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On an island in the middle of a lake, Leeds Castle in Kent was originally a Saxon fortress, built in AD 857. It was rebuilt in stone by the Normans and later converted to a Royal Palace by Henry VIII for his first wife Catherine of Aragon. The last private owner of the castle was Lady Baillie, who bought it in 1926. She redecorated the interior, with the French decorator Stéphane Boudin, and established the Leeds Castle Foundation. The castle was opened to the public in 1976.