Personality profile


Atmospheric shot of Leeds Castle by Robert Canis


climbed over the main gate at the foot of Penfold Hill, trudged through the driſted snow in the castle grounds to get fry-ups on plates by 8am.


His ability to cook eggs to order needs some practice, he recalls with a laugh. But living on his own, he takes an evening run on roads which circle the estate, sometimes in the dark with a head torch.


“When I am out I see things that might need to be fixed or done or I have an idea for improvement. It led to one staff member handing me a picture of me running with a head torch while holding a clipboard. Rather summed it up, really.”


And when he can’t be bothered cooking, he’s happy to walk through the castle’s parkland to The George in Leeds village for scampi and chips washed down with a Kentish ale.


Tis year, his fourth in the post, has been


one of celebration. Leeds Castle is 900 years old and has been marked by a series of well- publicised and eye-catching events, such as the opening of a garden by Royal approval and the colourful Carnival of History. Although the threat of a Brexit that might lead to a clogging of the routes leading to


the “loveliest castle in the world” has not yet materialised, the 900th celebrations were not about boosting visitor numbers, per se. Te numbers are likely to have risen at the final count, but for him, it cements the levels of visitor numbers at a manageable level and has engaged with people in the county who might


see Leeds Castle as elitist or too posh to visit. But, more than that, it has been an exercise in definitively marking a precious moment in time.


“I hope by the end of the year, we can say it was a fiting tribute to an old lady who has been here for nine centuries.”


Mid Kent Living 9 Sir David with Albert in his Leeds Castle office


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