Belmond Reid's Palace (a.k.a. Reid's Palace) is a historic

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

located to the west of Funchal Bay in

Madeira Madeira ( ; ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira (), is an autonomous Regions of Portugal, autonomous region of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the region of Macaronesia, just under north of ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

, in an imposing position looking out over the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

. The hotel has sloping gardens. The hotel's complex include more than 40,000 square meters of space designed as a subtropical botanical

garden A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate bot ...

History

William Reid, the son of a Scottish crofter, originally arrived in Madeira in 1836. He hired out

quintas Luís Fernando Quintas dos Santos, known as Quintas (born 12 April 1965) is a former Portuguese football player. Club career He made his Primeira Liga debut for Beira-Mar on 21 August 1998 in a game against Braga. Honours ;Beira-Mar *Taça de ...

to wealthy invalids and moved on to hotels, but died before his Reid's hotel was completed. The hotel was designed by the architects George Somers Clarke and

John Thomas Micklethwaite John Thomas Micklethwaite (3 May 1843 – 28 October 1906) was an English architect and archaeologist. He had a long association with Westminster Abbey, and was noted for his criticisms of the current practices of church restoration. Biography He w ...

. Reid’s two sons, William (Willy) and Alfred, brought their father’s project to fruition and the doors to Reid's Palace opened in November 1891, as the New Hotel, later became the New Palace Hotel, then Reid's Palace or just "Reid's". It was a luxury retreat combining Edwardian elegance with the latest comforts of the day. The pioneer colour photographer

Sarah Angelina Acland Sarah Angelina "Angie" Acland (26 June 1849 – 2 December 1930) was an English amateur photographer, known for her portraiture and as a pioneer of colour photography. Distributed bThe University of Chicago Pressin the US. She was credited by h ...

(1849–1930) stayed at the hotel during the early 20th century and took many photographs in and around the location of the hotel. The hotel had a

darkroom A darkroom is used to process photographic film, make Photographic printing, prints and carry out other associated tasks. It is a room that can be made completely dark to allow the processing of light-sensitive photographic materials, including ...

for use by guests. Famous guests over the years have included General

Fulgencio Batista Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar (born Rubén Zaldívar; January 16, 1901 – August 6, 1973) was a Cuban military officer and politician who played a dominant role in Cuban politics from his initial rise to power as part of the 1933 Revolt of t ...

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

Anthony Eden Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon (12 June 1897 – 14 January 1977) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1955 until his resignation in 1957. Achi ...

David Lloyd George David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. A Liberal Party (United Kingdom), Liberal Party politician from Wales, he was known for leadi ...

, deposed emperor

Charles I of Austria Charles I (, ; 17 August 1887 – 1 April 1922) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary (as Charles IV), and the ruler of the other states of the Habsburg monarchy from November 1916 until the monarchy was abolished in November 1918. He was the ...

Józef Piłsudski Józef Klemens Piłsudski (; 5 December 1867 – 12 May 1935) was a Polish statesman who served as the Chief of State (Poland), Chief of State (1918–1922) and first Marshal of Poland (from 1920). In the aftermath of World War I, he beca ...

Roger Moore Sir Roger George Moore (14 October 192723 May 2017) was an English actor. He was the actor to portray Ian Fleming's fictional secret agent James Bond (literary character), James Bond in the Eon Productions/MGM Studios film series, playing the ...

Gregory Peck Eldred Gregory Peck (April 5, 1916 – June 12, 2003) was an American actor and one of the most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1970s. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Peck the AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars, 12th-greatest male ...

, the poet

Rainer Maria Rilke René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926), known as Rainer Maria Rilke, was an Austrian poet and novelist. Acclaimed as an Idiosyncrasy, idiosyncratic and expressive poet, he is widely recognized as ...

, the missionary

Albert Schweitzer Ludwig Philipp Albert Schweitzer (; 14 January 1875 – 4 September 1965) was a German and French polymath from Alsace. He was a theologian, organist, musicologist, writer, humanitarian, philosopher, and physician. As a Lutheran minister, ...

, and dramatist

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 188 ...

. The Cinema Museum in London has film from 1936 of the hotel and its guests. Reid's is particularly known for its tradition of serving

afternoon tea Tea is an umbrella term for several different meals consisting of food accompanied by tea to drink. The English writer Isabella Beeton, whose books on home economics were widely read in the 19th century, describes meals of various kinds an ...

on the terrace. The hotel was acquired by Orient-Express Hotels Ltd., which changed its name to Belmond Ltd. on 10 March 2014. At that time the hotel changed its name to Belmond Reid's Palace.

Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE (), commonly known as LVMH, is a French Multinational corporation, multinational holding company and conglomerate (company), conglomerate that specializes in luxury goods and has its headquarters in Paris, Fr ...

(LVMH) purchased Belmond Ltd., the 40-year-old company that owns (inter alia) Belmond Reid's Palace, in a €2.8 billion deal which closed in April 2019 in a $3.2 billion final transaction.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1891 establishments in Portugal Hotels established in 1891 Hotel buildings completed in 1891 Hotels in Portugal Buildings and structures in Funchal Tourist attractions in Funchal Belmond hotels

History

See also

References

External links