Life in Charms with Claridge's Archivist, Kate Hudson

0:00Claridge's has long been described as more than just a hotel. It's a world within a world where every detail tells a story. From the swirl of its revolving door to the elegance of afternoon tea, Claridge's has 200 years of history, glamour and gossip. For me, it's deeply personal. My grandmother used to bring me here for tea, and years later, when I inherited a fish business at 23, I got to see Claridge's from a very different angle, through the tradesman's entrance. It wasn't as glamorous, but it gave me a whole new appreciation for the people. and the details that make Claridge's so unique. I've captured that magic in seven charms and in this episode I'll be talking through them with Archivist Kate Hudson to uncover more of Claridge's remarkable story.

0:45Kate, so lovely to be here. Thank you so much, it's lovely to be here too. I'm really excited to discover so much about this absolutely iconic London landmark. Great, I always love talking about Claridge's. Shall we start with the first, well, I think the most important charm because it's the revolving door, which is so, in my view, totally iconic to Claridge's. I mean, I remember coming with my grandmother for tea and just going through that door was kind of, you entered magic territory. Yeah, there is a sense you step through, you come through the revolving door and you're in this sort of shimmering wonderland, sort of marble and mirrors and diffused lighting.

1:31And it's so art deco. That part of the hotel is so representative of our art deco heritage. But yeah, it is very special. And the revolving door itself actually resembles a jousting tent. Oh, of course it does. Yeah, and that actually is, I always, when I do tours of the hotel, I explain that this is the centenary of Art Deco, 2025, centenary of Art Deco. So we've been doing tours, talking about all the really sort of specific Art Deco details. And I don't know if you've read Nancy Mitford. I'm kind of assuming you're a Nancy Mitford girl. I have, but a while ago. Yeah, so in The Pursuit of Love, Linda Radlett runs away to Paris and she has her lover and he sets her up in an apartment and her family friend, Lord Merlin, and her uncle Davy come to Paris to bring her back.

2:28And they walk into her apartment and they literally say, I bet you have a bathtub made of glass with goldfish swimming inside it. And she's like, you've cheated, you've looked, very sulky. And they're like, no, it's just, that is art decade. It is always a sort of a touch of, you know, just madness, really. Just sort of very joyful, lighthearted, and that is our jousting tent. That's so interesting. I mean, I describe how I've made this charm, because I really love all my charms to be as perfect in miniature as they possibly can be. And so this particular charm is made of 18 karat gold. It's got black and gold to emphasise and pick out the door frames, that very deco door frame.

3:18It's got diamonds around the top of the door and black diamonds to emulate the top of the jousting tent, which I hadn't actually realised that's what it was, so it's so interesting. But the most important bit about this charm is that these doors really do spin and they revolve exactly. So I hope what it really emulates is that, the memory of your first kind of first entrance into Claridge's. Absolutely. And even now, I still don't want to go through the side doors. I always want to go through the door. Always want to go through the revolving door. And I think also there's almost a sense, it's almost like sort of that magical doorway, isn't it?

3:55You come through and you leave all your quotidian worries behind you and you're in a different world. So you've had some extraordinary people through those doors. We have. You have. Tell me a bit about some of those amazing people, because some of them are no longer around. No, I mean, well, obviously we've had everyone from Winston Churchill, who lived here after the war. He lived here? He did, after shock defeat in the 1945 election, because he'd just won the war, or effectively won the war, and they were really expecting, obviously, they'd win. And then he was defeated, so he had nowhere to go, he had nowhere to live.

4:31So he and his wife... Chucked out of Downing Street. Chucked out of Down Street. literally leave now you know pack your bags and go so he turned to sir hugh ronner who was the chairman of the hotel group and he brought them here and they moved into the penthouse one up from uh downing street oh i like to think so i think i think it was probably quite poignant for him because he could you know it wasn't ideal and that was actually it was in the clarages it was in clarages in his penthouse suite that he heard the official end of the war oh my goodness i had no idea. Gosh, what an incredible, what a poignant moment.

5:06It is. It's quite sad, actually. That is extraordinary. And who else? On a kind of cheerier note. Oh, I mean, you know, if we're going back a long time, we have everyone from Laurence Olivier, we have Sophia Loren. I mean, literally, I'm jumpy all over decades here. Oh, Marlena Dietrich, I love. There's some great stories about her. Catherine Hepburn. I mean, this is a thread. I always, when I talk about the archives, I always talk about them almost in the sense of a tapestry. So we have a tapestry which tells a story and there are themes and threads that run through that story. And one of those themes is Hollywood.

5:45You know, we have had everyone from, you know, the greatest Hollywood stars of the 1930s. You know, there's a very famous photograph of Cary Grant outside the hotel. And then, you know, more recently there's been a wonderful photograph of Brad Pitt outside the hotel. You know, I mean, you know, there's... I think of Tim Jones and all sorts of people. Oh, everybody, everybody. I mean, there are some wonderful photographs, everyone from Jackie Onassis to Sarah Jessica Parker, you know. So politics, royalty, Hollywood royalty, yeah. I mean, absolutely extraordinary. But you really feel when you come in that there is this kind of history that you can't help but feel that.

6:24No, I always say that. Whenever I'm sort of, you know, talking to guests or anything, I always like to sort of meet in the lobby. And because that is, everyone sort of talks about our Art Deco heritage. But in the lobby, I feel you have this sense of all these years and this history colliding in a sense, because you have Victorian staircase, you have a Georgian fireplace, you have the Art Deco black and white marble floor. And yet somehow it all works. Somehow it melds together because it's been layered over years and years. Garages has evolved. It hasn't been created. Maybe that's what it is.

7:01It feels so special. It's like a house, isn't it? Exactly. When you're in a house. Years and years, the people who have lived here have just added layers. And it is that sense. I mean, that was always how it was created, was to be a home from home. And originally, how many rooms was it? Do you know? I will have to double check because I was to be started as Mivots in 1812. Then we became Claridge's late Mivots in 1854. and then we became the new Clarages in 1894. So we've had a few incarnations. I love that. New Clarages in 1894. Yes, the new Clarages. But going back to that floor, I'm absolutely fascinated.

7:43That has got to be the shiniest, most beautiful black and white deco floor I've seen. Who has the honour of polishing that floor? Our wonderful housekeeping team are phenomenal. They keep on top of everything. I actually have, I'd have to look it up because it's on my phone, but I actually can tell you how many black and white marble tiles are on the ground floor as well. Oh, yeah. It's the exact number. Oh, yeah, you'll have to look it up. I will look that up and tell you afterwards. No, yeah, definitely you'll have to look it up. So the next charm is the crest. The way I've made the crest is the way I really, I kind of, I have a whole spinning series.

8:18I think this might be my favourite charm, actually. So I have a whole spinning series in my own charms, because I like the kind of playfulness of it. And obviously a crest is a very serious thing, but I kind of like the fact that it spins beautifully like this. The first thing is the crest is above the door, isn't it? It's on the building. The crest is actually everywhere. I mean, I could take you around the hotel, I can show you it on the banisters, I can show you it engraved on the brickwork of the frontiers of the hotel. it is everywhere it's in cakes, there's a cake there the crest has become very much it's on the butter it's literally on everything and actually as you came up in the list you will have noticed it's embedded into the floor so yes, 1898 was the beginning of the crest and we have the Wheat Sheaf so the Wheat Sheaf is the coat of arms for the family of Grosvenor so the Duke of Westminster and it's very much a symbol of plenty.

9:25Yeah, that's a weak. The stork. Now, this is a spirit animal, and it's very much a symbol of good luck and long life, which obviously has worked in our favour. Yes. And then we have, what do we have there? Oh, yes, no, we have the fleur-de-lis. Now, this is the sort of Cates of Arms of France, and I think this is very much a sort of symbol of internationalism. You know, I mean, Claridge is right from the beginning. Yeah. was an international hotel right back into the early 1812. And then the Portcullers Coat of Arms is the City of Westminster and again, it's a symbol of protection. And then obviously the crown is the royal links to the hotel.

10:08The detail that we've actually got in this charm is pretty extraordinary actually. I love that. And all of those, so that's interesting. But it's interesting that it has its own crest because it's unusual, isn't it, for a hotel to have a crest? I think when the hotel became the new Claridge's. So it was bought by the Doily Cartes in 1894 and reopened. So it was razed to the ground, the original building, because it was a real sort of rabbit warren of rooms. And Doily Cart, you know, you're thinking of the theatre group, the boy theatre group, and he had travelled all over Europe, all over America, and he knew the Grand Hotel was the way forward.

10:47You know, wonderful hotels with, you know, restaurants and private rooms for people and hot and cold running water and electricity in every room. And so when he opened Clarages, he created the crest. And that, as I said, you know, it's engraved on the brickwork. It's on it is literally it runs through the hotel, the fabric of the hotel. I had no idea. The crest is. And actually, I think I've got a picture there. and you can see how the dress has evolved over the years. You know, we've got, you know, it's changed the colours. Beautiful. It's rather wonderful, isn't it? Yeah, no, it is absolutely wonderful.

11:27Now, the next charm is this gorgeous little teddy bellboy. He's a little teddy. Now, I've made him. There he is. There he is there, but in miniature. he's here and he is made of 18 karat gold um blackened rhodium to represent his uniform you can see and then he's got diamond buttons uh and his arms and legs move and he's i love that he's a locket oh oh that's really precious so he's a little locket and he's got black diamond eyes and then on his bellboy hat he's got clarages. I love that. So it's all about the detail. But am I right in thinking that children get given one of these when they stay?

12:17What happens? Guests, they are in their rooms for guests. They are ready, obviously, for younger guests. And I think on occasion we've actually even created a bed for the teddy. But yes, they're very much part of it. We do quite a lot for our younger guests. And the teddy is the element of this. So he's sitting in the bed. Yes, he's all tucked up. Oh, that's so... Tucked up. So that's a perfect memory, isn't it? Absolutely. What a special memory. I think sort of something like that is the sort of thing you do take away and... Absolutely. And look, we treasure his buttons and I've got little diamond buttons.

12:54I'd rather like your diamond buttons, actually. He's just adorable, isn't he? He really is. But tell me about the bellboys. So you told me something earlier, which I was completely fascinated. I didn't know that. Anyway, you explained. No, well, it's interesting because obviously the bellboy teddy, he's very much, he's for our younger guests. I mean, our teddy bear is available to buy. And I was sort of thinking about him and I was talking to our head concierge and sort of saying, you know, because I know how important, obviously, the concierge department is to the hotel because, you know, We have the doorman, we have the pages, we have the luggage porters.

13:33We have this real little world within a world. Yeah, I mean, you gloss over that quite quickly, but I bet you most people don't know that you have all of those different people. It is extraordinary because you have the pages, and I'm going to say, obviously, we don't use the word page boy and we don't use the word bellhop and we don't use the word bellboy anymore. Bellboy Teddy is slightly different. Yes. You know, the terminology has obviously evolved and changed. So the pages and they can be men or women. They are the ones who really do run the errands. So they they will do the shopping. They will do the collections.

14:12They will do all those kind of things. Then the luggage porters. And that really is the belt boy as was. Yes. Yeah. So they are the ones who are responsible for ensuring that the luggage gets to and from the guest rooms. And that can be, I mean, that sounds incredibly simple, but if you've got a sort of changeover of maybe 100 arrivals and then 100 departures and you've got to ensure all that luggage is correctly manoeuvred. Yeah, to the right room. So, yes. And then we have luggage supervisors. And then we have the doormen who are the wonderful gentlemen who open the doors when you arrive. And they are glorious because, I mean, quite a few of those have been here for a very, very long time.

14:49So tell me about that. So because I mean, I've been coming here since I was very, very little. And because we literally have a shop opposite, I know them quite well. But they're wonderful, aren't they? They're absolutely. They are so I have to say, in terms of looking off the archive, it's actually probably this department, the concierge, the doorman. They are the ones who have the best stories to tell. And they're very, but they nearly tell you the story, but they don't quite tell you the story. It's very annoying. Oh, no, no, no. You don't want to know. They're so discreet. They're so discreet.

15:24Very occasionally I have got a few sort of nuggets out of them, but I've been torn to secrecy. Oh, so you're not going to tell me. I'm not going to tell you only of the particularly scurrilous tales. There are a few. There must be some tales of kind of, you know, people that aren't around anymore. Oh, yeah. I mean, we have... I don't know how scurrilous I can be, actually. I think you could be... Just think if we have a PR. I think she could be scurrilous. Oh, I mean, there are the very well-known stories. You know, obviously, Spencer Tracy used to stay at the hotel a lot. I mean, the most famous quote that probably people associate with Claridge is the Spencer Tracy, when I die, I don't want to go to heaven, I want to go to Claridge.

16:04But he had a very long-term relationship with Katharine Hepburn. Yes. And when they stayed in the hotel together, she would just slip up to his room. and one day, this is in his biography, the hotel manager said, sir, could I have a word? And you thought, oh, heavens, they're going to do, and they say she can't, you know. And they said, no, no, no, no, nothing to do with that, but if you could possibly ask her if she could wear a skirt. Because, you know, trousers aren't allowed in the lobby. And actually she was like, no, I can't. So she always came in through the back entrance. Really? Yeah.

16:40She came in through the back entrance because she was wearing trousers. Yes, she refused to wear a skirt or a dress. I love that. And Marlena de Tric is stayed for weeks on end and there are stories of her lovers coming up and down the fire escape. Presumably there's quite a lot of people going up and down the fire escape or through the tradesman's entrance. Oh, there were a few, yes. I'm sure there are. Yes, no, there have been a few. I can't imagine everyone's coming through the front door. No, no, no. Actually, the luggage thing is, I mean, And actually, you don't really think about hundreds of pieces of luggage.

17:17No, no, no, no. I think the concierge role, and I use that as a very general term for all those layers, is incredibly important. Incredibly important because that is that sense that everything is very, very smooth, very, very simple, no problems. Everything is dealt with. and actually if you think of the potential for things that could go wrong. Oh, my God. I mean, yeah, you absolutely do. Absolutely, yeah. You absolutely do. I mean, it brings me on very nicely to the lovely little suitcase chart. Beautiful chart, yes. Because when I was thinking about life in Claridge, obviously suitcases are a major part of life in a hotel.

18:04And I wanted to make a kind of, I guess, a kind of modern day but old-fashioned version of luggage so so this one is you know the the the actual piece is made of mother of pearl set in 18 karat gold and um you can see it's a locket and then the straps uh what emulating the leather straps are all diamonds um and then it has a little label which is is the well that's union jack actually that says london because we we we know that everybody loves that and then the actual tag is should it get lost says clarages um and the wheels the wheels move the wheels turn so that's the kind of modern version yeah and he opens and it's a and it's a gorgeous docket and actually i think you put a picture in and remember your time at Claridge's.

19:01But I imagine, I mean, maybe this is just my imagination, but I imagine that you get people who come, a bit like Winston Churchill, but who come and live here for extended... Yes, and who bring huge amounts of luggage. Yeah, I mean, they must be in trunks and trunks. Yes. Does that still the case? Because my grandfather actually used to live in a hotel. Yes, actually. My grandmother-in-law did as well. Not so much as it did. I mean, people do stay for extended periods. There's no question. I mean, months on it. Months, yes. But certainly, I think, in the past, there were people who effectively lived here, you know.

19:42So, yeah, we do have guests. And we certainly have, you know, guests who come back every summer for the whole summer, for example. And do those guests leave their things here? To a point, yes. Yes. Yes. So, so the. Yes, there are, there are some elements that are kept for them. Yeah. I'm sure because presumably they live in a hot country. They want to leave all their, all their cooler clothes here, et cetera. That's such a, that is absolute home from home. Yes. Where you arrive and everything's been put in your cupboard. It's the sense. So moving to a different department of the hotel, this is the sort of, you know, again, the sort of reception, the housekeeping.

20:19They, they have to know everything about those guests, you know, how, you know, what kind of pillows they like on their beds what kind of duvet do they like a you know do they like two separate duvets do they like one duvet all these details will all be written down and kept so that when those guests arrive yeah everything is immediately as they want it exactly it is that sense of returning to a place where you know it's all ready and it's all understood and it will be prepared yes actually you reminded me of that kind of i've i've learned for my own business actually quite a lot from the housekeeping team at clarity's because i came i came one day and um and i met the head of housekeeping and she said oh nishki she said i know our guests love your jewelry so i went how do you know and she said because they take the jewelry but they leave the packaging oh no but i thought that was it was so incredibly interesting to me because she said they leave the packaging but they take the pouches so what it made me do is it made me actually change my packaging to much more travel friendly so I now make gorgeous leather pouches and swayed pouches so that people can travel with it but I mean who thought that I'd learn that from housekeeping no I always say the hotel is it's a microcosm you know it's a world in its own right and And like the most perfectly functioning world, all the different components play a very, very key role.

21:53It's just it's absolutely wonderful. And she said it like it was obvious. It's not obvious. It's absolutely, absolutely fascinating. So I love this little charm because this is my kind of first memory, really, of Claridge's. Your afternoon tea. It's afternoon tea. And so this is a little perfect replica of the porcelain teapot that afternoon tea is served in the, I think it's the foyer, is it called the foyer? It is the foyer in Reading Room. That's where we serve afternoon tea. But I used to come here with my grandmother, so I, you know, age, I don't know, five or something. So this little teapot really takes me back down memory lane, which is exactly what charms should do.

22:37So it's 18 carat gold and it's got green savorites, other stripes because that's what the teapot is. And then it's got little tiny diamonds in the top and in the bale. But most importantly is the lid open so you can actually pour your tea. And it clicks shut. Oh yes, that very satisfied little click. I mean but afternoon tea is iconic for Claridge isn't it I mean I think it's everybody's no absolutely I mean I think I think we have something like 22 ,000 calls a year about afternoon tea oh my goodness and one of the things actually I love about afternoon tea is it's in a way it's it's sort of an entry to Claridge's I mean so it's you know it's a treat it's someone's birthday it's a celebration it's it's you know something that people sort of you know dream about they're going to have an afternoon tea at Claridge's and I love I have actually here this wonderful sort of table card which dates from 1901 and I think it was sort of a pop-up a pop-up of afternoon tea we'd bought over this extraordinary French chef who was like you know had won every prize possible in patisserie and confisserie and they'd bought him over and I've got press cuttings which talk about this wonderful event you know we're doing afternoon teas in the foyer, or the central quarters it was then known, between four and six.

24:08So it's been part of our history for a very, very long time. This is about tea, do you think? English tea? I mean, no one else does tea like we do, do they? No, we actually have our own special blend of tea as well. A Claridge's tea? Yeah, we have a Claridge's tea. Oh, no, and there are, I mean, again, now we're talking about the sort of the kitchen and the rules on even creating the perfect cup of tea and measuring the amount of tea that's used and ensuring the amount of hot water. And then they bring the hot water to the table as well because you don't want it to stew too long. I mean, it's all a process.

24:43No, it's... It's just been honed to the point of perfection. Yeah, no, absolutely. I mean, I alluded to it in my, you know, when I was at the introduction. But when I had my fish business, I used to deliver fish straight from the boats to the kitchen. And I used to have to wait whilst the chefs took the temperature of each individual fish in the gills to make sure that it was abiding by whatever. So I was terrified that one of them was going to fail, but it really gave me an understanding of the process and the thoroughness of everything that goes on here. It is a very exacting process because we strive for perfection I mean and I will always say strive because perfection is almost impossible but you know it's it's working out how to achieve the best possible experience for our guests.

25:41Yes, I mean, absolutely. But I know that I mean, I do I host quite a lot of lunches and inspirational women's lunches and things for my clients. And whenever I come into the foyer restaurant, I'm always like, who am I going to bump into today or who is going to be lurking in the corner quietly? Oh, I love sitting in the foyer because the people watching. Absolutely. And also, I think it's really interesting. you don't see people really in jeans and whatever. People dress up, they still dress up to come here. And I think that's very unusual because actually we've become such a casual society. We have.

26:26I mean, I would definitely say we don't have a dress code anymore. We used to, obviously. We don't have a dress code anymore and there's, you know, you really can wear whatever you want. But I would say for the majority of our guests, you know there is a sense of you want it's a special moment to be at garages so you want to be sort of a child no no it is it's really but but I think you're probably very used to it but actually if you go around lots of other hotels they aren't dressed with the same kind of yeah it's it's just such a lovely place to be so Kate give us a little bit of a insight so who could you see in the lobby at any at any moment well I mean we we have I I don't really like talking about our guests as well we don't but I mean there are some who are obviously you know very much associated with clarages you know everyone we we've got some wonderful imagery of sort of you know Sarah Jessica Parker here and you know glorious photos um and uh I mean actually Diane van Furstenberg is a really good example because she is a very long-standing friend of garages she she's been a regular guest she has she's created a suite for the hotel has she yes she has and she's also designed um one of our christmas trees the iconic christmas tree yes yes so this this is a tradition i mean this is this is quite interesting because actually in claridge's history this is this is relatively new the the the design of christmas tree has actually only been this is our 16th year but there are always people who are friends of the hotel people who have always stayed at the hotel have a love of the hotel so everyone from Sir Paul Smith he did the Christmas tree last year we had this glorious him cycling on a bicycle, cycling through the lobby you know which just encapsulates the sort of slightly eccentric but incredibly English wonderful style.

28:29So yeah, we have many number of glorious people. I think it's interesting because for people listening that perhaps haven't been here at Christmas it is an absolutely wonderful thing to do. It's an enormous Christmas tree that I think goes up how many? It sits in the corner of the lobby, so by Claridge's bar, so it can literally go right the way up to the first floor. to the first one and every year is different every year we give carte blanche to the designers so we we really are putting ourselves in their hands yes um and actually the first year we did it it was it was actually with um john galliano for dior and this is when i was working with dior and i remember when the first sketches came through there was very much an intake of breath because, you know, we're used to having, you know, this very traditional English Christmas tree with baubles and, you know, little bags from Bond Street all sort of around it.

29:33Yes. And suddenly we have this sketch of this frozen tree with a sort of snow leopard crawling along one of the branches. And it was like, how's that going to go down with the guests? And actually that was, it was incredible because everyone thought it was extraordinary and wonderful and different and new. And nowadays, so many people have designer Christmas trees. Well, they do, but they don't do it quite like Claridge. Well, we were the first. And I always think it's a kind of moment in the calendar where you get the invitation to come for the opening of the tree. And everyone always starts asking about this time, so who's going to do the tree this year?

30:14And we always have set up no idea. Hasn't been confirmed yet. Even though obviously we know that we are sworn to secrecy. Yeah, it's always a highlight of my kind of Christmas season. So, you know, it's absolutely wonderful. So champagne glass. Oh, can't go wrong. Can't go wrong. I mean, that is, that's what you think of when you come. It's not tea, it's champagne. So I've designed this tiny little champagne flute, 18 carat gold, polished 18 carat gold. And you can see all the diamonds to emulate the bubbles in the champagne. And I think it's got 74 diamonds in it. But it's just adorable. But in terms of, I mean, I always wonder, has anyone actually filled a bath of champagne that you know of?

31:02Actually, that I don't know. I mean, there was one memorable occasion, and actually I'm not going to be allowed to tell you who it was, but the hotel was drunk drive champagne once. And in living memory. Really? Yeah. Drunk drive? Okay, so how many bottles is that? I cannot even begin to... Well, it must be the hundreds and thousands of people. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because also we knew the party was going on. It wasn't just that we weren't prepared. It wasn't just that we hadn't stocked up. But it was, yeah, it was a very, very successful party. So the hotel was drunk right, which is quite a feat in itself.