Wednesday 7 November 2007
OHMS -A Warden at the Buckingham Palace
by John Wren
John Wren (shown left) gave a superb presentation, this was full of fact, figures and amusing antidotes well support by mimicking the American visitors drawl. His lecture was enhanced by a flip chart and basically was in three part, the geographical location of Buck House, then the history and change of ownership and indeed the structure, then the uses and John's involvement in the period when the Palace is open to the public during the Queens absence on holiday to Balmoral, the income being used to offset the cost of the Windsor Castle fire damage and refurbishment.
John as a London Blue Badge Guide (more below) said possibly the first house erected within the site was that of a Sir William Blake, the next owner was Lord Goring, who from 1633 extended Blake's house and developed much of today's garden. Originally known as Buck House, the building forming the core of today's palace was a large townhouse built for the Duke of Buckingham in 1703. Buckingham House was eventually sold by Buckingham's descendant, Sir Charles Sheffield, in 1762 to King George III because of the mulberry garden interest Sheffield had been unable to purchase the full freehold of the site because of this area of land. The house was originally intended as a private retreat for the royal family, and in particular for Queen Charlotte, and was known as The Queen's House. St. James's Palace remained the official and ceremonial royal residence; indeed, the tradition continues to the present time of foreign ambassadors being formally accredited to "the Court of St. James's", even though it is at Buckingham Palace that they present their credentials and staff to the Queen upon their appointment.
This residence and indeed lakes was supplied with water from the river Tyburn that flowed through the area from South Hampstead to the Thames. Tyburn is now one of London's 'lost rivers' and is completely underground, 'Bourne', written down 'burn' at some point, means brook which branches a number of times and 'Ty' meaning two, hence 'two brooks' reflects this. One of its branches wandered toward the Thames what is now the Whitehall, and another entered south of the site of the modern Houses of Parliament, between was the small gravel island of Westminster, its course now lies below ground, John indicated for those who were interested exactly where the culvert could be noted entering the Thames.
John with examples from his flip chart said King George III bought Buckingham House in 1761 for his wife to use as a comfortable family home close to St James's Palace, on his accession in 1820, decided to reconstruct the house with the assistance of his architect, John Nash into a palace, he retained the main block but doubled its size by adding a new suite of rooms with mellow Bath stone, the external style reflected the French neo-classical influence, the interior was furnished from Carlton House. The wings of Buckingham House were demolished and rebuilt on a larger scale with a triumphal arch - the Marble Arch - as the centrepiece of an enlarged courtyard, to commemorate the British victories at Trafalgar and Waterloo.
The King never moved into the Palace hence Queen Victoria was the first sovereign to take up residence just three weeks after her accession, and in June 1838 she was the first British sovereign to leave from Buckingham Palace for a Coronation. Amusing John related the story, was it true or false, that Queen Victoria instructed the Guards not to let her mother enter the Palace unless instructed in person by herself! But her marriage to Prince Albert in 1840 soon showed up the Palace's shortcomings, no nurseries and too few bedrooms for visitors. The only solution was to move the Marble Arch (shown below) - it now stands at the north-east corner of Hyde Park - and build a fourth wing, thereby creating a quadrangle. By the turn of the century the soft French stone used in the East Front was showing signs of deterioration, largely due to London's notorious soot, and required replacing with Portland Stone.
Buckingham Palace serves as the official London residence of Britain's sovereigns it is very much a working building and the centrepiece of Britain's constitutional monarchy. It houses the offices of those who support the day-to-day activities and duties of John continued Buckingham Palace has over 750 rooms; these include 19 State rooms, 50 plus Royal and guest bedrooms, many staff bedrooms, numerous offices and plentiful bathrooms, again with his chart indicated the organisation of the Palace was liken to the structure of a listed Company with CEO and associated branches underneath the apparent Board Room.
John pointed out that the State Rooms of the Palace are lavishly furnished with some of the greatest treasures from the Royal Collection - paintings by Rembrandt, Rubens, Vermeer, Poussin, Canaletto and Claude; sculpture by Canova and Chantrey; beautiful pieces of Sèvres porcelain; and some fine English and French furniture.
The present forecourt of the Palace, where Changing the Guard takes place, was completed just before the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, as part of the Victoria Memorial scheme. The gates and railings were also completed the North-Centre Gate is now the everyday entrance to the Palace, whilst the Central Gate is used for State occasions and the departure of the guard after Changing the Guard.
The Palace is also the venue for great Royal ceremonies, State Visits and Investitures, all of which are organised by the Royal Household, although Buckingham Palace is furnished and decorated with priceless works of art that form part of the Royal Collection, one of the major art collections in the world today, it is not an art gallery and nor is it a museum.
For those who do receive an invitation to Buckingham Palace (indeed paying visitors!), the first step across the threshold is into the Grand Hall and up the curving marble stairs of the Grand Staircase (left) Portraits are still set in the walls, as they were by Queen Victoria. John commented that a couple of the magnificent columns that look like marble are indeed false but he said he is still impressed with the grandeur. Guests include members of the Royal Family, the government and other political leaders, High Commissioners and Ambassadors and prominent people who have trade or other associations.
The Throne Room, sometimes used during Queen Victoria's reign for Court gatherings and as a second dancing room, is dominated by a proscenium arch supported by a pair of winged figures of 'victory' holding garlands above the 'chairs of state', also used on very special occasions, the Ballroom is the largest multi-purpose room in Buckingham Palace, it is used for State banquets and other formal occasions such as the annual Diplomatic Reception.
From the Ballroom, the West Gallery, with its tapestries, leads into the first of the great rooms that overlook lawn and the formal gardens - setting for the annual Garden Parties introduced by Queen Victoria then onto the Blue Drawing Room the last of the suite of rooms overlooking the gardens on the principal floor is the White Drawing Room, it is perhaps the grandest of all the State Rooms this serves as a Royal reception room for The Queen and members of the Royal Family to gather before State and official occasions.
The Queen's Gallery at Buckingham Palace is a permanent space dedicated to changing exhibitions of items from the Royal Collection, the wide-ranging collection of art and treasures held in trust by The Queen for the Nation. Constructed forty years ago on the west front of Buckingham Palace out of the bomb-damaged ruins of the former private chapel, which had been gutted by a German bomb in 1940.
The Queen's Gallery was planned as a small exhibition space open to the public in which changing exhibitions could be mounted to display works of art including displays of works by Leonardo, Van Dyck Canaletto and Fabergé items. The Gallery was to upgrade the outdated air-conditioning, to improve physical access and public services, and to provide a more flexible and intelligible series of exhibition spaces. In adding new galleries and associated spaces. Particular challenges were to provide a bold new entrance to the Gallery and to resolve the awkward external junction between the Victorian buildings and the police accommodation, on the upper level there are seven galleries used in a variety of combinations, for special exhibitions for works of art.
John indicated his normal role of dressing each day in the Windsor Blue uniform and being inspected prior to carrying out his duties that varied according to the order of the day, so he could be on a variety of different duties both inside and outside in perhaps the Gardens, or out in the street organising the public. He gave some amusing asides in his dealings with American naive visitor, perhaps best not mentioned on this website, also the cappers of some of the Royal Mews horses who can at times be unpredictable with sometimes hilarious consequences!
After answering a range of questions, Ken Robinson in the vote of thanks, said how much we had enjoyed his talk and following John's praise of her Majesty's integrity and wisdom that any waverers of support for the Monarchy surely had had their views changed, a most enlightening presentation and the membership agreed in their normal manner.
The Blue Badge is the British national standard guiding qualification. Blue Badge Guides are selected, trained and examined under the auspices of the Institute of Tourist-Guiding. Originating in London, the Blue Badge was awarded by regional Tourist Boards from 1969, so that every guide has the same background of national core knowledge combined with in-depth local knowledge. As well as acquiring knowledge, Blue Badge Guides are trained in the selection and presentation of material. The Blue Badge has been so successful that English trainers have trained guides all over the world, and the Blue Badge is recognised internationally as a bench mark of excellence.
