Castle may have inspired JFK's White House revamp

A castle in Kent may have helped inspire the restoration of the White House during John F Kennedy's presidency, a curator has said.

Leeds Castle, near Maidstone, was visited by a young Kennedy in July 1938, decades before he entered politics, when he stayed with his sister and a group of guests.

The visit came at a time when its interiors had been redesigned by French decorator Stéphane Boudin.

Boudin, who worked closely with the castle's owner Lady Olive Baillie, was later chosen by Jacqueline Kennedy to help restore the White House after her husband was elected in 1960, Catherine Pell, curator of interiors and collections at Leeds Castle, told Secret Kent.

When the Kennedys moved into the White House, the first lady set out to preserve its historical character. She said: "This house will always grow and should. It just seemed to me such a shame when we came here to find hardly anything of the past in the house."

Pell said it was "very tempting" to think Kennedy's visit may have inspired the later choice of designer for the presidential residence.

"It's very interesting that JFK is here at that time - 1938 is also when the interiors at Leeds Castle have been designed by Stéphane Boudin, who obviously goes on to work at the White House," she said.

She said Boudin was "the person to go to", because of his focus on the past.

"The 18th Century French designs that he incorporates in the interiors here are a wonderful match for the style that Jackie Kennedy and the Kennedys were going for at the White House," she said. "We do see similarities."

Boudin continued working at Leeds Castle while contributing to the White House restoration in the 1960s, Pell said.

Over decades, he helped to shape the interiors at the castle that visitors see today.

Lady Baillie, an Anglo-American heiress who bought the castle in 1926, transformed the neglected building into a country retreat, entertaining royalty, film stars, and political leaders including Winston Churchill and Kennedy.

Pell described her as a private person who avoided publicity but said she and Boudin worked closely together, ensuring everything in the castle was "carefully thought about and curated".

She said Leeds Castle was "the only place really in the country that you will see Boudin interiors up close".

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