favour occupation. Following the Duke's death, Bagshot Park was requisitioned by the Army for the Auxiliary Territorial Service (later to become the WRAC) to use as their Staff College. This closed at the end of the war. In 1946 George VI offered the house to the Royal Army Chaplains' Department to be used as a Church House and Chaplains' Depot. The Army Chaplains were in residence from 1947 but relocated to Andover, Hampshire, in April 1996, shortly before the Earl and Countess of Wessex took over the tenancy. The Army Chaplains famously placed a notice by the pond reading "Please do not walk on the water". The original sign was removed when the chaplains left, but a new one, made by J. M. J. Holland Chairmakers and given to the Earl of Wessex, has replaced it. Although the house was criticised as ugly by the architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner, it was said to be the most adventurous royal house to be created since the death of Albert, the Prince Consort of Queen Victoria, in 1861. It is also a remarkable monument in the history of Indian taste in Britain: an Indian billiard room wing, which inspired the more famous Durbar Room at Osborne House, was prefabricated in India and installed in the 1880s. This was a result of the Duke of Connaught's Indian tour, when the Duke met John Lockwood Kipling and asked him to design and oversee the installation of a billiard room in Indian taste. The Indian craftsmen who assembled and installed the room at Bagshot were housed in a tent in the grounds. The work took two years and was a wedding gift from Indian princes to the Duke and Duchess of Connaught. Lease to Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex In March 1998, the Mansion House at Bagshot Park, including a block of stables and Sunningdale Lodge, was leased by the Crown Estate to Prince Edward for 50 years. The Mansion House was renovated as a residence for the prince. The renovation was partly funded by the Crown Estate and partly funded by Prince Edward. The renovation was originally estimated to cost £2.18m, with £1.6m from the Crown Estate and the remainder being paid by the prince. The National Audit Office (NAO) report on the transaction states that the final cost of renovations was £2.98m; the Crown Estate paid £1.6m and the estimated excess of £1.38m was