The King’s Observatory sits incongruously among golf courses close by the river Thames—a reminder that this landscape is owned by the British Crown and was once the private park of George III. The observatory was built not far from Richmond Lodge, which served as the royal family’s country residence between 1764 and 1771 before it was demolished in 1772. George III demolished the hamlet of West Sheen, and hired Capability Brown to achieve the perfect Arcadian landscape, which once ran from Kew Gardens to the North The king’s interest in…
