It is one of the most beautiful stately homes in the country: a mansion with 106 rooms that attracts thousands of visitors every year to admire its architectural history.
But now Houghton Hall, the family seat of David Cholmondeley, the 7th Marquess of Cholmondeley, is under scrutiny by Chinese internet sleuths who claim the neo-Palladian pile contains ancient valuables looted from the Qing dynasty.
Images of the Grade II listed house, commissioned by Sir Robert Walpole in 1722, have gone viral on social media sites, despite assurances from the estate that no items had been stolen from the Hall’s contents.
In China, armchair detectives have taken to TikTok to accuse the Marquess, 63, and his wife Rose Hanbury, 40 – neighbors of the Prince and Princess of Wales – of living off looted loot inherited from his illustrious ancestors, the Sassoons.
The Sassoon family, nicknamed ‘the Rothschilds of the East’, amassed a fortune in the 19th century trading in textiles, tea and opium in India and China.
Houghton Hall, the family seat of David Cholmondeley, the 7th Marquess of Cholmondeley, is being closely watched by Chinese internet sleuths
Armchair detectives have taken to TikTok to accuse 63-year-old Marquis and his wife Rose Hanbury (pictured) of living off looted loot
The height of their activities coincided with China’s ‘century of humiliation’ from 1839 to 1945, when millions of valuable artefacts were looted by British and French soldiers. The Qing dynasty lasted from 1644 to 1911.
It is difficult to determine which items from this era were stolen and which were obtained legally, but that has not stopped the unsubstantiated accusations against the Cholmondeleys.
One person on Xiaohongshu, an Instagram-like site, shared images of the Hall’s interior, saying, “The Sassoons started amassing their wealth by plundering late Qing China.”
The internet sleuths pored over photoshoots of the Marquis and Marchioness in Vanity Fair and W magazines, showing their palatial pile in north Norfolk, four miles from William and Kate’s country home, Anmer Hall.
They focused on several pieces of furniture, including a folding screen decorated with mountains and cranes. “These cultural relics not only represent the history and culture of our nation, but are the wisdom and hard work of our ancestors,” said TikTok user Cathy Chen.
Although David, the current Marquis, is descended from the Sassoons through his father, the estate said the items in question were not heirlooms inherited through his family.
A spokesperson for Houghton Hall said: ‘The items of Chinese origin in the photographs you refer to were purchased by the Walpole family, Houghton’s original owners, in the 18th century, mid-Qing dynasty, usually through agents rather than directly in China. .
Internet sleuths have focused on several pieces of furniture, including a folding screen decorated with mountains and cranes
One person on Xiaohongshu, an Instagram-like site, shared images of the Hall’s interior and said: ‘The Sassoons started amassing their wealth by plundering late Qing China’
‘The items were not looted, but largely made for export to Europe. It would be difficult to find a country house collection, private or National Trust owned, that does not display objects acquired in or from China. This applies to most European and American collections.’
The Sassoons were Jewish bankers from Baghdad who were criticized in China for their role in the opium trade.
Sybil Sassoon, the paternal grandmother of the current Marquess, is credited with modernizing Houghton Hall after he married George Cholmondeley, the fifth Marquess, in 1913.
Her work to expand the Hall’s art collection, which includes Old Master paintings as well as modern art, led to her being credited with starting ‘a new golden age for Houghton’.
One commentator noted: ‘In addition to a lot of money, the Rothschild and Sassoon families each possessed remarkable connoisseurship.’