Lord Maurice Egerton was the owner of the Lord Egerton castle located in Nakuru county, built on the foundation of love but with a fairy tale ending.
Just like in most cultures, the 45-year-old built the house intending to impress the Australian lady he wanted to marry.
Maurice, who came to Kenya in 1920 after retiring from the British Navy, invited his Australian lover to his four-roomed cottage in Nakuru.
However, the lady was disappointed by its first impression. She only spent two hours in the compound, prompting Maurice to think of building a castle to befit her status.
Importing Materials for the Mansion
After his first disappointment, Maurice embarked on another project of building a new mansion in Nakuru. He sought the services of British Architect Albert Brown.
He also contracted Indian craft men and Kenyan labourers to help him realise the fancy design to resemble a similar castle in England.
Maurice imported construction materials from Britain and other structural designs from Italy, shipped rocks and tiles from China and obtained green marble from abroad too.
The royal further imported zinc tiles to adorn the roof and curved stones for the balcony structure. The interior walls, stairways and staircases were specially panelled with British oak and stones from Kinoo and Njiru stones.
After building the mansion with 52 rooms and properly laying the lawn in 1952, Maurice invited his fiancee to their new house.
Despite importing all materials and hiring a British architect to build the 52-roomed castle, the lady was not impressed, arguing that it was small and did not match her standards.
She filed for a divorce, which allowed her to fly out of the country. The Australian reportedly moved on faster after their breakup and married a filmmaker in 1954.
Heartbroken
The divorce left Maurice heartbroken evoking misogyny toward women.
He pinned notes on tree branches warning women to stay away from his hundred-acre plantation.
Moving on
After a period of living in denial, Maurice moved on and started investing in education by founding Egerton University.
Initially, he used the institution to train European settlers. He, however, passed away in 1958 after developing chest complications.
