| Provender | |
|---|---|
 The front of the house in 2009 | |
| Coordinates | 51°18′41″N0°49′49″E / 51.31126°N 0.83020°E |
| Built | 1342 |
| Built for | Lucas de Vienne |
| Owner | Princess Olga Romanoff |
| Website | provenderhouse.co.uk |
Listed Building – Grade II* | |
| Designated | 27 August 1952 |
Provender is an English country house in Norton near Faversham in the English county of Kent. [1] It is privately owned but open for tours on certain days, and is an event venue. [2]
The house is reached along Provender Lane, Norton, a village in the Swale district of Kent. [1] It has been listed as Grade II* on the National Heritage List for England since 27 August 1952. [3]
The house was built in 1342 for Lucas of Vienne, the Chief Archer to Edward, the Black Prince. [1] It was altered and extended between the 15th and the 19th centuries, with James Hugessen buying the property in 1633. [4] The house remained in the Hugesson and Knatchbull-Hugessen families for over 300 years. Sir Edward Knatchbull, 9th Baronet inherited it from Dorothea Hugessen, Lady Banks, who had married naturalist Sir Joseph Banks but died childless, and the estate was farmed by William Knatchbull-Hugessen in the 1860s. [5] [6] Following Sir Edward's death, his widow, the former Fanny Knight (niece of Jane Austen), lived there until her death in 1882. [7]
The widowed Constance Borgström née Paterson started to live there as a tenant in the 1890s. She was the widow of a rich Finnish businessman, consul Emil Borgström, one of the younger sons of Councillor Henrik Borgström and his wife Carolina née Kjemmer. Emil was from a key Finnish banking family who had British business links since his training with British merchants in the early part of the century.
One of Constance's daughters, Sylvia, a Finnish-born heiress, married Colonel Herbert McDougall of the British Army in 1906, [8] and bought the house and its land in 1912. Since then, the property has passed from mother to daughter twice. [1]
Sylvia's eldest daughter and heiress was Nadine McDougall (1908–2000), who became the second wife of Prince Andrew (or Andrei) of Russia (1897–1981). He was the eldest son of Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich of Russia and Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna of Russia, sister of the last Tsar. The house became Prince Andrew's main residence in exile from 1950. [1]
The next owner is their daughter, Princess Olga Andreevna Romanoff, [1] who has three surviving children. The princess, of a state no longer having a royal family but being the maternal family of King George V who died in 1936, saw the house refurbished in the 2000s by the architect Ptolemy Dean. [1]
Earl Mountbatten of Burma is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, created in 1947 for Rear Admiral Louis Mountbatten, who in 1946 had been created the first Viscount Mountbatten of Burma. He was later promoted to Admiral of the Fleet.
Baron Brabourne, of Brabourne in the County of Kent, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1880 for the Liberal politician Edward Knatchbull-Hugessen, the second son of Sir Edward Knatchbull, 9th Baronet, of Mersham Hatch. He had previously represented Sandwich in the House of Commons and served as Under-Secretary of State for Home Affairs and Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies. Lord Brabourne had assumed by Royal licence the additional surname of Hugessen in 1849. His son, the second Baron, represented Rochester in Parliament as a Liberal.
Sir Edward Knatchbull, 9th Baronet, was a British Tory politician. He held office under Sir Robert Peel as Paymaster of the Forces between 1834 and 1835 and as Paymaster General between 1841 and 1845.
Princess Olga Andreevna Romanoff is a British aristocrat and member of the House of Romanov. She is the grandniece of Nicholas II of Russia and Alexandra Feodorovna, the last emperor and empress of Russia. Princess Olga serves as the president of the Romanov Family Association, an organization for descendants of the former Russian Imperial House. She is the owner of Provender House, a country house in Kent that she inherited from her mother's family.
Adrian Norton Knatchbull-Hugessen, was a British-born Canadian lawyer and senator.
Edward Hugessen Knatchbull-Hugessen, 1st Baron Brabourne, known as E. H. Knatchbull-Hugessen, was a British Liberal and later Conservative politician. He served as Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department under Lord Russell in 1866 and under William Ewart Gladstone from 1868 to 1871 and was also Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies under Gladstone from 1871 to 1874. In 1880 he was elevated to the peerage as Baron Brabourne.
Sir Hughe Montgomery Knatchbull-Hugessen was a British diplomat, civil servant and author. He is best remembered as the diplomat whose secrets were stolen by his Kosovar Albanian valet and passed on to Nazi Germany.
Herbert Thomas Knatchbull-Hugessen was a British Conservative politician.
Sir Edward Knatchbull, 8th Baronet was a British politician and baronet.
Sir John Knatchbull, 2nd Baronet was an English landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1660 and 1690.
Sir Wyndham Knatchbull, 12th Baronet JP was a British barrister and Conservative Party politician.
Sir Edward Knatchbull, 4th Baronet was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons of England from 1702 to 1705 and in the House of Commons of Great Britain variously between 1713 and 1730.
Sir Norton Knatchbull, 1st Baronet was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1640 and 1679.
Prince Andrei Alexandrovich of Russia was the first son and second child of Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich of Russia and Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna of Russia. He was also the eldest nephew of Nicholas II of Russia, the last Tsar.
William Western Knatchbull-Hugessen was an English amateur cricketer who played in three first-class cricket matches in 1858 and 1859.
George Watson Milles, 1st Earl Sondes, was a British peer and Conservative politician. Sondes was the son of George Milles, 4th Baron Sondes by his wife Eleanor Knatchbull, 5th daughter of Sir Edward Knatchbull, 8th Baronet.
Edward Knatchbull-Hugessen, 2nd Baron Brabourne was a British peer and Liberal Party politician.
Norton, Buckland and Stone is a small rural civil parish 1 mile (1.6 km) east of Teynham and 3 miles (4.8 km) west of the centre of Faversham in the borough of Swale, Kent, England. It is bypassed by the M2 to the south and traverses the historic A2, on the route of the Roman road of Watling Street.
Princess Nadine Romanovskya, also known as Princess Andrew of Russia, was a British aristocrat and heiress. She was the owner and châtelaine of Provender House in Kent, which she inherited from her maternal family.
Frances Catherine Austen Knight, Lady Knatchbull, later Lady Knatchbull, more commonly known as Fanny Knight, was the eldest niece and correspondent of the novelist Jane Austen. Her recollections, in the form of letters and diaries, have been an important source for students of her aunt's life and work.
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