Qualla: Spencer House, Westminster

Spencer House, Westminster: Introduction

Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Public domain. In December 1922, a 19-month-old boy named Philip arrived in London with his parents and made his temporary home at Spencer House, the Spencer family's grand townhouse overlooking Green Park. His father Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark had just been condemned to death in Athens by the new revolutionary government and then exiled. His mother was Princess Alice of Battenberg. The household was the Greek royal family in flight, sheltering with the prince's older brother Christopher, whose American-born wife Princess Anastasia held the lease on the house. The infant boy in the bassinet would grow up to be Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, husband to Queen Elizabeth II. Spencer House gave him his first London address.

Image: Public domain

Spencer House, Westminster: Built for an Earl

Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Bluedog423, Public domain. In 1756 John Spencer, the first Earl Spencer, decided he needed a London house worthy of his position and his ancestral country seat at Althorp. He chose a triangular site at 27 St James's Place, just off Green Park in the heart of Westminster's clubland. His first architect was ...

Image: Bluedog423 | Public domain

Spencer House, Westminster: American Heiresses

Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ricardalovesmonuments, CC BY-SA 4.0. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries the Spencers began to let the house out for periods, often to wealthy Americans. In 1897 the 9th Duke of Marlborough and his bride Consuelo Vanderbilt leased it; their first child John, the future 10th Duke, was born here on 18 September ...

Image: Ricardalovesmonuments | CC BY-SA 4.0

Spencer House, Westminster: The Last Great Aristocratic Townhouse

Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Edwardx, CC BY-SA 4.0. After the death of the 6th Earl in 1922, the Spencers gave up living at the house. Heavy estate duties of around £359,000 against an estate valued at just under £1.2 million ate badly into the family's resources. The 7th Earl, Albert Spencer, kept the freehold and refused to sell...

Image: Edwardx | CC BY-SA 4.0

Spencer House, Westminster: Rothschild Restoration

Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Trevor Harris, CC BY-SA 2.0. By 1985 the house had been let to the Economist Intelligence Unit for over twenty years and was showing its age. That year Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild, secured a 96-year lease through RIT Capital Partners at an annual rent of £85,000. He spent £16 million restoring the...

Image: Trevor Harris | CC BY-SA 2.0

Spencer House, Westminster: Sundays at Number 27

Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Andrew Abbott, CC BY-SA 2.0. The terms of the Rothschild lease require some quirks. RIT must redecorate the external stonework every three years and the internal rooms every seven. They are limited in how often they can hold events. The Spencer Trustees retain reserved use of certain "fine rooms." Most impor...

Image: Andrew Abbott | CC BY-SA 2.0