Provender House

The house is reached along Provender Lane, Norton, a village in the Swale district of Kent.[1] It has been listed as Grade II* on the National Heritage List for England since 27 August 1952.[3]

The house was built in 1342 for Lucas of Vienne, the Chief Archer to Edward, the Black Prince.[1] It was altered and extended between the 15th and the 19th centuries. At one stage, it was owned by the Knatchbull-Hugueson family.

The widowed Constance Borgström née Paterson (from Finland) started to live there as a tenant in the 1890s. She was the widow of a rich Finnish businessman, consul Emil Borgström, one of the younger sons of Councillor Henrik Borgström and his wife Carolina née Kjemmer, and a member of an important Finnish banking family who had been in contact with English business circles since Councillor Borgström was trained as a youth in a British merchant company in the very early 19th century.

One of Constance's daughters, Sylvia Borgström, a Finnish-born heiress, married a British soldier, Colonel Herbert McDougall, in 1906,[4] and bought the house and its land in 1912. Since then, the property has been inherited from mother to daughter.[1]

Sylvia McDougall's eldest daughter and heiress was Nadine McDougall (1908–2000), who became the second wife of Prince Andrew of Russia (1897–1981). He was the eldest son of Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich of Russia and Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna of Russia, sister of the last Tsar. The house became Prince Andrew's main residence in exile from 1950.[1]

The current owner is their daughter, Princess Olga Andreevna Romanoff,[1] who has three surviving children. During the ownership of Princess Olga, the house was refurbished in the 2000s by the architect Ptolemy Dean.[1]

• Official website