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B O W O O D H O U S E
W I L T S H I R E , E N G L A N D
T h e M o s t H o n . T h e M a r q u e s s o f L a n s d o w n e
Lords in the 12th Century, Kind Edward I drew on their private army in 1297 to
battle the Scots! Moving from many a fortified stronghold the family purchased
Bowood in 1754. They employed the architect Robert Adam to extend,
redecorate and refurnish the house. The original designs for much of the furniture
and the furniture itself still stand in the rooms for which Adam intended them.
Family ancestry is packed with courtiers and statesmen from earliest days, one
Marquess taking a foremost part in reconciling America and England after the
War of Independence. The present, The Most Honourable George John Charles
Mercer Nairne Petty Fitzmaurice, the 8th Marquess of Lansdowne, a Lord-
in-waiting to the Queen and a member of her special bodyguard in Scotland,
the “Royal Company of Archers,” was a Cabinet Minister in Winston Churchill’s
Government. Decorated with the Croix de Guerre and Legion d’Honneur he
truly maintains ancestral standards.
