This room was witness to one of the most romantic episodes in the Spencer family history. In December 1755, during a ball to celebrate the coming of age of John, First Earl Spencer, he and his fiancée Georgiana Poyntz, slipped away from the celebrations together with his tutor, who was conveniently also a priest, and the few members of the wedding party.
In this bedroom they were secretly married. Afterwards, the group left the bedroom and rejoined the ball, joining in the dancing so that no one knew of their marriage secret. Thus began a marriage that was manifestly happy.
The King William
Bedroom was the State Bedroom at the time of the 2nd Earl of Sunderland. King
William of Orange slept here in 1695, when the bed was covered in ostrich
feathers. It is now used as a guest room. The Queen Mary Bedroom was used by
Queen Mary and George V when visiting Althorp in 1913.
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