HIGHBORN HIJINKS & HORSEPOWER
Eleven generations of sporting Dukes have made their ancestral home synonymous with speed – and their passion for racing has placed Goodwood at the heart of the social calendar. By James Peill
Speed, steeds and steering wheels in the historic grounds of Goodwood
Glorious Goodwood: its very name resonates with the joy of the summer. Traditionally, it marked the end of the Season, a final flourish before everyone departed on their holidays. The 1st Duke of Richmond – the illegitimate son of King Charles II by his French mistress, Louise de Kéroualle – bought Goodwood House in the late 17th century as a place to rest his weary head after riding out with the famous Charlton hounds. Ever since, life at Goodwood has revolved around sport: originally, hunting and shooting in the winter months and cricket in the summer. In fact, the first written rules of the so-called gentleman’s game, created for a match involving the 2nd Duke of Richmond in 1727, still survive in the Goodwood archive. His grandson, the 4th Duke, was a renowned player, even lending money to Thomas Lord to buy his famous cricket ground, while Hilda, the redoubtable wife of the 8th Duke, was an able player for White Heather, the first ladies’ club in the world, formed in 1887. More recently, the current Duke’s son captained the Eton XI in the Eton v Harrow match, another cornerstone of the Season.
As new sports were embraced by family members, so they were added to the yearly round, each taking advantage of the natural landscape. When the 3rd Duke of Richmond held a private race meeting up on the South Downs behind Goodwood in 1801, he could hardly have foreseen that it would one day become such a major event in the global racing calendar. It was under the 5th Duke of Richmond and his friend, the indefatigable sportsman Lord George Bentinck, that horse-racing took off, and innovations such as the parade ring and an orderly start were inaugurated at Goodwood. Bentinck even designed the first horsebox, to take his horse Elis in secret to Doncaster, where it arrived fresh as a daisy and stormed home to victory in the St Leger – netting Bentinck sizeable winnings. King Edward VII, who stayed almost every year at Goodwood for race week, described it as ‘a garden party with racing tacked on’. He even had a go at relaxing the dress code for the gentlemen, swapping the more formal top hats and morning coats for bowler hats and lounge suits; in due course these were replaced by straw hats and linen suits, still worn today, while the ladies don summer dresses.
Entertainment has always gone hand in hand with sport at Goodwood. In the 19th century, sumptuous banquets were laid on in the ballroom for the cream of English society, guests sauntered in the state-rooms and, after the racing, competition was fierce on the tennis and croquet lawns. Edward VII was a demon croquet player, although he was happy to partner the young Lady Muriel Gordon Lennox, the 7th Duke’s daughter, who was later to recall fondly his kind cries of ‘Well tried!’ each time she missed a good shot. Another favourite guest was the extravagant Earl of Lonsdale (a regular visitor from the 1860s to the 1930s), nicknamed ‘the Yellow Earl’ after his butter-coloured livery and carriages, which he would lend to the house-party guests to convey them to the racecourse.
Goodwood is as famous for its motor-racing as for the equine variety. This tradition was started by Freddie, the 9th Duke of Richmond, a dashing racing driver who won the Brooklands Double Twelve in 1931. Five years later, he hosted (and won) a hill-climb for the Lancia car club, which saw automobiles race down the drive in front of the house and then tear up the hill behind. When someone suggested Freddie turn the wartime Westhampnett fighter-pilot station into a motor circuit, he leapt at the chance and, in 1948, opened the Goodwood circuit. Safety considerations meant it was closed down in 1966, but the current Duke – then an 11-year-old boy – vowed to reopen it one day. True to his word, he initiated the project in the early 1990s but encountered fierce opposition among the locals. While negotiations rumbled on, he contented himself with staging a new event in the park in June 1993: the Festival of Speed, a replica of Freddie’s original mad driveway dash. Expecting around 3,000 people to turn up, the Duke and his team were amazed when a crowd eight times that size descended.
On 18 September 1998 – exactly 50 years after Freddie had launched the motor circuit – his grandson, the 11th Duke, was finally able to reopen it, and the Goodwood Revival was born. The event, themed around the course’s earlier years, was an instant success, not only because of the high-quality racing, but also due to the meticulous set-dressing of the environs. Inspired by the surroundings, the spectators, too, made every effort to dress up in period costume, as they still do today. Indeed, both July’s Festival of Speed (where the famous hill-climb remains the focus) and the Revival in September are now highlights of the British social calendar, bringing hundreds upon thousands of motor and fashion enthusiasts through the gates every year.
In many ways, Goodwood continues to do exactly what it did more than 300 years ago, welcoming people to enjoy sport and hospitality. Each of the games that take place – horse-racing, motor-racing, golf, flying, shooting and cricket – stems from one of the Dukes’ passions, but what sets the estate apart is its owners’ generosity in sharing those passions with others. It is this bonhomie, combined with a unique heritage and bucolic setting, that makes the Goodwood season so special. James Peill is the curator of the Goodwood Collection. His new book, ‘Glorious Goodwood: A Biography of England’s Greatest Sporting Estate’, (£25, Constable) is published on 6 June.