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But not his ambition.Īccording to Hartley Neita in his biography of Hugh Shearer, Hugh Shearer - A Voice for the People, at first Bustamante intended to have the governor-general reside in Vale Royal and that he would take up residence, as Prime Minister, in King's House. When he realised, however, that the authority of power and glory resided in the person of the Prime Minister and that the governor-general merely did the bidding of the Prime Minister and his Cabinet, he changed his mind. This was interpreted to mean that he planned to become the first governor-general of Jamaica.
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Now for years Bustamante had said he would live in King's House one day.
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He thought of using it as a maternity home but on reflection regarded it as inadequate. It wasn't large enough to keep his fowls. Vale Royal was too small to suit his taste. "I am accustomed to living in palaces," he said. Manley did not win the general election preceding Independence, and Bustamante refused to accept it as suitable for a prime minister of the newly-independent Jamaica. The property and house were purchased by the British Government in 1928 and used for the next 30-odd years as the official residence of the Colonial Secretary, then the second most important official - after the Governor - in Jamaica.Īs we approached Independence in the late 1950s, Norman Manley assigned a senior civil servant, Allan Morais, to oversee the refurbishing of this house and convert it for the use of future prime ministers of Jamaica as their official residence. One of its interesting features is a lookout tower on the roof from which the owner could see the ships as they sailed into Kingston harbour. The house was built about the end of the 17th century and is, therefore, one of the oldest residences in Jamaica. He owned four estates and more than 2,000 slaves. It was then owned by an English planter, Simon Taylor, who before his death enjoyed the largest fortune of over £1 million ever accumulated in this country. The property on which it stands is now much smaller than when it was an estate known as Prospect Pen. VALE ROYAL, the current official residence of our prime ministers, is a stately house surrounded by beautiful, landscaped lawns, flowers and trees.