Leeds Castle in Kent is known as the loveliest castle in the world.
It’s also called the Ladies’ Castle as it was home to six medieval English queens. But it’s not just a pretty place.
Leeds was also in the thick of the action during the long history of bloody battles for the throne of England.
King Stephen laid siege to it in his fight against the Empress Matilda. And Edward II besieged it when the castle’s garrison refused to admit Queen Isabella. Some say he chopped the custodian’s head off.
Leeds Castle is named after a Saxon nobleman who built the first wooden stronghold on the site in the 9th century and it’s a textbook of English architectural history. The castle has had makeovers from the Normans, Plantagenets, Tudors, Georgians, Edwardians and a 20th century Anglo-American heiress, Lady Baillie. She rescued and gradually restored the castle over 30 years, before leaving it to the Leeds Castle Foundation.
