The luxury hotel at the centre of the Profumo scandal in the 1960s has been sold off to a private firm as part of a �50m deal.

Cliveden Hotel, near Taplow in Berkshire, has been purchased in a package deal with the Royal Crescent Hotel in Bath by Von Essen Hotels.

The stately home was used by Harold MacMillan's Secretary of State for War, John Profumo, to meet Christine Keeler, who was also having a relationship with a Soviet naval attach�.

Von Essen now plans to invest �5m over two years on spa and conference facilities at the home which was designed by the architect Sir Charles Barry, designer of the Houses of Parliament.

Pool encounter

Cliveden was first turned into a hotel in 1986 and now sits at the heart of 375 acres of National Trust parkland.

Profumo famously encountered Keeler at the hotel's swimming pool when it was the private home of the Astor family.

When the scandal broke in 1963, he was forced to resign in disgrace.

Von Essen firm also plans to invest �500,000 in its Bath hotel acquisition.