Cliveden Passes

Tall, tweedy, gentle William Waldorf, Viscount Astor, and his Virginia-born wife Nancy last week relinquished Cliveden to the British people. Their home, with its spacious grounds west of London on one of the most beautiful reaches of the Thames, was handed over to the National Trust, custodian of Britain's national property. The Astors retain the right for themselves and their sons after them to occupy the house as long as they wish. As tenants of national property, they will save land and inheritance taxes.

To Britons, Cliveden is part of their country's history, from the distant past up to the present day. All good Englishmen recognize the date, 1668, cut into one lawn and remember how the "witty and wicked" George Villiers, second Duke of Buckingham, for whom Cliveden was built, abducted Lady Shrewsbury and then killed her pursuing husband while the Lady held the horses. They remember, too, the role of Cliveden in the appeasement years of Prime Ministers Baldwin and Chamberlain, when the "Cliveden set" met there on weekends planning how to circumvent the war.

Like most of England's stately, drafty homes, Cliveden is almost unsupportable in wartime. The great drawing room with its piano and organ has long been closed for lack of fuel, and there is no wood for fires in the bedrooms. Food rationing has shortened weekend guest lists; the servant shortage hampers housekeeping. For two years past, a Canadian military hospital has been established on Cliveden's grounds.

Though jokesters inquired, when the Asters' gift was announced, if it included donation of the "Cliveden set," the relinquishment of Cliveden was appreciated in England. Commented London's Evening Standard: "Cliveden belongs to the past of politics as well as to the future of polity. . . . The present owners ... by this generous act have shown that they can keep pace with the times."

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