Camden Place: the Life of Empress Eugénie

Camden Place became home to France's Empress Eugénie and Emperor Napoleon III after the fall of the Second Empire in 1870. Following Napoleon’s death in 1873, Eugénie lived here in exile, transforming the house with French château-style additions, hosting Queen Victoria and planning monuments for her family, before her death in 1920.

Camden Place is described by Dr Lee Prosser, Curator of the Royal Palaces, as a building of great architectural and historic importance. The house is Grade II* listed, tucked away in a quiet corner of Chislehurst and for over 130 years it has been the home of Chislehurst Golf Club. In the grounds there is a Grade II folly designed by James ‘Athenian’ Stuart.

Visitors hear about a double murder, the overnight visit of Benjamin Franklin, visits by Queen Victoria and Tsar Alexander ll and two ‘almost royal’ funerals, as both Napoleon III and then his only legitimate son, the Prince Imperial were laid to rest in Chislehurst’s small Catholic church.

Architectural features include a Jacobean panelled hall with 20 grotesques, fireplaces, panelling, murals and original features that are bound to leave an impression. The jewel in Camden Place’s crown is its dining room. The panelling is architectural salvage from the Château de Bercy, just outside Paris. Its demolition for the railway was resisted because even then it was seen to represent the pinnacle of French craftsmanship, carved by men of the Royal Works in the 1720s – men who went on to create Versailles. Very few properties of this age survived the revolution and so it is unique because of both its quality and scarcity. It is being described as ‘probably the best French interior in England’.

The Camden story dates from 1609 when William Camden (antiquarian) established his home on just two acres, surrounded on three sides by the Common. For the last 130+ years it has been the home of Chislehurst Golf Club, so many of its unique architectural features have remained unchanged since the Empress Eugénie left the property in 1881.

Rear of Camden Place pre-1894

In 2024, Camden Place was delighted to be the recipient of one of the first Small Project Grants awarded by HHA. This was to help us bring onboard a significant collection of Second Empire artefacts and ephemera. There is a small, changing exhibition of these items in the house.

After your tour you can visit the Imperial Monument (opposite Camden Place about 90 yards away) or take a 10-minute walk to the Catholic Church of St Mary’s where both Napoleon and his son the Prince Imperial were first buried, before their remains were removed to Farnborough Abbey in 1888.

More information about the history and architecture of Camden Place can be seen at www.camden-place.co.uk.

Tickets £35, including tea/coffee and cake on arrival, a talk on the history of Camden Place and its residents, and a tour of the ground floor rooms. Visitors then have an hour for lunch (which can be purchased at Camden Place) followed by an expert talk on the Empress Eugénie and her visit to South Africa the year after her son died there.

Lunch and refreshments can be purchased during your tour. Please note that payments are card-only, and cash cannot be accepted.

Visitors' views
Excellent visit. Highly recommended. Quite fascinating. All staff and club members very welcoming. Sandwich lunch nice and fresh and tasty. Really curious history. So much more to learn. The house is clearly in safe hands with the golf club who were very welcoming.

Please see our cancellation policy below:
If you cancel more than two weeks before the tour is scheduled to take place, we will fully refund your ticket money excluding any phone booking fees. If it’s less than 14 days before a tour, for any reason, we regret that we cannot refund your ticket money unless we can resell your ticket(s). If we cancel at any time, we will fully refund your ticket money. Although we make every effort to avoid it, sometimes a tour has to be cancelled at short notice due to circumstances beyond our control. In this case, we cannot accept responsibility for, or refund, any consequential losses, such as money spent on travel or accommodation.