Chequers

Chequers is one of Britain's most familiar yet least known country houses. Indeed, many people would struggle to summon up an accurate image of what it looks like or even its location. As the country seat of the British Prime Minister it is not open to the public and few photographs have been available until now. In this substantive new appreciation of the house and its history, Norma Major opens the door and takes the reader on a guided tour of one of Britain's most interesting national treasures. Beginning with the development of the Chequers Estate and the building of the main house in the sixteenth century, the book goes on to look at the different families and people who have lived there, including Lady Mary Grey who was imprisoned there, Frances Cromwell (daughter of Oliver Cromwell) and, more recently, Ruth and Arthur Lee who restored the house and donated it to the nation in 1921. From her unique position as the Prime Minister's wife, Mrs. Major has had unprecedented access to the house and its spectacular collection of paintings, furniture, and decorative arts. She has also had the opportunity to talk to past Prime Ministers and their families about how they used the house and the changes that they made during their occupancy. A superb series of specially commissioned photographs by Mark Fiennes shows how the magnificent interiors look today and provides intriguing comparison with early photographs from the Chequers archives.