David, 7th Marquess of Cholmondeley, is a direct descendant of Sir Robert Walpole (1676–1745), the first Prime Minister of Great Britain. David Cholmondeley has been the owner and custodian of Houghton Hall since 1990 and currently lives in the house with his wife, Rose, and their children. In recent years he has installed a number of permanent contemporary art works in the grounds. In 2013, a major exhibition took place at Houghton, with the loan of over sixty paintings from the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, originally from the Walpole collection.
