Ghosts · London

The Earl in the Gilt Room and the Lady Who Met Herself

Holland House, in Holland Park, Kensington

Spooky: for older readers

Holland House in Kensington grew out of an old manor house that had belonged to Sir William Cope. His daughter Isabel married Sir Henry Rich, and it was Rich who gave the house its wings and arcades and had the finest artists of his day decorate it inside. In 1624 he was made Earl of Holland. The historian Clarendon called him “a very handsome man, of a lovely and winning presence, and gentle conversation.”

He lived in dangerous times. He was a favourite of Queen Henrietta, then fell under suspicion when he lent Holland House for a meeting of Parliament's men. Later he went back to the King's side, was taken in arms, and was sentenced to death. In March 1649 he went to the block in Palace Yard, dressed in a white satin waistcoat and a white satin cap trimmed with silver lace. He gave the executioner ten pounds, and asked him to leave his clothes alone, and not to take off his cap when he held up his head. He died bravely, and his head was cut off with a single blow.

But he didn't leave his house. The Gilt Room, people said, was haunted by the first lord alone. At midnight he would come out from behind a secret door and walk slowly through the rooms where he had been so splendid, carrying his head in his hand. And on one side of the recess he came from were three spots of blood that no one could ever wash away.

His daughters had a stranger tale. One morning at about eleven o'clock, the beautiful Lady Diana Rich was walking in her father's garden at Kensington to take the air before dinner. She was perfectly well. And there on the path she met herself: her own double, dressed exactly like her, as if she were looking in a mirror. About a month later she died of smallpox.

Her sister, Lady Isabella Thinne, was said to have seen her own double too before she died. A third sister, Mary, who married the Earl of Breadalbane, was said to have had the same warning not long after her wedding.

And so, Ingram wrote in 1884, it was “a received fact that, whenever the mistress of Holland House meets herself, Death is hovering about her.”

No plate yet. We are still looking for an old picture of this place.

What people said

  • Three spots of blood. Beside the secret door in the Gilt Room were three spots of blood that could never be wiped out.
  • Nightingale Lane. The meeting with the double was said to have happened in the long avenue in the grounds called the Green Lane, once called Nightingale Lane, “like an immense gallery arched with trees and carpeted with grass.”

Other tellings

  • The earliest telling. John Aubrey wrote down Lady Diana's meeting with her double in his Miscellanies (1696). He said he had it “from a person of honour”. [TODO: link a free copy of Aubrey's Miscellanies]
  • The story of the Earl in the Gilt Room comes from Princess Marie Liechtenstein's Holland House (1874), which Ingram quotes. [TODO: check the Princess's book directly]
  • Warburton, in a note to Clarendon's History, was harder on the Earl: “He lived like a knave, and died like a fool.”

What the history says

Henry Rich was made Baron Kensington in 1622 and Earl of Holland in 1624, and was beheaded in 1649 for fighting for the King. All this is as Ingram tells it, from Clarendon.

Holland House was badly damaged by bombing in the Second World War. Part of it survives, and its grounds became a public park, Holland Park, in 1952. [TODO: confirm what survives and what can be seen]

Go and See

Where
Holland Park, Kensington, west London. The remains of Holland House are in the park.
Access
The park is open daily from 7.30am until dusk, and some gates may close up to 20 minutes early. Free.
Allow
An hour to walk round the park and the remains of the house.
Families
A ghost story with a headless earl and an early death. Fine for older children.

Visiting details checked 24 October 2026 with the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Always check before you travel.

51.5029° N, 0.2041° W · Open in OpenStreetMap

Make a day of it

From our sister sites

The Name GeneratorsName a ghost of your ownPale ladies, grey monks and headless earls.Acorn & InkWrite your own legendStory planners to print. What would you do if you met your own double?

Sources

  1. John Aubrey, Miscellanies (1696), as quoted by Ingram. The earliest telling of Lady Diana's double that we have found.
  2. John H. Ingram, The Haunted Homes and Family Traditions of Great Britain (1884; illustrated edition 1897), “Holland House”, quoting Princess Marie Liechtenstein's Holland House and Clarendon's History with Warburton's note. Internet Archive.
  3. Visiting: the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, rbkc.gov.uk/hollandpark, checked 24 October 2026.

This is a legend, told as people told it. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.