When the recent death of Queen Elizabeth led us to look at visits by royalty to Hampstead and its environs, we found some amusing and sad stories, extravagant displays of hospitality but also discovered that some reports were untrue.
Probably the earliest error concerns Queen Boudica, the warrior queen of the Iceni who rebelled against the Roman invaders in 60-61AD. Some histories claimed she was buried under what is now a platform of King's Cross Station, others said on Hampstead Heath; in fact her final resting place is unknown.
In Kilburn there is 4 Greville Place, marketed as George III’s hunting lodge, but built after the King died. Likewise, Lausanne Cottage, which stood on Kilburn High Road opposite the end of Willesden Lane, was said to be Charles II’s favourite hunting lodge. Again, the building date postdates the King’s death, this time by nearly 150 years.
A visit to Kenwood
King William IV drove through Hampstead in July 1835, to visit Lord Mansfield at Kenwood House, accompanied by Queen Adelaide and the Duke of Wellington. The Marchioness of Salisbury wrote in her diary:
‘The breakfast at Ken Wood. The road was crowded with people all the way anxious to see the King. A triumphal arch was erected on Hampstead Heath, and in most of the houses by the side of the road there were preparations for illuminations. I heard the King was extremely well received by the crowd, and the Duke still more so... It was a beautiful day. The grounds are excessively pretty, and if there had been enough to eat, it would have been perfect...
The King and Queen and all the Royalties seemed extremely well-pleased; the King in particular trotted about with Lord M. in the most active manner and made innumerable speeches!’
Kilburn and West Hampstead
Queen Victoria often came to Kilburn to walk in seclusion along West End Lane. Driven up the Edgware Road in her carriage, her visits were recognized by some sources, including the 1866 OS map, where the Lane near its junction with Kilburn High Road is named ‘Queen’s Road’. The Lane was then little used, its surface was below the bordering fields in places, with shading trees meeting overhead.
Queen Mary, the wife of King George V, also frequently drove up Edgware Road, but in a car, not a horse and carriage. This was the route to matinee performances at her favourite cinema, the grand and very luxurious Kilburn State.
She came to Hampstead on many occasions: to visit the maternity home named after her, at the top of Heath Street; (currently Queen Mary’s House, the future of the building is uncertain) and to see Major George Thomas Cavendish Paget, who owned Gardnor House in Flask Walk. The Queen was a keen antiques collector as was the Major.
She also visited 50 Crediton Hill in West Hampstead to look at lace. John Jacoby, a famous lace maker, lived there from 1905 to his death in October 1953. When the Queen saw anything she particularly liked, the owner often gave the item to be added to the Royal collection. In the case of museums, ‘if she saw something that she thought should be placed in a royal residence, she requested a permanent loan of the piece’.
Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovitch
Before her marriage to George V, Mary was wooed unsuccessfully by a permanent royal resident of West Hampstead, the Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovitch. The grandson of Romanov Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, he is buried in Hampstead Cemetery on Fortune Green Road. Mary's relatives refused to allow the marriage, considering that the Romanovs made 'nortoriously bad husbands'. A few years later in 1891 the Grand Duke secretly married Sophie Von Merenberg, the grand-daughter of the poet, Pushkin. But because she wasn’t entirely of royal blood, their marriage was declared ‘morganatic’, which limited succession and titles. It was also illegal under Russian Imperial Family law.
Sophie became Countess de Torby but for marrying without consent, the Grand Duke was exiled from Russia. His mother, the Grand Duchess Olga Feodorovna called Michael a fool. Upset by the scandal she fell ill, and her doctors insisted she travel to her Crimean estate to recuperate. Soon after her train passed through Kharkiv (Kharkov), she suffered a heart attack and the train returned to the station. Olga died three days later on 12 April 1891, in the Tsar’s waiting room. Although surrounded by attendants and doctors, no member of her family was with her. Kharkiv was a target of Russia's invasion of Ukraine that began in February 2022. In May, Russian forces were pushed back towards the international border, but the city remains under intermittent missile attack.
Although he had to leave Russia, the Grand Duke’s substantial allowance continued to be paid. The couple spent some years at Cannes, where they built up their fabulous Fabergé collection, before settling in England. They leased Kenwood House from 1910 to 1917, sharing the mansion with their three children Nadejda (Nada), Anastasia (Zia) and Michael, and numerous ‘big dogs and even bigger Circassian guards in glamorous uniforms patrolling the grounds’. Queen Mary met the Grand Duke on many social occasions, including a ball held in 1914 at Kenwood.
The Russian royal couple were well known for their philanthropy, donating a motor ambulance to Hampstead Hospital and allowing a mobile anti-aircraft unit to be located in the Kenwood grounds during WWI. The gun crew were accommodated in the stable block. Here is a film clip showing the Duke and the anti-aircraft unit, outside the house.
The Grand Duke was a keen sportsman and opened the nearby high-diving board at Highgate Ponds in the hope that it would be used to train Olympic divers. He created a cricket pitch and golf course in the grounds of Kenwood but today, the only visible remains of the Duke’s stay are a pair of small headstones to ‘Bill’ and ‘Mac’, two of his dogs buried in the grounds. With the abdication of the Tsar and the Russian Revolution in 1917, the couple’s fortunes flagged, and they moved to 8 Cambridge Gate, Regent’s Park. Countess Sophie died there in September 1927 and her funeral service was held at the Russian Church in Buckingham Palace Road. It was reported that the coffin would remain there until a vault was ready at Hampstead Cemetery. A plot was purchased in January 1928 and the Countess was interred at the end of the month. Less than two years later the Grand Duke was buried beside her. Their only son, Michael Torby, who was known as ‘Boy’, is buried with his parents. For more information see our ‘GoodGrave Guide To Hampstead Cemetery’ which is available from the Camden Local History Society.
Royals at Cricklewood
Clay pigeon shooting was a popular sport among the royals, and King Alfonso XIII of Spain was a regular shooter. In 1907 he was staying at Kensington Palace when accompanied by Prince Leopold of Battenberg, he ‘motored out’ driving up the Edgware Road to the London Sporting Park at Cricklewood. He spent the morning there and a paper reported; ‘His Majesty is a keen shot and he shattered the discs in a sportsmanlike fashion’.
The owner William Webster Watts later advertised that the ground had been visited by many other Royals including King George V, and that it was the best place to practice and be coached. But the London Sporting Park company went into voluntary liquidation in 1918.
The concentration of industry in Cricklewood attracted several royal visitors. In March 1919, Edward, HRH Prince of Wales, the eldest son of George V, made the first of two visits to the Handley Page aircraft works in Claremont Road, Cricklewood. Accompanied by his younger brother Prince Albert, Edward was taken on an official tour of the factory by Frederick Handley Page. The second visit in April almost certainly grew out of the first, when Edward returned for a trip in a Handley Page aircraft. He signed the visitors’ book, before being handed an airman’s headgear and goggles and taken to the adjacent airfield. ‘A large number had by this time gathered in the vicinity and gave the popular young Prince a rousing send off’. One of the three passengers who accompanied the Prince was Lady Joan Mulholland, who sat in the front machine gunner’s cockpit. At the time it was rumoured that she might become his wife.
The large 0/400 plane was in the air for about an hour, flying over Edgware Road, Golders Green and Hendon, then heading south for London, St Paul’s and Buckingham Palace, where the passengers spotted gardeners at work. Edward described the flight as ‘ripping!’. A comment in Daily News that at times the plane had flown lower than was safe, was swiftly refuted by the pilot. On the death of his father George V in January 1936, Edward became King Edward VIII, but abdicated in December, when he was unable to marry Wallis Simpson. He was succeeded by his brother Albert who took the regnal name of King George VI.
There is a short film of the visit by the two princes on Pathe News here.
For more about the early aircraft industries in the area see Mark Amies new book 'Flying Up the Edgware Road'.
On a rainy November day in 1959, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh was taken round the Smiths Industries Cricklewood Works. The company diversfied from producing precision watches to become a major supplier of instrumentation to the aircraft and car industries in the early twentieth cntury, later including aerospace and medical divisions. Like Handley Page, it was a major local employer. The Duke turned to wave at a group of girls who called out ‘coo-ee’ as he went past.
More Royals at Hampstead
On 26 July 1907, Edward VII came to open the newly built University College School (UCS) in Frognal, accompanied by Queen Alexandra. The school had moved there from Gower Street. The streets were blocked by people who wanted to see the King and Queen. The royal couple drove up Finchley Road and then Frognal, which was lavishly decorated with bunting and flags.
On 4 June 1953, just two days after her coronation, Queen Elizabeth II accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, toured the northern suburbs of London in an open car. Beginning in Chelsea they visited Fulham, Hammersmith, Paddington, Maida Vale, Kilburn, and St Johns Wood. The route was lined by thousands of well-wishers. The Royal couple stopped at Hampstead Town Hall, on the corner of Belsize Avenue (now Wac Arts) to meet the Mayors, Mayoresses and town clerks of the eight north-western Boroughs.
‘At least three hours before the royal couple were due to arrive, hundreds of people began taking up their positions along the route. When the royal car eventually pulled up outside the town hall a few minutes before four o’clock, Cllr Snowman wearing his mayorial robes stepped forward. The Queen turned to acknowledge the thunderous cheers coming from more than 7,000 throats’.
The Queen was surprised to be greeted by a friendly face. The Mayor of Hampstead, Emanuel Snowman, was a director of Wartski the jewellers, holders of Royal warrants since King Edward VII. This was more than a civic occasion for Emanuel: in connection with his work for Wartski, he had met the Queen and had visited Buckingham Palace on many occasions.
In 1980 the Queen returned to Hampstead to celebrate the 150th anniversary of UCS.
On 6 September 1997, huge crowds again turned out for a royal visit of a very different nature. That afternoon, the hearse carrying Diana, Princess of Wales, drove along Finchley Road, to turn down the Hendon Way, en route to burial at Althorp. Diana died on 31 August from injuries in a car crash in Paris. The hearse was covered in flowers thrown by people along the route, waiting to see the car pass by. Every now and then, the driver had to stop to allow the blooms to be removed so he could see through the windscreen.
Many members of the royal family have visited our neighbourhoods down the years, not only to perform official duties but also for rest and recreation. Some have left a permanent mark in the form of buildings, streets and pubs named after them.
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