Gowns for the crown

A forgotten chapter in the history of one of Yorkshire’s stately homes is about to be reopened. Sarah Freeman takes a look at the highlights of the Victorian Harewood exhibition.

be the perfect springboard to explore that same era in the life of the house.”

Three influential women dominate the exhibition just as they did Harewood’s history in the late 19th and early 20th century. Through letters, photographs and other personal items, the exhibition will tell the story of Lady Charlotte Canning, who was one of Victoria’s ladies in waiting; Lady Louisa, Third Countess of Harewood, who masterminded a grand redevelopment of the property; and Florence Bridgeman, Fifth Countess of Harewood and keen amateur photographer.

“Victoria stayed at the estate and there’s a couple of lovely lines from one of her journals in which she says: ‘The park seems very fine, the view from the window is very pretty, but the house itself not nearly so comfortable’. That all changed when Lady Louisa moved into Harewood. She had 13 children and very quickly decided that the house needed major remodelling to suit the family’s needs,” adds Jane.

“Fashions changed radically during the Victorian period, and suddenly you find purple leather furniture and crimson curtains being introduced to Harewood. Lady Louisa also created a service passage from the dining room to the kitchen so the servants could move about more efficiently and the parterre terrace with its stately fountains, symmetrical flower beds and box hedging, which stretches more than a mile in length, was also down to her. The family paid Charles Barry £37,000 to complete the alterations, which was the equivalent of £1.6m in today’s money. There is a temptation to think that the women of this period were seen and not heard, but women like Lady Louisa really left their mark on the place.”

So too did Florence Bridgeman. Born in 1859, she was 22 when she married Henry, Viscount