the spouse, widow or widower of such a descendant. The Canadian high commissioner, the American ambassador and the National Trust all have remainder interests in Chevening in the unlikely event that none of the others requires the house. The usual nominee is the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. Under special arrangements with the Board of Trustees, the house is also available to the Secretary of State for International Trade and was available to the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union. When circumstances permit, the house may be used for meetings or conferences, usually by other Government departments, through arrangement with the Trustees. Literary connections The poet Robert Selby was a longstanding resident of the Chevening area. His poetry collection The Coming-Down Time (Shoestring Press, 2020) includes a sequence entitled 'Chevening', partially set in the grounds of Chevening House and in St Botolph's church opposite. It has sometimes been suggested that Chevening served Jane Austen as a model for Rosings Park in her novel Pride and Prejudice, but the only established fact that links the novelist with Chevening is that the Revd John Austen, her second cousin and grandson of the solicitor Francis Austen, who lived in the Red House, Sevenoaks, became Rector of Chevening in 1813, the novel having been published in that January. However, it was written from October 1796 to August 1797. John Halperin also relates that Francis Austen, an uncle of Jane Austen's father, was solicitor to the owners of Chevening during the latter third of the 18th century; that Francis Austen owned property in the area, and that Jane Austen visited him and relatives in Kent several times between 1792 and 1796. Chevening scholarship programme Chevening is the name of the UK government's international awards scheme, founded in 1983 to develop global leaders. While the programme takes its name from the house, the Chevening Secretariat administers the awards on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The Secretariat is based at Woburn House in London and is part of the Association of Commonwealth Universities. See also Chequers, the British Prime Minister's official country retreat, near Wendover in Buckinghamshire. Dorneywood, a country retreat in Burnham, Buckinghamshire, periodically assigned to a senior British government minister. References Bibliography External links Official site Houses completed in the 17th century Country houses in Kent Grade I listed houses in Kent Official residences in the United Kingdom