Packed with cannons (all aimed at France), this building was built by Henry VIII, besieged by Cromwell, occupied by the Duke of Wellington (who died here) and Sir Winston Churchill. It was also the scene of a famous 20th century sex scandal.
More recently, however, Walmer Castle has served as a little-known – and surprisingly modest – royal residence. And starting tomorrow, just a few months from now, these private quarters will be shown to the public for the first time.
After enjoying an exclusive preview, I have to say it’s not the Tudor battlements or the original pair of Wellington boots that stick in my mind. It’s the late Queen Mother’s taste in lavish late 70s decor – and that this was certainly the only place where she lived (for a few days a year) in a three-bedroom flat. Her mark remains on it to this day.
In 1978, nearing her ninth decade, Queen Elizabeth acquired the Queen Mother an additional home when the Queen appointed her to the ancient office of Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. This honorary position dates back to the Middle Ages and is awarded for life to a prominent national figure. Walmer Castle, near Deal in Kent, is rented by favor for life.
Walmer Castle has beautiful gardens, a moat, café, gift shop and tea room, all managed by English Heritage
The Queen Mother at Walmer Castle, where she lived (for a few days each year) in a three-bedroom flat
This includes several historic rooms on public display for part of the year, plus beautiful gardens, a moat, café, gift shop and tea room, all overseen by English Heritage. However, the castle also has a private apartment within the ramparts. And after becoming the first female Lord Warden in the office’s 800-year history, the Queen Mother made some very personal touches.
From tomorrow, visitors will be allowed through the ‘secret door’ in the old Donjon. They are immediately transported from the museum-like atmosphere of the public wing to what feels like a comfortable, if faded, hotel from the Fawlty Towers era. A worn red carpet leads past a guest bedroom (with lots of post-war brown furniture) and up a few steps, with handrails, to a hallway and a grandfather clock.
Here we find a more functional than cozy kitchen with a beautiful view of the gardens. I see a Morphy Richards toaster and Formica-style open shelving, including a stainless steel teapot and a hodgepodge of mugs familiar to many a cafeteria.
These were owned by the most recent Lord Warden, the former Chief of the Defense Staff, Lord Boyce, and his late wife. Michael Boyce, a prominent former submariner, was appointed to the post after the Queen Mother’s death in 2002 and lived here on and off until his own death in 2022.
Since then the place has remained empty, awaiting the appointment of a new Lord Warden by the King. The Boyces have made no changes to the place, so we now have a perfect snapshot of life at Walmer in its royal years.
We move on to the private dining room, decorated in spring green tones and recently renamed the Sir Robert Menzies Room after the Queen Mother’s predecessor. The great Australian statesman was appointed Lord Warden in 1965, succeeding Sir Winston Churchill, and used it as his British base. His legacy is the charming collection of Australian landscapes by contemporary artists.
Next door is the Queen Elizabeth Room, which she redesigned in a teal hue. The trees and leaves on the silk wallpaper match the pattern on the sofa. Here she read the newspapers (especially the racing press) and watched TV. Visitors will see scenes of her installation as Lord Warden on screen. We then come to the Queen Mother’s bedroom.
The Queen Elizabeth Room – This is where the Queen Mother read the newspapers (especially the racing press) and watched TV
The private dining room, decorated in spring green tones and later renamed the Sir Robert Menzies Room after the Queen Mother’s predecessor
The Queen Mother’s bedroom, where the floral patterns are at their most florid, with pink roses cascading down the cornice, swags, headboard and curtains
The bathroom with its large marble edges
Here the floral patterns are at their most florid, with pink roses cascading down the cornice, swags, headboard and curtains. They are also all over the armchair. A bedspread from the 70s covers the bed. On the wall next to Queen Victoria hangs a JAK cartoon from the 1995 Evening Standard.
It shows the Queen Mum on the ramparts of neighboring Dover Castle, waving her handbag at a battered Frenchman. At the time there had been a huge row following a French bid to buy the port of Dover (the most important of the Cinque Ports). The local population begged the Queen Mother, as Lord Warden, to intervene.
Although she could not take sides in a political dispute, she came pretty close, instructing her private secretary to write on her behalf to the Secretary of State for Transport, Sir George Young, ‘so that he might be aware of the deep feelings of the citizens of this ancient seaport’. The French withdrew.
Even the dressing table was redecorated to her taste, as was the bathroom next door with its large marble surrounds. In her later years she would prefer to use the green tiled bathroom across the hall with a walk-in shower. The guest toilet next door still has a vibrant orange and yellow flower box with 70s kitsch written on it. In an alcove known as the Telephone Annex, the Queen Mother called.
Here we find portraits of Lord and Lady Boyce and a telephone that plays life anecdotes recorded by Lord Boyce’s children from his first marriage, Hugo and Christine. Hugo Boyce remembers hearing a shivering visitor complaining that Walmer (pronounced ‘warmer’) should be renamed ‘Colder Castle’.
Outside, the Queen Mother’s most notable contribution remains the garden that designer Penelope Hobhouse created for her as a gift. It includes beautiful topiary, a summer house, a rectangular pond and a statue of a corgi on a bench where a real corgi posed for a portrait with the Queen Mother.
Although her stay never lasted more than a few days each year, she loved this place. ‘My bedroom was absolutely beautiful, and we even managed to have some guests over for dinner in the makeshift dining room. The chef was very happy in his little kitchen and there was a wonderful atmosphere in the castle,” she wrote to her decorator Oliver Ford after her first stay.
The staff was kept on their toes. “She certainly liked things done her way,” says Kathryn Bedford, curator of collections for English Heritage, fondly. “Her team would take down her own curtains because she didn’t like the curtains we had here.”
As royal biographer Hugo Vickers notes: ‘The annual visit caused a huge stir, bringing silver, glass and plates from London, not to mention special chairs… Some of the furniture, the Queen Mother joked, was ‘squeezed out of Windsor’. ‘
The title of Lord Warden dates back to the Middle Ages, when five Channel ports were given special status. In return they would provide ships for the king and forts were built, most notably Dover Castle. Walmer was one of three added for extra protection after Henry VIII’s divorce from Catherine of Aragon prompted the Pope to demand an invasion of England.
By the 18th century, the title of Lord Warden had become an honorary sinecure for a distinguished grandee of the time. Although the Duke of Wellington had grand mansions in London and Hampshire, the Duke liked to spend every autumn entertaining at his Kentish fortress.
In 1842 he lent the castle to Queen Victoria after an outbreak of scarlet fever struck Brighton. Victoria noted that the “situation is charming… but the house is very small.” After the First World War, another Lord Warden, Earl Beauchamp, suddenly retreated into exile abroad to avoid a looming sex scandal.
Although he was a married father of seven children, his homosexual tastes had extended to proposing to footmen and even local fishermen, at a time when this was still a criminal offense.
During the Second World War, Walmer was within range of enemy artillery, making it too dangerous for Winston Churchill to take up residence after he became Lord Warden in 1941.
For now, English Heritage will leave the Queen Mother’s 1970s decor as it is until the King appoints a new Lord Warden. Who could that be? One candidate that comes to mind is his sister. Not only does the Princess Royal have a great affinity with the sea, but her husband, Sir Tim Laurence, also knows the place very well – as a former chairman of English Heritage.
