Haddon has been in the Manners family for 461 years.
It has never been sold, having passed only by descent – first, through the Vernon family who acquired the estate in 1170, and built the house, and then through the Mannerses, after the heiress Dorothy Vernon married Sir John Manners, second son of Thomas Manners, 1st Earl of Rutland, who lived at Belvoir Castle in Leicestershire in the 1560s.
Despite its lengthy history within one of England’s oldest families, Haddon has not always been the centre of the Manners’ universe.
After the Whig politician John Manners, 9th Earl of Rutland, was created Duke of Rutland in 1703, the family moved en masse to Belvoir. They closed up Haddon, not to return in any meaningful way until the early 20th century.
Thus, Haddon entered its deep sleep.
In the 1920s, Lord Edward’s grandfather John Manners, 9th Duke of Rutland, realised his long-held ambition to restore Haddon as a family home, modernising it with electricity and running water, installing tennis courts, and finally moving in with his family.