Despite being the castle’s most famous owners, the Tudor ownership of the castle would prove to be the darkest period in Warwick’s history, as King Henry VII and VIII would allow the castle to fall into disrepair. Despite paying for improvements to the kitchens and reinforcing the south face of the castle, many areas of the castle were abandoned by the Tudor monarchs. In 1547, the castle was granted to John Dudley, but he too would ignore the castle and spend little to no time in Warwick. By the time the Dudley line ended in 1590 the castle was in such a state of dilapidation, that in 1603 King James I scheduled the castle for demolition. However, in an attempt to gain more support from the English nobility, King James instead chose to grant the castle to Sir Fulke Greville. The title, Earl of Warwick, was bestowed upon Lord Rich in 1618 and remained in his family until 1759.
Sir Fulke embarked on a phase of rebuilding the castle which included the restoration of the medieval walls and towers, the construction of new domestic apartments, and the landscaping of private lands. Sir Fulke was later ennobled as Baron Brooke, but his ownership ended when he was brutally murdered by his manservant, Ralph Haywood, in 1628.
Sir Fulke’s successor, Robert Greville (1628-43), became Commander of Parliamentary forces in Warwickshire and Staffordshire at the outbreak of the Civil War. His role meant that the castle would witness its final siege in 1642 and survived three weeks of sporadic bombardment from Royalist forces. After the execution of King Charles I in 1649, Oliver Cromwell maintained a military garrison at Warwick to imprison Royalist soldiers until 1658.
Robert Greville, 4th Baron Brooke, (1658-77) proved to be very different from his father as he would play a part in the restoration of the monarchy in 1660. Robert then continued the restoration work and remodelled the state apartments to their current design. His successors would enjoy the fruits and splendour of the Restoration court and earned themselves a reputation for their decadent, rakish behaviour as they turned Warwick Castle into a great party location.
In 1759, Francis Greville (1759-73) was created Earl of Warwick after 169 years of the title being dislocated from the castle. He then ushered Warwick into the Age of Enlightenment by embarking on a major project to transform the castle into a civilised country house. He also commissioned Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown to landscape the gardens.
The next Earls of Warwick, George and Henry Greville, continued improving the look and style of the castle. Throughout the next century, they travelled across Europe and amassed the great collection of paintings, objects and furniture displayed within the State Rooms. Unfortunately, George, 2nd Earl of Warwick, declared bankruptcy in 1803 and was forced to sell off outlying estates, and in 1815 he opened the castle to tourism to bring in more money.
The family suffered a serious setback in 1871 when a great fire burned through the private apartments and Great Hall. A huge public restoration fund was raised to restore the apartments with the finest décor.
The castle would next witness the tenure of Francis Greville (1893-1924) and his wife Daisy, 5th Earl and Countess of Warwick. Daisy would become renowned for her scandalous high society weekend parties, hosting the elite members of Victorian society including Edward, Prince of Wales. Daisy’s turn towards socialism in the 20th century ended the glittering era of society balls at the castle, and the family entered the First World War in financial woe. Leopold, 6th Earl of Warwick, known as Guy (1924-28), had been a Reuter’s correspondent during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05, and served as a Brigadier General with the Canadian forces 1915-18. However, the horror of the conflict impacted him deeply and he died of alcohol abuse at the age of 45.
The 7th Earl, Charles Greville, known as Fulke (1928-84), tried his hand at breaking into Hollywood under the stage name of Michael Brooke. His career peaked with a supporting role in The Dawn Patrol (1938), in which he starred alongside Errol Flynn and David Niven. However, his wooden performance marked the end of his Hollywood career. On his return to Warwick he installed a cinema screen on the roof of the castle which is still there today.
His son, David Greville (1984-1996) struggled to maintain financial control of the Warwick estate and sold much of the Warwick collection to help fund the heavy cost of owning a castle. This proved to be a very unpopular decision and so, by November 1978, he felt he had exhausted all options and sold Warwick Castle to the Tussauds Group. Under the Tussauds Group, which was absorbed into Merlin Entertainments in 2007, Warwick Castle has undergone millions of pounds of restoration works to maintain the castle’s glorious past and ensure, through continued research and conservation, that the castle will continue to stand as Britain’s Ultimate Castle.