lord Mayor of London and was knighted.
Anne’s father, Thomas, was born in 1477 and married Elizabeth Howard, the daughter of the Duke of Norfolk, in 1498. They had three children who survived infancy: George, Mary, and Anne. Anne was possibly born at Hever Castle around 1502. By 1525, King Henry VIII had tired of his wife, Catherine of Aragon, and Anne soon caught the King’s eye. He began courting Anne, who was sent from Court to live at Hever Castle. In 1533 Henry married Anne. She was beheaded, along with her brother, George, for adultery in 1536.
Anne of Cleves
Sir Thomas died two years later and Hever became the king’s property. In 1540, Henry gave the castle to his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, as part of their divorce settlement. She lived at Hever Castle for the next seventeen years.
The Waldegraves
After Anne’s death, the Waldegraves family bought the Castle and it remained in the family for the next 160 years. In 1642 Sir Edward Waldegrave became the first Baronet of Hever Castle.
The Waldegraves sold the castle in the early 1700s after it became too small for the family. For the next two hundred years Hever Castle was sold to various families and began to decline. The longest time period of ownership was the Meade-Waldos family, who held the castle from 1749 to 1903.
The Astors
In 1903 William Waldorf, the great-grandson of Johann Jakob Astor, bought Hever Castle. He spent the next decades restoring the castle. In 1916 he was created the first Baron of Hever Castle and became Viscount Astor the next year. The castle was passed through the Astor family. In 1963, Gavin, the 2nd Baron Astor of Hever, opened the Castle to the public.
In 1981 the Astors sold Hever Castle and its surrounding estate of 3,500 acres. In 1983, Broadland Properties Limited, a Yorkshire-based private company, bought the Castle. Today Hever Castle and its gardens are open to the public.
Sources:
Astor, Gavin. Hever Castle. Hever: Hever Castle Ltd., 1979.
Hever Castle. (accessed November 5, 2009)
 |
