A club certainly on the up. Great clubhouse just on Green Park. A good bar, splendid sitting rooms, and a pretty decent brasserie. The only criticism would be that the staff can be less professional than at some of the top clubs (where they often stay on for decades)—and the main restaurant is lacking in atmosphere. But it is all made up for when you sit in the splendid garden overlooking the park, with a glass of champagne in your hand.
Full name: Royal Over-Seas League
Location: Royal Over-Seas House, 5 Park Place, St James’s, London SW1
Type: Cultural club (Commonwealth). Exclusive, non-commercial private members’ club
Formed: 1910
Membership requirements: Commonwealth nationals. Proposed and seconded by at least two current members, or a single proposer in some cases.
As the main Commonwealth club in St James’s, the Royal Over-Seas League has had its share of royal and celebrity members. Lord Mountbatten, The Marchioness of Willingdon, Lady Wrench, and Lady Brabourne—just to mention the ones famous enough for the club to name rooms after them. Today, if the main restaurant is too formal, you can dine in style in the Brabourne Room (the club’s elegant brasserie), socialise in the Mountbatten Room, or simply sit and relax with a newspaper in the gloriously newly renovated Wrench Room. If none of that takes your fancy, you can have a drink in the Duke of York Bar. After all, it used to be his sitting room (in fact, he died there—the spot is marked with a brass plaque).
The Royal Over-Seas League, or ROSL if you’re a member, is a glorious place. It is not the most exclusive of the traditional London clubs—having nearly as many members as the Royal Automobile Club just a few hundred yards down the street. And a decade or so ago, it was reputed to be more of an exclusive hotel than a club. Not so anymore! Under the leadership of Major General Roddy Porter, whose title before becoming Director-General of the club was Chief of Staff of the Joint Warfare Development, the club is truly starting to find its former imperial glory.
The London clubhouse is a fantastic building in a splendid location. The garden overlooks Green Park, and members can use a secure gate to enter and exit the club straight into the park. The club has spent huge amounts of money on renovating the clubhouse over the last few years. Today, most of the common rooms have been renovated, with the club opting for a style combining old and new. It has worked really well. The latest room to be completed is the Wrench Room—a small but exceptionally elegant members’ sitting room adjacent to the much larger Drawing Room.
ROSL has many active member circles, and there is a broad range of activities available throughout the year. Most famous is the annual members’ afternoon tea at the House of Lords—though this is apparently quite normal when your patron is Her Majesty The Queen and your President is The Rt Hon the Lord Luce.
ROSL also boasts an additional clubhouse in Edinburgh—should any members be travelling north for the winter. Even this clubhouse has a restaurant, a bar, elegant sitting rooms, and members’ bedrooms. [2019 UPDATE: The Edinburgh clubhouse has been sold, and a deal has been reached with the Royal Scots Club for the use of their clubhouse.]
Membership is open to Commonwealth nationals, with an associate membership available to other nationals approved by the committee. A member must normally be proposed and seconded by two current members, but some members of selected clubs and professional bodies (including the IoD) may be eligible for membership with a single member proposer and a non-member seconder. The same applies to overseas members.
The Edinburgh clubhouse closed about 2020.