1

Buckingham Palace

History of the house and who has lived there

Buckingham Palace has served as the official London residence of the UK’s sovereigns since 1837

and today is the administrative headquarters of the Monarch and in use for the many official events and

receptions held by The Queen. The Palace has 775 rooms. These include 19 State rooms, 52 Royal and

guest bedrooms, 188 staff bedrooms, 92 offices and 78 bathrooms.

Buckingham Palace (then Buckingham House) once stood on the edge of the City of Westminster, at the

western end of the Tudor hunting park of St James's in the early 1600s. However it wasn't until 1837 that

Buckingham Palace became the official seat of the court.

Buckingham House

The history of the site where

Buckingham Palace stands can be

traced back to the reign of James I in

the early 17th century. He started a

plantation of mulberries for the

rearing of silkworms where the Palace

Gardens are now located. Charles I

then gave the garden to Lord Aston in

1628 and it is clear from records that a

large house already existed on the site

at this time. The house had many

owners and tenants until, in 1698, it

was let to the man who gave the house its name – John Sheffield, later the Duke of Buckingham.

The Duke found the house old-fashioned, so it was demolished to create the new ‘Buckingham House’,

which stood where Buckingham Palace is today. It was designed and built with the assistance of William

Talman, Comptroller of the Works to William III, and Captain William Winde, a retired soldier. John Fitch

built the main structure by contract for £7,000.

‘The Queen’s House’

Buckingham House remained the property of

the Dukes of Buckingham until 1762, when

King George III acquired the whole site as a

private and comfortable family home for his

wife, Queen Charlotte, and their children.

It was known as ‘The Queen’s House’ and 14 of

their 15 children were born there. St James'

Palace, which was close by, remained the

official seat of the court and where many court

functions were held.

Sir William Chambers was put in charge of remodelling and modernising the house between 1762 and

1776, at a cost of £73,000. With ceilings designed by Robert Adam and painted by Giovanni Battista

Cipriani, The Queen’s rooms on the principal floor were among the most sophisticated of their time.

2

King George IV

When George III’s son, George IV acceded to the throne in 1820, he decided to reconstruct the house into a

pied-à-terre, using it for the same purpose as his father George III. As work progressed, and as late as the

end of 1826, the King had a change of heart and he set about transforming the house into a palace with

the assistance of his architect, John Nash.

Parliament agreed to a budget of £150,000, but the King pressed for £450,000 as a more realistic figure.

Nash retained the main block but doubled its size by adding a new suite of rooms on the garden side facing

west. Faced with mellow Bath stone, the external style reflected the French neo-classical influence

favoured by George IV.

The remodelled rooms are the State and semi-State Rooms, which remain virtually unchanged

since Nash's time. The north and south wings of Buckingham House were demolished and rebuilt on a

larger scale with a triumphal ‘Marble Arch’ as the centrepiece of an enlarged courtyard to

commemorate the British victories at Trafalgar and Waterloo.

Buckingham Palace in 1846, showing the Marble Arch in the centre of the Forecourt

Nash's Buckingham Palace was widely regarded as a masterpiece but it came at a considerable cost. By

1828 Nash had spent £496,169 on the changes to the building, far above budget. Soon after the death of

George IV, the Prime Minister dismissed Nash from his post for over-spending. Lord Duncannon, First

Commissioner of Works, took over the project to finish the Palace. Duncannon appointed a new architect,

Edward Blore, who extended the east façade at both ends and created a new southern side entrance.

The furnishing stage had not been reached at Buckingham Palace during George IV’s lifetime. His

successor in 1830, his brother William IV, showed no interest in moving from his home at Clarence House,

and, when the old Houses of Parliament were destroyed by fire, he offered the still-incomplete

Buckingham Palace as a replacement. The offer was respectfully declined, and Parliament voted to allow

the ‘completing and perfecting’ of the Palace for royal use.

Under Duncannon and Blore’s supervision, the State Rooms were completed between 1833-34. They were

furnished with some of the finest objects from Carlton House, George IV’s London home when Prince of

Wales, which had been demolished in 1827.

3

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert

Queen Victoria was the first sovereign to take up residence

and rule from Buckingham Palace in 1837 and in 1838 she

was the first British Sovereign to leave from Buckingham

Palace for a Coronation.

The Queen’s marriage to Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and

Gotha in 1840 set the seal on the use of Buckingham

Palace as a royal family home and as a place of

entertainment and official business. Her marriage soon

showed up the Palace's shortcomings. A serious problem

for the newly married couple was the absence of any nurseries and too few bedrooms for visitors.

In February 1845, eight years after ascending the throne, Queen Victoria complained to the Prime Minister,

Robert Peel, about the lack of space in Buckingham Palace for accommodation and entertaining. The only

solution was to move the Marble Arch and build a fourth wing, thereby creating a quadrangle.

Edward Blore was instructed to prepare plans for a new wing, enclosing Nash’s forecourt on its eastern

side. By far the most significant element of Blore’s design was the central balcony on the new main façade,

which was incorporated at Prince Albert’s suggestion. From here Queen Victoria saw her troops depart to

the Crimean War and welcomed them on their return.

Queen Victoria on the balcony to welcome soldiers returning from the Crimean War

The cost of the new wing was largely covered by the sale of George IV's Royal Pavilion at Brighton (£53,000).

Blore added an attic floor to the main block of the Palace and decorated it externally with marble friezes

originally intended for Nash's Marble Arch. The work was completed in 1847.

In 1855 the architect James Pennethorne completed the Ball and Concert Room and the Ball Supper Room,

linked by galleries to Nash’s State Apartments at their southern end. As part of the overall redevelopment,

the triumphal arch, now known as Marble Arch, was moved to the north-east corner of Hyde Park where it

can be seen today. The Renaissance-style interiors of the new rooms placed Buckingham Palace in the

avant-garde of decoration in England, leading the critic of The Builder to designate the Palace as

the ‘Headquarters of Taste’.

Over a period of 20 years, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert transformed the Palace into the centre of an

energetic, cosmopolitan court. Apart from State concerts, entertainment at the Palace came to an abrupt

end after Prince Albert’s untimely death in 1861. Queen Victoria was absent from Buckingham Palace for

long periods of time after her husband’s death, and by the end of her reign in 1901, the Palace had begun

to look neglected and the soft French stone on the East Front was showing signs of deterioration.

4

King Edward VII

King Edward VII and his consort Queen Alexandra were

determined to revive the high standards of royal

entertaining during his short reign from 1901-1910.

The King would preside at Evening Courts seated on the

throne, and a new dais and canopy were set up in the

Ballroom for this purpose and throughout his reign, the

Palace was the focus of fashionable social life in London.

King Edward VII redecorated the interior of the Palace

during his reign and the new white and gold decorative scheme can today be seen in a number of the State

Rooms, including the Ballroom.

King George V

Queen Mary, wife of King George V, had a strong

knowledge of furniture and decoration and, advised by

curators from the Victoria and Albert Museum, restored

Regency character to the rooms after Edwardian

alterations made during the reign of King Edward VII. In

1935, a year before the end of George V’s reign, the Palace

was the focus of national celebrations for the King's Silver

Jubilee.

During the reign of King George V, the present forecourt of

the Palace, where Changing the Guard takes place, was formed in 1911, as part of the Victoria Memorial

scheme.

The gates and railings were also completed in 1911; 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 work was completed just before the outbreak of the First World War in 1914.

The decision was also taken to reface the front of Buckingham Palace. Sir Aston Webb, with a number of

large public buildings to his credit, was commissioned to create a new design. Webb chose the harder-

wearing Portland Stone which took 12 months to prepare before building work could begin. When work

did start it took 13 weeks to complete the refacing, a process that included removing the old stonework.

Completed in 1914, this is the grand façade that overlooks the Mall today.

5

King George VI

King George VI ascended the throne on the abdication of his brother King Edward VII in 1936. The King and his consort Queen Elizabeth stayed at Buckingham Palace during World War Two, leaving the Palace during the

evenings to spend them with their daughters, Princesses

Elizabeth and Margaret, who had been moved to Windsor Castle for safety.

In September 1940 part of the East Front of Buckingham

Palace was damaged after bombing raids, and the

Victorian private chapel in the south-west pavilion was

destroyed.

When the war in Europe ended on 8 May 1945, the King and Queen, their daughters, Princesses Elizabeth

and Margaret, and the Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill, appeared on the Buckingham Palace balcony

before huge crowds. King George died in his sleep on 6th February 1952 at the age of 56.

Queen Elizabeth II and The Duke of Edinburgh

Elizabeth was born in Mayfair, London on 21 April 1926, the

first child of the Duke and Duchess of York who later

became King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. She was

educated privately at home and began to undertake

public duties during the second world war.

In 1947 she married Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, a former

prince of Greece and Denmark with whom she has four

children; Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew

and Prince Edward.

Upon the death of her father in February 1952 she became Queen Elizabeth II, Head of the Commonwealth

and queen regnant of seven independent commonwealth countries; the United Kingdom, Canada,

Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan and Ceylon. Her Coronation took place on 02 June 1953.

Queen Elizabeth II is the longest reigning British monarch. Celebrations took place for the following

Jubilees: 1977 Silver (25 yrs), 2002 Gold (50 yrs) and 2012 Diamond (60 yrs). The Queen is also the first

British monarch to celebrate a Sapphire Jubilee, 65 yrs on the throne, and the occasion in 2017 was marked

with a 41-Gun Salute in London’s Green Park.

In 1962, on the initiative of The Duke of Edinburgh, The Queen's Gallery was created from the bombed-out

ruins of the former Private Chapel. The Queen's Gallery was completely refurbished and expanded in 2002

to mark Her Majesty's Golden Jubilee.

Buckingham Palace is the working headquarters of the Monarchy, where The Queen carries out her official

and ceremonial duties as Head of State of the United Kingdom and Head of the Commonwealth.

The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh live in the private apartments on the north side of the Palace, while

rooms on the upper floors of the north and east sides are occupied by other members of the Royal Family.

Much of the ground floor and the south wing of the Palace are used by staff who work for the Royal

Household. The State Rooms occupy the main west block facing the gardens.

6

How the Palace is used today

Buckingham Palace is very much a working building and the centrepiece of the UK’s constitutional

monarchy, serving as the venue for many royal events and ceremonies from entertaining foreign

Head of States to celebrating achievement at Investitures and receptions.

More than 50,000 people visit the Palace each year as guests to State banquets, lunches,

dinners, receptions and Garden Parties. Her Majesty also holds weekly audiences with the Prime

Minister and receives newly-appointed foreign Ambassadors at Buckingham Palace.

Receptions held at the Palace throughout the year recognise the work of industry, government, charities,

sport, the Commonwealth and many more areas of life and the Palace is often a focal point for significant

national celebrations and commemorations.

Diplomatic reception at Buckingham Palace

The Diplomatic Reception is the main diplomatic social event of the year in London and reflects

The Queen’s importance in the country’s diplomatic relations. It is the largest reception held at

Buckingham Palace and takes place annually in early December.

Members of the public who are awarded an honour in either the New Year's Honours List or The Queen's

Birthday Honours List receive their award at a ceremony known as an Investiture. Around 25 Investitures

are held each year which usually take place in the Ballroom.

The balcony of Buckingham Palace is one of the most famous in the world. The first recorded Royal balcony

appearance took place in 1851, when Queen Victoria stepped onto it during celebrations for the opening

of the Great Exhibition. Since then, Royal Balcony appearances have marked many occasions from The

Queen’s annual official birthday celebrations to watch the RAF Fly-past at the end of Trooping the Colour,

Royal Weddings, as well as special events of national significance such as the 75th anniversary of the Battle

of Britain.

Whilst Buckingham Palace is seen as the administrative hub of the Monarchy, it is also very much a family

home, in addition to holding The Queen's Gallery and the Royal Mews. The Queen gave birth to Prince

Charles and Prince Andrew at the Palace, and to this day notice of royal births and deaths are still attached

to the front railings for members of the public to read. The christenings of The Prince of Wales, The Princess

Royal, The Duke of York and Prince William took place in the Music Room and many Royal Weddings have

been celebrated at Buckingham Palace, most recently The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s.

The offices of those who support the day-to-day activities and duties of The Queen and The Duke

of Edinburgh and their immediate family, such as the Private Secretary’s Office and the Privy Purse

and Treasurer’s Office are located at Buckingham Palace.

7

The State Rooms

When you visit the Palace during the summer, you enter the State Rooms by walking up the Grand

Staircase. Designed by John Nash and inspired by his experience working in London theatres, it provides

a sense of excitement and expectation for the rooms that follow.

Full length portraits of immediate members of Queen Victoria's family decorate the upper part of the

staircase. These include her grandparents George III and Queen Charlotte, by Sir William Beechey, her

parents the Duke and Duchess of Kent, by George Dawe and Sir George Hayter, and her uncle, William IV,

by Sir Thomas Lawrence.

The State Rooms occupy the heart of Buckingham Palace and are the public rooms in the Palace where

The Queen and members of the Royal Family receive and entertain their guests on State, ceremonial and

official occasions. There are 19 State Rooms, which mainly reflect the taste of King George IV, who

commissioned the architect John Nash to transform Buckingham House into a grand palace in 1825. The

State Rooms are furnished with many of the greatest and outstanding treasures from the Royal Collection,

including paintings by Van Dyck and Canaletto, sculpture by Canova, Sèvres porcelain, and some of the

finest English and French furniture in the world.

Ball Supper Room

Today, the Ball Supper Room is used as a ballroom during The Queen’s Diplomatic Reception and

Christmas Dance. When the Palace is open during August and September, a special display is mounted

here as part of the tour of the State Rooms. Originally, it was intended to provide refreshment for several

hundred guests at a time in the adjoining Ballroom. The design of both rooms was undertaken by

Pennethorne and it was the Supper Room that finally put paid to the shell of George III’s Octagon Library,

which formerly occupied this site. Pennethorne’s design envisaged a continuous serving table 41 metres

in length arranged in a horseshoe shape.

Ballroom

When first completed in 1855, this enormous room was known as the Ball and Concert Room. The

musicians’ gallery is today occupied during investitures by musicians of the Household Division. At the

other end of the room, plaster statues by William Theed stand on top of a triumphal arch, flanked by

sphinxes and enclosing the throne canopy. The winged figures at the summit of the arch symbolise History

and Fame. They support a medallion with the profiles of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

The throne canopy was created in 1916 using heavy gold embroidered velvet hangings salvaged from the

imperial canopy, or shamiana, made for King George V and Queen Mary’s appearance at the Delhi Durbar

of 1911.. The two thrones were made for the coronation ceremony of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra

in 1902 by the Parisian firm Carlhian & Baumetz.

The painted decoration of the organ case

is all that survives of the elaborate

scheme devised for the room by Prince

Albert with his artistic adviser Ludwig

Grüner. The organ itself was supplied for

the Music Room at Brighton Pavilion by

Henry Cephas Lincoln in 1817, and was

moved to Buckingham Palace following

the sale of the Pavilion in 1848. The

tables contain some of the finest silver

gilt in the Royal Collection, with pieces by Paul Storr, Nicholas Sprimont and Peter Carter. The two

tapestries are part of the series telling the story of Jason, by the French Gobelins tapestry firm.

8

Blue Drawing Room

The Blue Drawing Room originally served as the ballroom of the Palace, before the addition of the present

Ballroom in 1855. A number of fine Sèvres pieces purchased by George IV for his home at Carlton House

are displayed, amongst them the magnificently painted and glazed Vase royal. The fabulous astronomical

clock on the mantelpiece contains three enamel dials which indicate the times of sunrise and sunset, the

state of the moon and the sign of the zodiac.

The most important piece in this room is the

Table of the Great Commanders, a circular table

in porcelain again made by the Sèvres

factory. The top contains portraits of great

leaders of antiquity, from Alexander the Great

to Julius Caesar, Hannibal and Pompey.

The table was commissioned in 1806 by

Napoleon at the height of his success, although

it wasn't finished until 1812, and remained in

the Sèvres factory until after Napoleon's defeat

in 1815. In 1817, Louis XVIII, the restored French king, presented the table to George IV in gratitude for the

allied victory over Napoleon, and it quickly became one of George IV's prized possessions, appearing in the

background of all of his state portraits.

Bow Room

Originally intended as a library, this room is now used as a waiting room for those receiving a private

audience with The Queen, and is the room through which guests reach the garden when attending one of

The Queen's Garden Parties.

The ovals on the walls represent members of European royalty related

to Queen Victoria, under whom this room was redecorated. The

'Mecklenberg' dinner service is displayed in the cabinets. This

elaborate service was ordered by George III and Queen Charlotte from

the Chelsea Porcelain Works. It was given as a gift to Charlotte's

brother, Duke Adolphus Frederick of Mecklenburg-Strelitz in

1764. Having passed down through the family, it was presented to

Queen Elizabeth in 1947 to celebrate her silver wedding anniversary.

East Gallery

The first room from the Victorian additions to the Palace,

Winterhalter's famed portrait of Queen Victoria's family is

displayed here, alongside Sir George Hayter's depiction of

Queen Victoria's coronation. The East Gallery also contains a

number of works associated with the family of George III, with

a number of works by Benjamin West including portraits of

the king, his wife, Queen Charlotte, and a work

commemorating their infant son, Prince Octavius. The

imposing clock was made by the Parisian bronze

manufacturer De La Croix around 1775, and may have been

purchased by George IV from Charles X of France. The unusually shaped pair of Sèvres vases, flanked with

female figures of Victory, were also purchased by George IV.

9

Grand Entrance & Marble Hall

The Marble Hall lies directly underneath the Picture Gallery,

and was designed for the display of sculpture. The works now

shown include three pieces by the famed Italian sculptor

Antonio Canova, acquired by George IV (Dirce, Fountain Nymph

and Mars and Venus), as well as a number of works that were

commissioned by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. These

include pieces by Joseph Engels, Emil Wolff and Carl

Steinhauser. Many of these were brought to Buckingham

Palace from Osborne House, when King Edward VII presented

the house to the nation following his mother's death.

The two pier tables were originally made for Kensington Palace – the gilded table, by James Moore, was

provided for George I, whilst the marble-topped table is a rare example of a piece by Thomas Pelletier, the

Huguenot Cabinet Maker in Ordinary to Queen Anne. The pair of large Chinese vases were a coronation

gift for King George V and Queen Mary, from the Emperor of China. There are portraits of Queen Victoria

and her family, including a number by Franz Xavier Winterhalter. The portraits of Queen Victoria and Prince

Albert were much copied, becoming regarded as official likenesses.

Grand Staircase

Queen Victoria fitted the walls of the upper part of the staircase with

full length portraits of members of her immediate family. These

include her grandparents George III and Queen Charlotte, by Sir

William Beechey, her parents the Duke and Duchess of Kent, by George

Dawe and Sir George Hayter, and her immediate predecessor, her

uncle, William IV, by Sir Thomas Lawrence.

Two of the sculptures were commissioned by Queen Victoria as

birthday presents for her husband and were originally at Osborne

House, where they displayed a lot of neo-classical works. The

Huntress, by Richard James Wyatt, and Love and Malice, by the Belgian

sculptor Jean Geefs, depict two of the Goddess Diana's nymphs.

Green Drawing Room

So called as the room has always been hung with green silk, the decorative innovation introduced at

Carlton House by George IV has been continued here. As in the Blue Drawing Room, the wall coverings

have been matched with the grounds of the Sèvres porcelain, in this case using green. One of the most

striking examples here is the pot-pourri vase in the shape of a ship, which originally belonged to Madame

de Pompadour, mistress of the French king Louis XV. and was purchased by George IV in 1817.

George IV was also responsible for the purchase of much

of the furniture in this room. This includes the

magnificent cabinet by Adam Weisweiler, from around

1785. It is inlaid with panels depicting botanical

subjects, and the two central panels appear to have

been made in Florence, in the late sixteenth

century. The second cabinet was made by Martin Carlin,

again in France, and incorporates panels depicting

fruit. These were almost certainly made at Louis XIV's

royal workshops at Gobelins, and so date from the mid-

seventeenth century.

10

Guard Chamber

The chamber contains a number of sculptures with connections to

Queen Victoria, including the final birthday present that she gave to

Prince Albert, Benjamin Edward Spence's Lady of the Lake.

Prince Albert had commissioned the statue of himself, in ancient

Greek costume, from Emil Wolff. It was presented to Queen Victoria

on Christmas Day, 1849.

Other members of Queen Victoria's family are depicted as children -

Princess Louise, Queen Victoria's eldest daughter, and Princesses

Victoria and Maud, granddaughters of Queen Victoria, children of the

future King Edward VII. Theses sculptures were made by Mary

Thornycroft, a favourite artist of Queen Victoria and now remembered

chiefly for these works of children.

Ministers’ Landing & Staircase

The walls are hung with two panels from a set made at the Gobelins royal

manufactory in France from the mid-eighteenth century, depicting scenes

from the story of Les Amours des Dieux.

The wonderful barometrical clock was made by Alexander Cumming, a

Scottish clock maker. This is perhaps the finest of the scientific instruments

that were assembled by George III, both for its mechanical complexity and the

design of its case.

Music Room

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were both

extremely musical and spent many happy

hours at Buckingham Palace playing the

piano and singing together.

The Music Room is the central room on the

West Front of the Palace and is used for royal

christenings, as well as for entertaining . The

three eldest children of The Queen were

christened here.

The armchairs and settees were supplied by

the leading French chair and bed maker

Georges Jacob for George IV at Carlton

House. The Sèvres vases were also acquired for George IV, and include a fine example of a vase à panneaux,

complete with maritime scenes. The grand piano, by John Broadwood & Sons, hints at the use of the room

for occasional recitals.

11

Picture Gallery

John Nash, the architect who oversaw the transformation of Buckingham House into Buckingham Palace,

designed the Picture Gallery as a space to display the magnificent picture collection assembled by George

IV and his predecessors, and that is the role that the Gallery continues to fulfil. It is home to some of the

most famed works within the Royal Collection, with paintings by Holbein, Rembrandt, Rubens, Canaletto

and Van Dyck amongst many others lining the walls. The Picture Gallery is also the principal reception

space of the Palace, hosting events for several hundred guests at a time.

Some of the most popular works in the Royal

Collection are hung in the Picture Gallery. The

arrangement changes regularly, and works

are often lent to other museums and galleries

for exhibitions. Visitors can usually see Van

Dyck's portrait of Henrietta Maria, wife of

Charles I, a self-portrait by Rubens, a number

of scenes of Venice, by Canaletto, and perhaps

the most famous work in the Royal Collection,

Vermeer's Music Lesson.

As well as the magnificent collection of

paintings, there are fine examples of Chinese and Japanese porcelain, many of which were acquired by

George IV for the Royal Pavilion at Brighton, and excellent pieces of French furniture by Georges Jacob and

Adam Weisweiler.

State Dining Room

The State Dining Room was unfinished when Victoria arrived at Buckingham Palace in 1837. Fond of food,

and partial to hosting dinners, Victoria wasted no time in completing the work, arranging the paintings on

the long wall and adding her cipher above the doors.

During Victoria’s reign, dessert consisted primarily of fruit in a variety of forms as well as nuts and ices. On

special occasions, the Royal Confectionery produce an elaborate centrepiece similar to designs by Charles

Elmé Francatelli, Chief Cook to Queen Victoria.

Preparations for a State Banquet begin

well over a year in advance, but the final

build of the State Banquet table starts

around five days ahead of the arrival of

the visiting Head of State. The Master of

the Household’s department take the

main bulk of the responsibility for

ensuring the Banquet runs according to

plan.

After the Banqueting table is put

together, and the decorative display is

delivered, unpacked and positioned in

place, the final touches are added.

Preparations in the kitchens of Buckingham Palace begin as close to the event as possible — with every dish

handmade from scratch. Every element of the State Banquet is inspected, checked and approved by The

Queen, right down to every last detail.

12

Throne Room

Central to the room are the pair of throne chairs, made in late seventeenth-century style, for the coronation

ceremony of Her Majesty The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh in 1953. There are also chairs made for

the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in 1937, and a single throne chair made for Queen

Victoria in 1837.

Much of the interior decoration comes from

George IV and Carlton House, including the

magnificent pair of council chairs made by

Tatham, Bailey & Sanders. The design of these

was based on that of ancient chairs studied by

Tatham in Rome.

The sculptures include a superb likeness of

Prince Arthur (son of Queen Victoria) by Carlo

Marochetti who was one of Queen Victoria's

favourite sculptors. There are also busts by him

of the Queen herself, as well as the Duchess of

Teck (mother of the future Queen Mary).

White Drawing Room

One of the more intimate State Rooms at Buckingham Palace, the White Drawing Room is regularly used

for audiences and small gatherings. The Queen enters the room via a hidden door disguised as a mirror

and cabinet before receiving guests. Ambassadors and High Commissioners from across the world present

their 'credentials' (a kind of formal CV) to Her Majesty when they take up their positions in London.

For larger events, the room is often used for key guests to be presented to The Queen before everyone

moves into the surrounding State Rooms to mingle. Over the years, the space has also been used for

Christmas Broadcasts and as the setting for formal family photographs.

The striking piano, in a gilded case,

was supplied by S & P Erard, and

incorporates elements of an earlier

piano owned by Queen

Victoria. The roll-top desk by Jean-

Henri Riesener was probably made

for one of the daughters of Louis

XV, before being purchased by

George IV in 1825. Complete with

beautiful fret marquetry, the lower

drawers can only be opened once

the roll-top is fully open, which is

typical of Riesener's work. The two pairs of cabinets, with inlaid panels depicting flowers and birds, were

adapted to fit the room in the 1830s, but were possibly at Carlton House before that. Behind one, in the

northwest corner of the room, is a concealed door, providing a discrete means for the Royal Family to enter

the State Rooms. Above the fireplace, the portrait of Queen Alexandra is perhaps one the highlights of

early twentieth century royal portraiture. Painted by the French artist François Flameng in 1908, Queen

Alexandra wears the small diamond crown made for Queen Victoria in the latter years of her reign.

The following are not included in this descriptive list... Ambassadors’ Entrance, Lower Corridor, Silk Tapestry Room and Vestibule.