Don’t forget to write home
In our new series, Hugh Francis Anderson follows literary giants to the hotels in which they stayed
Who? Rudyard Kipling
Where? Brown’s Hotel, London W1
What? The Jungle Book, 1894
Why? I’m writing this overlooking Albemarle Street in Mayfair, light filtering in through the vast windows of the Kipling Suite, the same windows that Rudyard Kipling would have looked through when penning the last pages of The Jungle Book. The walls seem to whisper with tales of adventures past.
Brown’s is one of London’s oldest hotels, with a remarkable roster of guests to boot, including Byron, Churchill, Queen Victoria and Teddy Roosevelt. Yet, it is Kipling who has left the longest-lasting stamp. The Nobel Prize-winning author first visited on his honeymoon, in 1892, and subsequently made it his home whenever he was in London.
The Kipling Suite embodies the London of old. As director of design Olga Polizzi notes, ‘like all of our rooms at Brown’s, we designed the Kipling so you can feel that you are in London’. It’s vast, opulent and quirky. Among the Arabescato marble, Julian Chichester furniture and Manuel Cavanos silks, you’ll spot plenty of original plaster features and a framed letter sent to the hotel by Kipling. Peruse the bookshelves and you’ll also find a limited-edition copy of The Jungle Book, commissioned by Brown’s.
Although Kipling and I sadly never shared time, it’s special to know that we’ve most definitely shared space and, I think, a suite in which he would definitely still feel at home. After all, he once said: ‘Take everything you like seriously, except yourselves.’
How? There’s no right or wrong time to visit London, but advanced booking for the Kipling Suite is recommended. Make sure to reserve a table at Charlie’s, the recently revamped restaurant, and order the beef Wellington, which appears from the kitchen on an opulent silver cart. ‘It is what I always recommend,’ says head waiter Luigis Cannas. I concur.
On the other side of the foyer, in Donovan’s Bar, you can now try a Trust in Me cocktail —an alcoholic ode to Mowgli’s mentor Kaa. The Kipling Suites from £6,500 a night (020–7493 6020; www.roccofortehotels.com)