Anne's father, Thomas Boleyn, eventually sold the property to Richard Fermour, a wealthy London Merchant.

[2] Following an unhappy period as Prime Minister from 1762 to 1763, Lord Bute decided to concentrate his energies on his estate at Luton Hoo.

Smirke redesigned the house (with the exception of the south front) to resemble its present form today, complete with a massive portico, similar to that designed by Adam but never built.

Luton Hoo, neither gothic nor strictly Greek revival, is an unusual example of him using a classical style for domestic use, which perhaps he felt would be sympathetic to Adam's original conception.

The coins, which must have been nearly a thousand in number, had been deposited in an imperfectly burnt urn composed of clay and pounded shell and consisted of denarii and small brass, ranging from the time of Caracalla to that of Claudius Gothicus".

It was in December 1891 that Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, grandson of Queen Victoria, and second in line of the British throne, proposed to his fiancée, Princess Mary of Teck, at Luton Hoo.

[citation needed] In 1903 the house was bought by Sir Julius Wernher, who had made his fortune from the diamond mines of South Africa.

Wernher remodelled the interior to the designs of Charles Mewes and Arthur Joseph Davis, the architects of the Ritz Hotel in London.

The lavish redesigning of the interior in the belle epoque style resulted in a magnificent backdrop for Wernher's famous art collection.

The marble-walled dining room was designed to display Beauvais tapestries, while the newly installed curving marble staircase enveloped Bergonzoli's statue "The Love of Angels".

The Wernhers, by virtue of Lady Zia's sister Nadejda de Torby, were very close to Prince Philip, who along with the Queen, were frequent visitors to Luton Hoo both for public events and private visits.

The Phillips family, descendants of Sir Julius and Lady Alice Wernher, still retain ownership of a significant part of the historic estate running it successfully as a diversified business that is home to commercial and residential tenants as well as restoring the walled garden (see below) and one of the busiest non-studio filming locations in the country.

Part of the collection, including works by Peter Paul Rubens, Titian and Bartolomé Bermejo, was also sold whilst a portion remains together and is now on permanent display at Ranger's House in Greenwich, London.

[16] In 1996 and 1997, the grounds were hired out for the Tribal Gathering dance music festival and again in 2005, but the latter event was cancelled due to the 7 July 2005 London bombings.

[19] Luton Hoo Estate also possesses a 5-acre (20,000 m2) octagonal walled garden which was established by John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, in the late 1760s.

The largest of the glasshouses, built by the firm of Mackenzie and Moncur for Sir Julius and Lady Alice Wernher, is evidence of the extravagance of the Edwardian period.

[20] Luton Hoo has appeared in many films including A Shot in the Dark, Never Say Never Again, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Eyes Wide Shut, The Secret Garden, Princess Caraboo, Wilde, The World Is Not Enough, Quills, Enigma, De-Lovely and Bright Young Things.