Chevening

:This article is about Chevening House. For the scholarship scheme, please see Chevening (scholarship).

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Chevening, also known as Chevening House, is a country house in Chevening, Kent, in the United Kingdom. It is an official residence of the British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.

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The 115-room house, situated near a lake in the midst of a 3,500 acre (14 km²) estate, is a three-story, symmetrical red brick structure in the English Renaissance style. It may have been designed by noted 17th-century British architect Inigo Jones.

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The house was the family seat of the Earls Stanhope, and was bequeathed to the Nation by the 7th and last Earl Stanhope (who was also 13th and last Earl of Chesterfield).

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The last Lord Stanhope, who died without an heir in 1967, was apparently impressed by the Prince of Wales. He left the heavily endowed house to the Nation, to be managed by a body of trustees. The Chevening Estate Act stipulated that the future resident should be the Prime Minister, a Cabinet Minister, the widow or lineal descendant of King George VI, or the spouse widow or widower of such a descendant. Lord Stanhope hoped that the Prince of Wales would reside at Chevening. The Prince declined, then accepted residency in 1974 and then gave up residency (without actually having resided there) in 1980, choosing instead to purchase Highgrove. Since then, Chevening has been used by the British government to house successive Foreign Secretaries.

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Country house: In Britain and Ireland, the term country house generally refers to a large house which was built on an agricultural estate as the private residence of the landowner. The vast majority of country houses in Britain and Ireland were built before 1914....

Kent: :This article is about the English county of Kent. See also Kent (disambiguation)....

Official residence: An official residence is the residence at which head of governments or head of states officially reside. They may or may not be the same location where they conduct their work-related functions....

Chevening related Images and Photos (experimental)

View of Chevening Place Engraved by S. Lacy 1830