Three hotels fit for a king
You don’t have to have blue blood to stay in these royal haunts. Chris Carter reports
A royal favourite
Whatever your feelings about the monarchy, the coronation of a new monarch is hard to ignore, says Dominic Kocur in The Week. The Goring in London’s Belgravia enjoys a special relationship with the royals. It is the only hotel to have been granted a Royal Warrant for hospitality services and every reigning king and queen has walked through its doors since 1910, when The Goring was built. That might also have something to do with its location. The hotel is situated as close to Buckingham Palace as it is possible without actually being inside its grounds. “At dawn, guests could feasibly hear the yelp of a corgi.” The current Princess of Wales called it home in the days before she married into the royal family, and The Goring was said to be a favourite of the Queen Mother.
Its Michelin-starred restaurant, The Dining Room, has put on a special coronation tasting menu for the occasion. “After all, it’s not impossible a Windsor might drop in for supper unannounced one evening, as neighbours sometimes do.”
From £595, thegoring.com
Highland retreat
The Granary Lodge is a luxury bed and breakfast located on the northern coast of the Scottish Highlands, in the grounds of The Castle of Mey – the holiday retreat purchased by the Queen Mother in 1952, says Ailbhe MacMahon in the Mail Online. The Queen Mother had used part of the 17th-century lodge as a garage to house her cars, and her chauffeur and staff stayed in what are today guest rooms seven and eight.
An animal centre under the auspices of the The Queen Elizabeth Castle of Mey Trust took up residence when the Queen Mother died in 2002, until 2016 when the building underwent a restoration to turn it into the present cosy guesthouse. King Charles, as Prince of Wales, formally opened the property in 2019. Guests can enjoy the sea views over the strait of Pentland Firth to Dunnet Head and Orkney. From £165, castleofmey.org.uk
Perfect for polo
Coworth Park, in Berkshire, is a “divine foodie getaway just 40 minutes from London”, says Anna van Praagh in the Evening Standard. It is the only hotel in Britain with its own polo fields, which explains why “you might just spot a few polo-loving royals in the summer”. It was a favourite of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex before they moved to the US, and it is where Prince Harry spent the night before his wedding in 2018. Other activities, besides polo, include tennis, croquet and cycling around the estate, with its 35 “quaint” cottages. Coworth House, which sits at the heart of the property, is “steeped in history”.
It was built in 1776 for William Shepheard, a prosperous merchant of the East India Company, and in the late 1800s, the Prince and Princess of Wales, along with Queen Alexandra, stayed here while visiting the races at nearby Ascot. From £545, dorchestercollection.com
“At dawn, guests could feasibly hear the yelp of a corgi”