|
CRUISING TO ENGLAND:
VISITING BUCKINGHAM PALACE by Richard H. Wagner |
Buckingham Palace series
Buckingham Palace The State Rooms Changing of the Guard The Queen's Gallery The Royal Mews |
Introduction
|
Buckingham Palace is perhaps the best known palace in the world. It is included in every commerical sightseeing tour of London and it draws thousands of visitors each day, many of whom just stare through the iron railings at the sentries posted in front of the building.
Located in Westminster, the Palace is the official residence of the monarch and the administrative headquarters of the monarchy. Not only is it the London home of Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh but in its 92 offices, the staff work to support their day-today activities including investitures, meetings with government officials and foreign heads of state, receptions, banquets, royal visits and other activities. Buckingham Palace is also a nationl rallying point as illustrated by the crowds that gathered there to celebrate the end of World War II, royal weddings and jubilees. The Palace has 770 rooms including 19 State Rooms and accommodations for the Royal Family and 108 staff bedrooms. Its grounds include the largest private garden in London, complete with its own lake. |
While Buckingham Palace is very much a place where people are working, it does offer things for visitors to see and do. The most popular activity is to watch the soldiers who guard the Palace perform the ceremony of the Changing of the Guard. Two months a year, the State Rooms of the Palace are open to the general public. Open all year are the Queen's Gallery, where works from the royal art collection are exhibited, and the Royal Mews, where the horses, carriages, and limousines used on state occasions are on view.
|
The Story of Buckingham Palace
|
The familiar facade of Buckingham Palace has a serene and timeless quality that makes one think that it has always been there. In reality, however, the Palace is of relatively recent origin.
In Medieval times, the site of today's Palace was marshy ground fed by the River Tyburn. William the Conqueror gave the area to the monks of Westminster Abby. It remained with the monks for some 500 years until Henry VIII acquired some nearby land on which he built St. James Palace. He then decided that it would be good to have the adjacent land and so he took the Buckingham Palace site from the monks in 1536. In the beginning of the 17th century, James I sold off much of the area. However, he retained the freehold to a four acre section in order to pursue a scheme to develop silk making in Britain. Having heard that silk worms thrive on mulberries, he planted an area that now makes up part of the grounds of Buckingham Palace with mulberry bushes. Unfortunately, he planted a type of mulberry that is not favored by silk worms and so the scheme failed. During the next reign, Lord George Goring, 1st Earl of Norwich bought the house that Sir William Blake had built near the mulberry garden. He proceeded to expand the house and sought to acquire the freehold on the mulberry garden. However, this was during the English Civil War and before the paperwork could be completed Charles I fled London. In the 1670s, the Earl of Arlington bought the house. After it burnt down, he had yet another bigger house constructed. Arlington House was bought by John Sheffield, later the 1st Duke of Buckingham, in 1698. He had the existing house torn down and in its place, he constructed the building that is the core of today's Buckingham Palace. Buckingham House was said to be the finest house in London. While Buckingham House was a grand townhouse, it did have a significant flaw. The freehold did not include the land that had been the old mulberry garden. In 1760, when Sir Charles Sheffield was unable to renew the lease on the mulberry garden, he sold the house and what he owned of its grounds to George III. The King did not want the house for a palace but rather as a quiet retreat close to the official royal residence, St. James Palace, where Queen Charlotte could raise their 15 children. During this period, the house was called the Queen's House. When George IV came to the throne in 1820, he wanted a new palace comparable to those of the other crowned heads of Europe. But during his time as Prince Regent, George had earned public ire by being a lavish spender. He knew that Parliament would not grant him the money to build a new palace but he thought they might give him money to refurbish his boyhood home, Buckingham House. Parliament reluctantly agreed to a budget of 150,000 pounds. George IV then commissioned architect John Nash to remodel Buckingham House. Nash used the central core of the old house as a nucleus. However, he tore down whole wings and replaced them with larger, grander constructions and expanded other portions of the existing building. The result was a grand U-shaped building. To act as an entrance, he build a ceremonial Roman arch at the open end of the forecourt in honor of Britain's victories at Trafalgar and Waterloo. The project was not complete when George IV died in 1830. Without the old king's protection, the Duke of Wellington, who was then Prime Minister, fired Nash for overspending. Inasmuch as the bills totaled nearly half a million pounds, the Duke's action appears to have been justified. George's brother succeeded him as William IV. He did not care for this grand monstrosity and refused to live there. Indeed, after a fire destroyed the old Houses of Parliament, he offered the new Buckingham Palace as a replacement. 
The Palace is adjacent to St. James Park, the Green Park and Hyde Park.
|
Marble Arch (above) was originally the ceremonial entrance to Buckingham Palace.
 Victoria Memorial
His niece, however, had a much different attitude toward the new Palace. When she came to the throne as Queen Victoria in 1837, she immediately moved to Buckingham Palace thus becoming the first monarch to live in the new Palace. Victoria had been brought up at Kensington Palace under the stifling domination of her mother and her mother's secretary. Indeed, Victoria had had to sleep in her mother's room every night until she became Queen. As Queen, she was able to break free and Buckingham Palace was where she chose to establish her own independent household.
When she married Prince Albert, Buckingham Palace really came alive. It was the scene of banquets, concerts and costume balls. A new ballroom was added. Prince Albert took on the task of re-organizing the staff and making the Palace more efficient. The couple also persuaded Parliament that the Palace was too small to both raise a family and carry on their state duties. Utilizing money obtained from the sale of George IV's Brighton Pavilion, a new wing was added on the eastern side enclosing the forecourt. As a result, the Palace changed from a U-shape into a rectangle with a courtyard in the middle. At Prince Albert's suggestion, the Palace's famous balcony was added to the middle of the new wing. These changes required moving George IV's triumphal arch. Today, the Marble Arch can be seen at the northeast corner of Hyde Park. With the death of Prince Albert in 1861, Victoria essentially abandoned Buckingham Palace. She preferred the seclusion of her country residences and only came to her London home when absolutely necessary. Forty years later when her son Edward VII became king, Buckingham Palace once again became the center of fashionable society, known for its banquets, balls and lavish state occasions. The King also undertook to replace some of the old-fashioned Victorian and Regency decoration with the then-popular Belle Epoche style. During the reign of George V, it was found that the soft French stone that had been used for the facade of the east front was crumbling due to London's notorious air pollution. Therefore, a new facade of Portland stone was created and that is the public face of today's Buckingham Palace. Another addition was the large forecourt where the changing of the guard takes place. This was done as part of the plan to add the large Victoria Memorial in front of the Palace. The Palace was bombed seven times during World War II. One bomb fell in the courtyard while King George VI was in residence and another bomb destroyed the private chapel. The fact that no one was exempt from the bombing created a feeling of solidarity and helped to raise public morale. On VE day, a large crowd spontaneously gathered at Buckingham Palace to cheer the Royal Family and Prime Minster Winston Churchill. After the war, at the suggestion of the current Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, the area that had been the private chapel was rebuilt as the Queen's Gallery in order to exhibit works from the royal collection. Buckingham Palace has been in the spotlight numerous times in recent memory. For the most part, these have been moments of joy and celebration such as royal weddings and the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Celebration. |
Cruise destination guide - England - London - Buckingham Palace - Introduction and History