Please find below information about forthcoming events in Amersham. The Society’s lectures are usually in the Kings Chapel. If any member is unable to make his/her way to these meetings and would like transport to be arranged, please contact Geraldine Marshall-Andrew on 01494 433735.
Another fascinating story from local historian Neil Rees on the subject of high-profile exiles in Buckinghamshire, this time about French Royalty.
Louis XVIII, King of France 1814-1824, spent 23 years before his reign in exile from France beginning in 1791, after the French Revolution and during the Napoleonic era. From 1809 to 1814 Louis, then Count of Provence, and his court resided at Hartwell House near Aylesbury. Following the defeat of Napoleon, the French Senate invited Louis to resume the throne of France. He signed the accession papers and left Hartwell for Paris.
Doors open at 7.30pm and the talk will start at 8.00pm. No booking necessary. Guests and new members welcome.
“Knole was built to impress” and has done so ever since. So said Thomas Sackville in 1605 (it wasn’t until much later that they changed their name to Sackville-West).
Knole House dates from the middle of the 15th century and is now one of Britain’s most important and complete historic homes with a colourful past as an archbishop’s palace, the former hunting ground of Henry VIII, the home of the Sackville family for 400 years and a source of literary inspiration for Virginia Woolf.
The house has sumptuous showrooms containing fine Royal Stuart furniture, tapestries and above all, the well known Rembrandt collection and a very impressive silver collection. Stairs lead from the Great Hall to the first floor apartments with long galleries hung with fine paintings and lined with elegant Royal furniture.
We will be able to view the orangery and gardens (highly recommended), which will be open to the public the day we will be there, by kind permission from Lord Sackville-West.
We do hope you can join us on what should prove to be a wonderful, inspiring and interesting visit.
Further details, including Itinerary and Booking Form, will be published in our January Newsletter and circulated to members by email.