John Jacob Astor, 1st Baron Astor of Hever educated at Eton College and at New College, Oxford. Upon his father's death in 1919, John Jacob V inherited Hever Castle near Edenbridge, Kent, where he lived the life of an English country gentleman. John Jacob Astor V represented Great Britain in rackets at the 1908 Summer Olympics, winning the gold medal in the men's doubles competition together with Vane Pennell, and winning bronze in the men's singles event. Astor had been the British Public Schools rackets champion in 1904–05, and in the same year as his Olympic competition he played singles and doubles in the British Army rackets championships.
Hever Castle death of Anne's father, Thomas Boleyn, in 1539. He bestowed it upon Anne of Cleves in 1540 as part of the settlement following the annulment of their marriage. Hever Castle still has one of Henry VIII's private locks, taken with him on his various visits to noblemen's houses and fitted to every door for his security. The property subsequently passed through various owners, including the Waldegrave family from 1557 to 1715, the Humfreys family to 1749 and the Meade Waldo family from 1749 to 1903. During this latter period of ownership, the castle fell into a poor state of repair,