English Version | The haven of the stars

12 Oct 2023
By Vogue Portugal

There is a hotel in the Pearl of the Atlantic that is more than a century-old paradise. Reid's Palace, which has been the choice of empresses and the hostel of Nobel laureates - both those who accepted it (Winston Churchill) and those who refused it (George Bernard Shaw) - is the place we want to return to. Urgently.

Only by witnessing it, only by standing on top of the place they used to call Salto do Cavalo (Horse's Leap), can you grasp the true scale and beauty of the place - a vast, colossal view that stretches out across the Atlantic or Funchal inwards; the gardens, the various swimming pools and, of course, the hotel itself, a sumptuous complex of buildings that has been added to and modernized over the course of its more than 130 years of existence. When we are told that Reid's Palace has been the refuge of several prominent and renowned figures over the course of its more than a century of life, we are not affected by any kind of surprise.On the contrary: we look around and conclude, "Of course." You wouldn't expect anything else. The history and tradition of Reid's Palace actually begins more than 200 years ago, when William Reid, the mentor and ideologue of the great project, was born on a farm in Scotland in 1822. The hardships of life took him - it's true, it was his poor health that led him to seek better conditions - to Madeira, when he was just 14 years old. After a decade of work in Madeira, the young William Reid entered his prosperous period in 1847, at the age of 25, when he married Margaret Dewey. The couple, realizing the island's potential as a preferred destination for the aristocracy (especially the British), soon had their own famous businesses, such as Quinta das Fontes, which they renamed the Royal Edinburgh Hotel, with the blessing of His Royal Highness, the Duke of Edinburgh, son of Queen Victoria. This was the Reid family's first hotel. After its success, William and Margaret embarked on new projects. They bought the famous rocky cliffs of Horse's Leap, where construction of the hotel began in 1887. William Reid died the following year without seeing the project through to completion. Designed by architects J.T. Mickelthwaite and George Sommers Clarke (who also designed the well-known Shepherd's Hotel in Cairo), the original hotel was completed in 1890, but only opened its doors a year later, on November 1, 1891. At the time, Reid's was known informally as "Reid's new hotel." It remained in the family until 1925, when it was sold to an English family, the Blandys, who owned the hotel for over 60 years. In 1996, the hotel was acquired by the Orient-Express Hotels group, now known as Belmont Hotels. The company that relaunched the iconic Venice-Simplon-Orient-Express train also manages a collection of luxury hotels all over the world. After being bought by the group, the hotel's name was changed back to the one it was called in the beginning: Reid's Palace.

This more than-century-old hotel has some new additions, particularly in terms of gastronomy. For example, in May, the young (but already vastly experienced from the Far East to South America) chef José Diogo Costa left the Azores Wine Company for the position of Creative Executive Chef at Reid's Palace, becoming the hotel's head chef. This means that he is responsible for overseeing the various spaces and menus that make up the complex, starting with William Restaurant. We start with William because it is the most emblematic of Reid's restaurants. Named, like the hotel, in honor of its founder, William is a luxury restaurant that proudly boasts a Michellin star. An epic of flavors and more, the William Restaurant feeds and is fed, by Madeira. If regional and seasonal products are the main asset on the plate, the view it offers over the landscape is also breathtaking. In addition to William's, there is also the Gastrobar, an ideal place to relax with a Madeira wine, the Ristoranti Villa Cipriani, which, as the name suggests, allows guests to enjoy the flavors of Italy, the Pool Terrace, perfect for a long breakfast and, finally, the Afternoon Tea - which is not a space, but rather a ritual that evokes the iconic tradition of Reid's five o'clock tea. It can be taken on the terrace or in the lounge, depending on the guest's preference and the benevolence of the weather.

We want to go back to Reid's Palace. We want to go back soon. And we haven't even mentioned the swimming pools - there are three, two of them heated and the other with waves and salt water. Did we mention it's a piece of paradise? It really is. The hotel William Reid dreamed of has changed over the years. That's normal, it has more than 130 years of history. Interventions have transformed the original hotel into a more modern space, additions have made it more appealing, given it features it didn't have, added (more) reasons to visit, like the golf courses, for example. In the days when Sissi, Empress of Austria, visited Reid's Palace in 1894, the hotel was already distinguished enough to become the destination of choice for such a noble figure.

At the time - a different era - long excursions along the waterways or ice baths were her favorite activities. George Bernard Shaw, who visited Reid's 30 years later, went, as The New York Times reported at the time, to have a "sun treatment" on the island. However, it was the tango lessons that most impressed the Irish playwright, who left the dance teacher an autograph with a dedication: "To the only man who ever taught me anything." When the hotel passed into the hands of the Blandy family, the troubled times required diplomatic gymnastics that honed their talent for public relations. And it was this talent and this gymnastics that allowed the Blandys to prepare Reid's Palace with what was necessary to receive a distinguished figure as Winston Churchill.

Reid's was not prepared to receive the former and future British Prime Minister (Churchill had been the UK's head of government during the Second World War, from 1940 to 1945, and would be again between 1951 and 1955). So the Blandys asked wealthy local residents for the exquisite furnishings with which they made up Winston Churchill's chambers. At the official dinner after the arrival of the famous and witty statesman, on January 2, 1950, a Madeira wine was served, the Blandy Solera from 1792. Legend has it that Churchill picked up the bottle and said, like a public speaker: "Ladies and gentlemen, here is a muddy wine, bottled when Marie Antoinette was still alive. "Churchill's visit to Reid's Palace proved decisive in the hotel's subsequent fame and in attracting even more mudslingers to its rooms. Its splendor remains intact to this day.

Translated from the original on The Fame Issue, published October 2023. Full credits and stories in the print issue.

Vogue Portugal By Vogue Portugal
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