Vanbrugh, Sir John

Queen Anne, Court Culture and the Construction of Blenheim Palace

“…his Grace [...] being apprehensive that such a house and gardens, to make them soe magnificent as he was desirous they should be, would cost more than he was willing to expend therein, the said duke or some others by his privity on his behalfe [...] applyed to the Queen to prevaile on her to be at the expence thereof. 28 Vanbrugh's testimony must again be treated with some degree of circumspection, but its general tenor is far from implausible. Indeed, such an arrangement would have been a powerful motivation for the secrecy that cloaked the project in its early days.…”