Editing Cliveden (section)

===18th century===

====1st Earl of Orkney====
After Buckingham died in 1687, the house remained empty until the estate was purchased in 1696 by [[George Hamilton, 1st Earl of Orkney]], a soldier and colonial official.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ingram |first=Dominic |title=Who was the Earl of Orkney? |url=https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/features/who-was-the-earl-of-orkney |access-date=30 September 2022 |website=National Trust |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":1" /><sup>:2–3</sup> The Earl employed the architect [[Thomas Archer]] to add two new "wings" to the house, connected by curved corridors. Although an almost identical arrangement exists today, these are later reconstructions, the originals having been destroyed in the fire of 1795.<ref name=":6">{{Cite journal |last=Jackson-Stops |first=Gervase |date=1976 |title=The Cliveden Album: Drawings by Archer, Leoni and Gibbs for the 1st Earl of Orkney |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1568386 |journal=Architectural History |volume=19 |pages=5–88 |doi=10.2307/1568386 |jstor=1568386 |s2cid=191780952 |issn=0066-622X|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name="Georgian Cliveden">{{Cite web |title=Georgian Cliveden |url=https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/cliveden/features/georgian-cliveden |access-date=30 September 2022 |website=National Trust |language=en}}</ref> All that remains of Archer's work inside the house today is a staircase in the West wing.<ref name=":6" />

Orkney's contributions to the gardens can still be seen today, most notably the Octagon Temple and the Blenheim Pavilion, both designed by the Venetian architect [[Giacomo Leoni]].<ref name=":1" /><sup>:15</sup> The landscape designer [[Charles Bridgeman]] was also commissioned to devise woodland walks and carve a rustic turf [[amphitheatre]] out of the cliff-side.<ref name=":1" /><sup>:12</sup>

{{stack|[[File:Frederick, Prince of Wales, and his sisters by Philip Mercier.jpg|thumb|[[Frederick, Prince of Wales]] with his<br> sisters, c. 1733, by [[Philippe Mercier]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/766108.2 |title=Prince Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales (1707–1751) playing the Cello, accompanied by his Sisters, Anne (1709–1759), Caroline (1713–1757) and Amelia (1711–1786), making Music at Kew 766108.2 &#124; National Trust Collections |access-date=12 July 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161011005616/http://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/766108.2 |archive-date=11 October 2016 }}</ref>]]}}

====Countesses of Orkney====
Orkney died in 1737, and Cliveden passed to his daughter [[Anne O'Brien, 2nd Countess of Orkney]] in her own right. She immediately leased it to [[Frederick, Prince of Wales]], eldest son of [[George II of Great Britain|George II]] and father of [[George III]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk|title=Ownership / Occupants of Cliveden – Family of Earl of Orkney|publisher=National Trust UK|access-date=17 October 2012}}</ref> After Frederick fell out with his father, [[Kew Palace#George II's children|Kew]] and Cliveden became his refuge from life at the royal court, becoming family homes for his wife [[Augusta, Princess of Wales|Augusta]] and their children.<ref name="Georgian Cliveden"/> During the Prince's tenure of the house, on 1 August 1740, ''[[Rule, Britannia!]]'' (an aria by the English composer [[Thomas Arne]] with lyrics by Scottish poet [[James Thomson (poet, born 1700)|James Thomson]]) was first performed in public in the cliff-side amphitheatre at Cliveden. It was played as part of the [[masque]] ''[[Alfred (Arne opera)|Alfred]]'' to celebrate the third birthday of the Prince's daughter [[Princess Augusta of Great Britain|Augusta]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=When Britannia Ruled the Waves; Cliveden's Royal Connections |url=https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/cliveden/features/when-britannia-ruled-the-waves-clivedens-royal-connections |access-date=30 September 2022 |website=National Trust |language=en}}</ref>

Cliveden was also the location for the final illness of the Prince: it was believed that while playing [[cricket]] in the grounds at Cliveden in 1751 the Prince received a blow to the chest from a batted ball and that this had caused an infection which proved fatal;<ref name="Ref-1">NT Guide 1994, p. 19</ref> however, an alternative interpretation shows he died from a cold, followed by a pulmonary embolism.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/41xVBDYmZgbmgwPNc9XlNY8/frederick-prince-of-wales|title=The First Georgians: The German Kings Who Made Britain – Frederick Prince of Wales – BBC Four|website=BBC|access-date=11 August 2017}}</ref><ref>Natalie Livingstone, ''The Mistresses of Cliveden'' (Random House, 2015), chapter 6, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wWbkBgAAQBAJ&dq=blood+clot+lungs+frederick+prince+wales&pg=PT160 p. 160]</ref> After his death, Frederick's family retained Kew and their townhouse, [[Leicester House, Westminster|Leicester House]], but gave up their lease on Cliveden. Anne and her family moved back into the house, passing it to her daughter, [[Mary O'Brien, 3rd Countess of Orkney]] and granddaughter, [[Mary FitzMaurice, 4th Countess of Orkney]], who also lived there. On the night of 20 May 1795, the house caught fire and burned down. The cause of the fire was thought to have been a servant knocking over a candle.<ref name="Ref-1"/> The 4th Countess moved out after the fire but retained the site, only selling it in 1824.<ref>{{Cite web |title=FITZMAURICE, Hon. Thomas (1742–93), of Llewenny Hall, Denb. {{!}} History of Parliament Online |url=https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1754-1790/member/fitzmaurice-hon-thomas-1742-93 |access-date=30 September 2022 |website=www.historyofparliamentonline.org}}</ref>