The Residency of the United Kingdom Ambassador to Hungary in Budapest, Hungary, is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, having been built in 1925. To commemorate the occasion, Ambassador Paul Fox and his staff invited the press and other distinguished guests to the first of a series of celebratory events this year.
Ambassador Fox greeted the guests in Hungarian at the beginning, then switched to his native tongue of English to tell them about the illustrious building. As he shared, it originally belonged to the Scitovszky family, a family of noble landlords from Nógrád County. Tibor Scitovszky, the first resident of the building, served as the Foreign Minister of Hungary between 1924 and 1925.
His and his wife Johanna Scitovszky’s portraits hang on the walls of the room where the event was held. They were painted by famous artist Philip de László, who also painted the portraits of European royalty such as Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria and Elizabeth, Duchess of York. The Ambassador told the audience that the portraits of the Scitovszkys were believed to be lost until they came up at an auction in New York City, New York, in 2019. Then, the Johnson administration in office in the UK at the time decided to buy them and transfer them to the Budapest Residency.
On a more personal note, Ambassador Fox described the Budapest villa as ‘my residency, a venue for official events, but above all, it is a home’ which makes him feel full of life, purpose, and pride: pride both for himself and his country.
He also shared the story of how his wife badgered the staff to get an old wall clock to run again, which was believed to be a replica of an 18th-century French clock. However, when the watchmaker came out to repair it, it turned out that it was actually an original from 18th-century France.
Ambassador Fox went on to inform the audience that the building underwent a complete refurbishment in 2015. Then, in 2017, when the British Embassy moved buildings and relocated to Füge Street, the Residency took on even more of a role as a venue for official functions.
After the Ambassador’s speech, Szabolcs Kordos, author of the book series Egy város titkai (The Secrets of a City), and Gábor Ley, the former Residency Manager of the building, took the stage for a panel discussion.
Mr Kordos shared that he attended the nearby Fillér Street Elementary School, so he would routinely pass the building, which stood out to him even at the time. That is quite a coincidence, as the author of the article also went to school nearby—in fact, Baár-Madas Elementary and Secondary School, where I went to, happens to be on the same street as the Residency.
He then stated that after the Scitovszky family emigrated to Los Angeles, California, the Hungarian state eventually confiscated the building. While the Scitovszkys rented it out to the British government as soon as they left the country, the United Kingdom eventually bought to property from the Hungarian government. However, as a gesture, Queen Elizabeth II made sure that the furniture inside was actually bought from the Scitovszkys, after Hanna Scitovszky wrote her a letter.
Mr Ley spoke next and said that the original residents, Tibor and Hanna Scitovszky, were huge francophone art collectors who regularly travelled to France to bring home furniture and ornaments, as it was fashionable for the elite at the time. He also pointed out that at the building’s entrance, not only the crest of the British Crown but also the crest of the Scitovszky is on display.
Mr Ley also took the time to pay homage to the historic guests who have visited the very building where he worked for years. These guests include both the members of the legendary British rock band Queen and Queen Elizabeth II herself, when she visited Hungary in May 1993.
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