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Harewood House Trust welcomes the creation of the Heirs of Slavery group, which includes David Lascelles, the Earl of Harewood, and other people whose ancestors profited from transatlantic slavery.

Harewood House Trust is an independent educational charitable trust established in 1986.  The Trust works to maintain and develop Harewood House, Gardens and Grounds, the historic home of the Lascelles family, for the public’s benefit. The charity, which is also an accredited museum, uses all the funds raised from visitor admission to keep the site open, to engage with Harewood’s local communities and to run a diverse programme of exhibitions and events, which are enjoyed by over 250,000 people every year. Given that Harewood House was built using profits from the Transatlantic trade in enslaved people, this programme has for a long time strived to open up conversations about this history and its ongoing impact around the world. Harewood House Trust welcomes the Heirs of Slavery’s statement and hopes that the group’s creation will continue to progress these conversations.

Since the charity’s creation, Harewood House Trust has maintained links with the Lascelles family. This has included generous donations from the family and working collaboratively with them on several projects. Harewood House Trust is grateful for their support of the charity’s projects and looks forward to further collaborations in future. The Trust will continue its work to be open about Harewood’s history; to make Harewood a welcoming, inclusive place for all; and to raise awareness of the local, national and global movements that seek restorative justice for enslaved people and their descendants.

These projects include:

• The Trust’s Open History series highlights the site’s past with the exhibition Bertie Robinson: The Footman from St Vincent and Black History walks with Leeds-based Heritage Corner.
• In the Missing Portraits series, the Trust is creating exhibitions to accompany portraits of Black sitters, commissioned by the Earl and Countess of Harewood to diversify the House’s historic art collection. The first portrait is of Leeds community activist and founder of Leeds Carnival Arthur France and the second will be of the actor and writer David Harewood, whose ancestors were enslaved on Lascelles plantations.
• In 2007 Harewood hosted a wide range of events to commemorate the Bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade. The highlight was performances of Carnival Messiah in a big top near Harewood House. Carnival Messiah is inspired by the music of Handel’s Messiah, performed Caribbean Carnival style and featuring Carnival performers from Britain and from Trinidad.

A full list of Harewood House Trust’s projects that engage with the site’s history can be found here.

Princess Mary, 1914. This portrait of Princess Mary was included in every Christmas Gift Box sent to troops fighting for Britain in 1914.

We are happy to share that Harewood is introducing a brand-new tour exclusively for groups!

This tour will delve into Harewood’s royal connection through the story of HRH Princess Mary.  Learn about the fascinating life of the Princess, while you explore our magnificent State Floor.

Who was Princess Mary?

Princess Victoria Alexandra Alice Mary of York was born on the 25th of April 1897 at York Cottage located on the Royal Estate of Sandringham.

Princess Mary was the only daughter of six children born to the Duke and Duchess of York, later King George V and Queen Mary.

As part of her royal duties, Princess Mary was affiliated with many organisations throughout her life, including the Girl Guides and Great Ormond Street. She also held several honorary military positions, including Commandant-in-Chief of the Royal Scots and British Red Cross Detachments. During the Second World War, Princess Mary served with the British Army from 1941 as Controller- Commandant of the Auxiliary Territorial Service (later the Women’s Royal Army Corps).

Princess Mary and Harewood

Buckingham Palace announced the engagement of Princess Mary and Henry, Viscount Lascelles, eldest son of the 5th Earl of Harewood in November 1921, with The Royal wedding taking place on the 28th of February 1922.

Princess Mary and the 6th Earl moved into Harewood in 1930 and made a number of modernisations and improvements to both the House and Estate. Princess Mary lived at Harewood for more than 30 years.

Mary is still known today as ‘The Yorkshire Princess’.

Group visits to Harewood

Groups of 12 or more benefit from our reduced group rates. Groups also benefit from one free admission for the group organiser and coach driver.

Explore the marital home of ‘The Yorkshire Princess’ with one of our expert guides.

Find out more about our Guided Tours and Group Visits

Our friendly group bookings team can be reached at 0113 218 1000 or via email groups@harewood.org

We are celebrating a very happy birthday this week at Harewood. 

Mr Otto is one of our Humboldt Penguins and can be found splashing about in the Penguin Pool located within Harewood’s Bird Garden.

Today he turns 26 years old, which is a fantastic age for a Humboldt penguin. Congratulations Mr Otto!

Like the other male penguins in our enclosure, he can be spotted wearing a coloured tag on his right wing. Each penguin has a red, yellow, blue, green or black coloured tag. These tags are located on the left wing for a female and on the right wing for a male. When next visiting the site please do make sure to pop down by the Penguin Pool and see if you can spot him.

Natural Habitat

Humboldt penguins originate from the coastal Peru and Chile. They face many threats in the wild such as the destruction of their habitats, fishing and hunting. The penguin enclosure here at Harewood was specifically designed to replicate the coastline of Peru in South America. The swimming pools are different depths and areas, with a rocky slope leading to a plateau.

Eating Habits 

When in the wild Humboldt penguins would feed on anchovies, squid and sardines as these can be found off the West coast of Peru, our penguins here at Harewood are fed whitebait and sprats, which are very similar in size.

Want to see Mr Otto in person?

Why not join us and meet our famous Humboldt Penguins while exploring Harewood’s Bird Garden.

While on site you can enjoy our penguin talks everyday and there is even the opportunity to get up close and feed these wonderful creatures with one of our Penguin Feeding Experiences.

Visiting as a school?

As part of our educational programme, pupils will be offered an unforgettable learning experience as they get outside the classroom and explore the Harewood Bird Garden in a session designed to stimulate a curiosity for the natural world. Our Learning Team have been hard at work redeveloping this beloved educational session and we hope to see you in 2023.

Meet the Penguins session >>

Meet the Birds session >>

Currently situated centre stage in the Old Kitchen is a most beautiful Gingerbread Harewood House, made and iced by one of our Garden Volunteers Klara. For this blog, we sit down with Klara and ask her about volunteering at Harewood and how her interest in gingerbread began.

When did you make and ice your first gingerbread?
I grew up in Hungary. Since I was a child, making gingerbread has been a part of my life. It is a Christmas tradition in our country to make and decorate gingerbread cookies, we call “mézeskalacs”.

How did you learn your craft?
At first, I learned my craft from my mother. Later, I developed my own style and various recipes, including gluten free, diary free and vegan. Over the years I adjusted my collections to meet the country-specific trend where I had been living. However, I have never lost my own style that makes my work unique and recognizable. I have a quality-oriented mindset, that comes from my background as a chemical engineer working in quality management and also as a certificated botanical artist.

How did you hear about volunteering at Harewood ?
I moved to Yorkshire in 2021 and I was looking for a volunteer gardening opportunity and I saw an advertisement for a Volunteer Open Afternoon in the Walled Garden when I first visited Harewood.

What is it you enjoy most about volunteering with the garden team?

The Garden team (staff and volunteers) are all very friendly and welcoming. We learn so much from the professional gardeners.

We work in a very warm environment, in beautiful surroundings, where everyone is very enthusiastic about our work and at the end of the day, when we see the results of our efforts, we feel very proud.

How did you start to make the Harewood gingerbread House ?
I researched the floorplan, took many photos and then simplified the House, retaining its main characteristics. In total, it took about 2 weeks to complete the project.

What icing do you find most satisfying or do you enjoy doing most?
I like the simple traditional designs, but my favourite is creating gingerbreads where I can use my own imagination and design. It is most satisfying when I see the magic of a plain gingerbread transformed through my icing. I especially like doing 3D creations such as houses, Easter eggs, boxes, etc.

What would you like to do in the future?
I hope that I will have more opportunities in the UK to introduce my gingerbread artwork to more people and share my love of this beautiful craft.

@paindepicesdeklara
Klara’s Gingerbread on Facebook

The Learning Team here at Harewood are thrilled to announce that we have been awarded a quality badge by the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom.

This year our team has launched a brand-new learning programme filled with exciting workshops and tours for educational groups. We are so pleased by the positive reaction to the new programme, which has been rated consistently ‘Oustanding’ by teachers, and look forward to what the next few months will bring.

What is the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom?

As a registered charity the Council are champions of learning outside the classroom.

They believe in equal opportunities for all children to experience life outside of the classroom. They wish to ensure that more young people have access to life changing educational experiences.

Find out more about the council for Learning Outside the Classroom at https://www.lotc.org.uk/

Sandford Award

Harewood is also recipient of the prestigious Sandford Award, which celebrates high quality heritage education and provides independent quality assurance to sites that run formal education programmes in the UK and Ireland.

Find out more about the Sandford Award at https://www.heritageeducationtrust.org/about-the-sandford-award 

If you would like to speak to a member of the Learning Team about our current programme they can be reached at learn@harewood.org.

References

Learning Outside the Classroom Website – https://www.lotc.org.uk/