A Royal Regency Mahogany Folio Stand, 1820

Probably Princess Charlotte Augusta Hanover (1796-1817),

Claremont House, Esher, Surrey.

Prince Leopold (1853-1884), fourth son of Queen Victoria, created Duke of Albany in 1882, married in 1882 Frederica Augusta, Princess of Pyrmont and Waldeck (d. 1922), and by descent to:

H.R.H. Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, removed from Kensington Palace, sold, Christie's, London, July 16, 1981, lot 169, illustrated.

The Collection of Mrs. Marella Agnelli, Sotheby's New York, 23 October 2004, lot 106

The Claremont Estate has a distinguished history, the first house on the estate having been built by Sir John Vanbrugh (the architect of Blenheim) in 1708. Owned from 1714 to 1768 by the Duke of Newcastle, who served twice as Prime Minister, Claremont was sold after the Duke's death to Robert, Lord Clive, architect of Britain's Indian Empire. Clive, who was immensely rich, spent prodigiously to remodel and redecorate the house and grounds, but sadly never lived there since he committed suicide in 1774, just as the restorations were being completed by Capability Brown and Henry Holland.

In 1816 Claremont was acquired by the crown for George IV's daughter, Princess Charlotte, and her husband Prince Leopold; she died in childbirth in 1817. Leopold who retained the house when he became King of the Belgians in 1831 was a devoted uncle to the young Queen Victoria who frequently visited Claremont. She arranged for the exiled French King Louis Phillipe and his wife Marie-Amélie to live there after the 1848 revolution, and they remained at Claremont until their deaths in 1850 and 1866 respectively. Queen Victoria eventually purchased Claremont for her youngest son, Leopold, Duke of Albany in 1882, on the occasion of his marriage to Princess Henry of Waldeck, Duchess of Albany, sister of Queen Emma of the Netherlands.

The Duke and Duchess of Albany were the parents of Princess Alice whose executors sold the table at Christie's in 1981. In the 1981 sale catalogue it was suggested that the Regency pieces, branded Claremont, including the present lot, were probably acquired to furnish the house during Princess Charlotte's occupancy.