Non-Profit Organisation
Education Conservation RestorationAmerican Friends of Belvoir Castle is a US non-profit organisation, established by and for Americans with the mission to educate through the conservation, restoration and management of the Belvoir Estate’s historic buildings, landscapes and art collections.
Getting Involved
A Letter From The Board
Dear Friends,
Belvoir Castle is one of the great treasure houses of England. The seat of the Dukes of Rutland, 36 generations of the family have resided here in an unbroken line for almost one thousand years.
Belvoir Castle was never designed to be a home for one nuclear family, but to lie at the centre of a web of connections: through the estate, in the country around it and across the world. Yet it remains a private estate and while it receives very little external funding, its extensive collections, gardens, landscape and the fabric of the castle are in need of constant attention.
As it looks to the future, it faces a challenging question: how do you keep safe a one thousand year old estate in times as uncertain now as they have ever been? American Friends of Belvoir Castle is one part of the answer. It has been created as an opportunity for friends in America, those who already know and love Belvoir Castle and those with a passion for England and its history, to raise funds for and support the restoration of those elements of this great English estate that are essential to its character. Elements that might otherwise moulder or lie forgotten.
We are starting with three exciting projects: to conserve and restore the celebrated 18th century Chinese wallpaper that hangs in four of the state bedrooms and to clear the Memorial Lakes and thereby complete the plans for the park drawn up by the great landscape gardener Capability Brown, 250 years after they were drawn up.
We also want to offer an American student studying estate management the unique opportunity of an apprenticeship, spending three months working with Belvoir Castle’s team and learning first-hand how a great English estate is managed.
We, the trustees of the American foundation, are excited about these plans which offer so much potential, not just for Belvoir Castle but for those of you who have expressed a desire for a deeper engagement with this magical place and who share our wish to help safeguard it for future generations.
Yours faithfully,
Matthew Hall
President
Explore
Belvoir Castle
Our History
A reflection on the 36 generations for whom Belvoir Castle has been ‘home.’
The Projects
The projects American Friends of Belvoir Castle will support.
Future Events
We look forward to welcoming you to our future events.
Press
NEW YORK TIMES ARTICLE
Emma, Duchess of Rutland, sat in her drawing room and weighed the pros and cons of living over the shop. Specifically, Belvoir Castle, a stately and splendid pile perched on a wooded hilltop in the English countryside with more than 356 rooms and soaring neo-Gothic towers and turrets. It has been the site of the family seat since the 16th century.