Thatched House Lodge

Thatched House Lodge is a Grade II-listed building and royal residence in Richmond Park in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames in London, England.

The main house has six reception rooms and six bedrooms, and it stands in four acres (16,000 m²) of grounds. The gardens include an 18th-century two-room thatched summer house which gave the main house its name.

Since 1963 Thatched House Lodge has been the residence of Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy (born Princess Alexandra of Kent). Following their marriage, the house was acquired on a lease from Crown Estate Commissioners by her husband, Sir Angus Ogilvy, who predeceased his wife in 2004. The tenancy is for 220 years, and the ongoing annual tenancy charge was initially £1,010 rising in stages by defined stage to £6,000 per annum.

History
The residence was originally built as two houses in 1673 for two Richmond Park Keepers, as Aldridge Lodge. It was enlarged, possibly by William Kent, in 1727 as a home for Sir Robert Walpole. The two houses were joined in 1771 by Sir John Soane and renamed Thatched House Lodge. It had also been known as Burkitt's Lodge.

The house was used by various members of the Royal Household including General Sir Edward Bowater, and General Lynedoch Gardiner, respectively equerry to the Prince Consort and to Queen Victoria. Sir Frederick Treves, 1st Baronet retired to the house after he successfully operated on King Edward VII's appendix in 1902.

In 1905 it was announced that Edward VII had placed Thatched House Lodge, at the disposal of Sir Edmund Monson on his retirement from Her Majesty's Diplomatic Service.

Later Thatched House Lodge became the home of Wing Commander Sir Louis Greig (equerry to King George VI, when he was Duke of York), and then the Duke of Sutherland. It was the London home of U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower during the Second World War.