BUCKINGHAM PALACE – A STATE BANQUET

The fascinating new summer exhibition A Royal Welcome at Buckingham Palace, open until September 27^th, shows the visitor exactly what goes on behind the scenes to make a state banquet a success. The palace has recreated the banquet setting for the State Visit from Singapore in 2014.

The tables for the State Banquet are set

The moment I entered the palace, I thought: as a writer of novels set in the Regency period, this is the nearest I’m going to get to one of the Prince Regent’s state banquets at Carlton House. This is more than just a wild leap of imagination on my part; it was George IV who invited the architect John Nash to transform Buckingham House into a palace with nineteen appropriately splendid State Rooms; and much of the furniture, ornaments, chandeliers etc. came from Carlton House.

Nash’s Grand Staircase

Nash had a flair for the theatrical and the Grand Staircase, which welcomes important guests into the palace is in itself a sort of coup de théâtre, leading you into the unknown. You can’t see what’s at the top but you sense that it will be something special – as, indeed it is. Almost the first thing I spotted was Canova’s delicious white Carrara marble statue, Venus reclining, (1816, from Carlton House) a very Prinny touch!

Silver Pantry

For this exhibition, the palace has created a series of special ‘behind the scenes’ showcases. This is where we see what goes on behind the scenes. The Silver Pantry, for example, has the silver-gilt plates and the cutlery, much of it collected by the Prince Regent. He had eclectic tastes; he liked rococo and baroque, as well as classical; and he seems to have collected it piecemeal. There isn’t enough gold plate for a complete banquet set – so the guests’ plates and cutlery comprise several different sets.

Gold centrepiece, bought by the Prince Regent

The gold centrepiece, shown here in the process of being cleaned and put back together, was another of his purchases.

The porcelain for the State Visit from Singapore, 2014

The Prince Regent was equally interested in porcelain. The photograph shows two different sets used for the banquet. One set of plates is a very pretty turquoise and gold Minton bearing Queen Victoria’s VR monogram; the other set, decorated with birds was made by François Tournier for the Duc d’Orléans, and bought by the Prince Regent after the French Revolution.  

The Wine Cellar

The wine cellar showcase shows an array of glasses, decanters and wine etc. The decanters date from the Prince Regent’s time and are still in use today. Note the butler’s uniform hanging up. Each guest has six glasses: for water, white wine, red wine, champagne, sweet wine and port.

Banquet table detail

There are four servants: page, footman, under butler and wine butler, to look after every nine guests. They each have their specific jobs and it is all meticulously synchronized.

Making chocolate buttons

So, what’s going on in the kitchen? We are given a fascinating glimpse into the making of chocolate buttons (based on the buttons on the footman’s uniform). Note the copper moulds for the famous chocolate bombes – sure to have been a hit at a Carlton House banquet, too. The numerous copper utensils are all originals and some date from our period. They are regularly used and re-tinned when necessary.

Sugar orchid flowers

I also loved the beautiful orchid sugar flowers, as made for the Singapore State banquet, whose national flower it is. Nothing is too much trouble to make the guests feel welcome. Each guest is given a small booklet with the guest list, the menu, the wine, and the live music being played. The banquet ends with the Queen’s pipers circling the room twice, after which, the Queen, and then her guests, leave the room. The palace wants every guest to feel comfortable and to know what happens when.

Banquet: the head of the table. Note the organ – originally in the Brighton Pavilion

The room is candlelit for the banquet and the candlelight makes everything shimmer – especially the ladies’ jewellery and the gold centrepieces.

I just loved this piano

Afterwards, there is a formal exchange of gifts; followed by coffee and, in Prinny’s day, perhaps some music. The grand piano from Carlton House is also now in Buckingham Palace.

Looking back towards Buckingham Palace from the gardens.

So, dear readers, if you would like to experience how it might feel being invited by the Prince Regent to Carlton House for a formal occasion, I suggest that you visit A Royal Welcome at Buckingham Palace. You will not be disappointed.

Elizabeth Hawksley

All photographs by Elizabeth Hawksley

Claremont: Princess Charlottte's beloved home

Princess Charlotte (1796-1817), only child of George, Prince of Wales (later Prince Regent) and Caroline of Brunswick, had a short but tempestuous life. The day after she was born, her father removed her to an establishment of her own supervised by the dowager countess of Elgin. Charlotte saw her parents – separately - once a week and occasionally visited her grandparents, King George III and Queen Charlotte, at Windsor Castle or Weymouth.

Claremont House, now a private girls’ school

Charlotte became the centre of a tug of love as each parent tried to influence her. She loved her wildly indiscreet mother but could not respect her; and respected her father but could not love him. She seems to have been remarkably clear-sighted about them both: ‘My mother was wicked but she would not have turned so wicked had not my father been much more wicked still,’ she wrote.

Lake with island and pavilion

Knowing that her wayward mother needed protection from her father’s malice, must have placed a heavy emotional burden on her when she reluctantly agreed to marry William, Prince of Orange in 1813. What would happen to her mother if she, Charlotte, had to live in Holland? When she learnt that that was what her father, now Prince Regent, intended, she broke off the engagement. He was furious and put her under what was, more or less, house arrest.

The belvedere

Then her mother fled to Italy with her lover. Charlotte was deeply upset but it set her free to have a life of her own. In May 1816, she married Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, a popular match at home. The nation, increasingly fed up with the Prince Regent’s extravagance, now had a focus for their hopes for the future. It was also a happy marriage for Charlotte and Leopold personally. They set up home at Claremont, near Esher.  

 

The amphitheatre

The house, originally built as a country retreat by Sir John Vanburgh, had had a number of notable owners, including the Duke of Newcastle and Clive of India. The first formal garden was designed by Charles Bridgeman who built the three acre amphitheatre; then, when informality became the rage, William Kent redesigned the gardens around a serpentine lake. Lastly, Capability Brown rebuilt the house and re-located the Portsmouth road to give the estate more privacy.

The grotto by the lake

Charlotte and Leopold both loved Claremont and its gardens. They built a camellia greenhouse and planned a tea house with views over the lake. There is a belvedere tower from which you can see London and Windsor Castle on a clear day; a grotto; a small pavilion on the island in the lake; a bowling green; a skittle alley; and lots of winding walks leading to unexpected vistas. A quote engraved on the back of one of the benches says it all: ‘constant and never-failing source of amusement. Princess Charlotte & Prince Leopold, 1817.’

Rhododendrons by the lake

Alas, Charlotte had tragically little time to enjoy it. On 5^th November, 1817, after a fifty hour labour, she gave birth to a stillborn son and died the following day. The tea-house was never built and her sorrowing husband built a Gothic mausoleum on the spot. It was demolished in the 1920s and all that remains now is a slab of concrete on which is engraved: My Charlotte is gone. Prince Leopold

Elizabeth Hawksley

Claremont House is now a private girls' school but Claremont Landscape Garden is owned by the National Trust and well worth a visit. www.nationaltrust.org.uk/claremont 

A Most Unusual Palace

I had been meaning to visit Kew Palace for ages, ever since I saw a TV programme about its restoration, so a sunny June day was perfect to show it off in the setting of Kew Gardens which surround it.
The brick house - it is far too domestic and small-scale to be thought of as a palace - was built in 1631 by a Flemish merchant at a time when many wealthy men had a Thames-side home to escape from the dirt and noise of London. It was built on the foundations of an Elizabethan mansion, possibly once owned by Robert Dudley.
Frederick, Prince of Wales and son of George II, built his own country retreat, the White House, almost opposite this old redbrick house - a good distance from the rest of the family who used Richmond Lodge as their retreat: he did not get on well with his siblings, it seems!
Frederick died in 1751, apparently as a result of an infection following a blow from a cricket ball - Wisden's Almanac cannot record many cricketing deaths, I imagine, and certainly no other royals! His son, shy George, succeeded his grandfather in 1760 and he and his wife Charlotte set about producing a large family - nine sons and six daughters. They used Richmond Lodge, but as the sons grew up the elder two, George (later Prince Regent and George IV) and Frederick (The Grand Old Duke of York of the nursery rhyme), went to live in the red brick house which became known as Kew Palace.
When the unfortunate king first fell victim, in 1788, to the "king's malady" - the little-understood porphyria - he was forced to stay at the White House then and again in 1801. It held such unpleasant memories for him that he had it demolished in 1802 once he recovered.

Then in 1804 he fell ill again and Kew Palace was the only sizeable building that afforded the necessary privacy and peace. It was renovated (it even had water closets installed, the one on the third floor is shown, left)  and the family used it extensively. In 1810 the king went into a severe decline from which he never recovered and the family, his unmarried daughters in particular, settled into a quiet domsticity that would not have been out of place for a middle class family of retiring habits.

The ground and first floors have been beautifully restored. The king's library, the dining room where he was tricked by his doctors into confinement in 1801 by the tale that he was to meet the queen at Kew, the queen's boudoir with its fashionable decor, the drawing room and the bedrooms of the queen and Princess Elizabeth are all perfectly in period but the third floor was abandoned in 1818 after the queen died at Kew and has been left conserved rather than restored so that the structure of the building can be seen. In many ways it is even more atmospheric and haunting for being so stark and it was here that the Princesses Augusta and Amelia spent their quiet and rather lonely years at Kew, both of them yearning to get married and escape.
Meanwhile their eldest brother George was launched on a career of excess and indiscretion that included a totally unacceptable and illegal marriage to Mrs Fitzherbert.
When George III died in 1820, and the Regent was finally monarch, Kew was far too humble and quiet to suit his tastes. The royal family never used it again and it fell into decline until restoration began in 1996.
Now it is a charming little palace, filled with ghosts and an air of quiet melancholy. Hanging in my writing studio I have a reproduction toile de jouy fabric, designed in the late 18thc, that shows George III and his family enjoying the rustic pleasures of life in the grounds at Kew: it is good to think that sometimes, despite everything, they were happy there.
Louise Allen

History Unveiled: Attic Sale at Chatsworth

C.S. Lewis had it right. As he shows in Narnia, cupboards are the most fascinating things. You never know what’s behind them.

That’s certainly true of an item for sale at Chatsworth, one of the estates that has so many resonances for Regency buffs. Not only is Chatsworth the supposed original model for Jane Austen’s Pemberley, but it was also the Derbyshire seat of one of London’s leaders of the ton and Empress of Fashion, Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, 1757-1806. Jane Austen wasn’t the only writer that found Chatsworth admirable, either. Some eighty years earlier, Daniel Defoe described it as “the most pleasant garden and most beautiful palace in the world”.

You may wonder what this has to do with cupboards. I should really say bookcases, because one very famous bookcase is for sale at Chatsworth. This was the bookcase through which Prince George, later to become Regent and then George IV. The mahogany bookcase had a secret door and was used to conceal another door behind it through which the prince gained access to his mistress/wife Maria Fitzherbert. The location of the bookcase? Devonshire House in Piccadilly, often called “The Lost Palace of London”. Obviously the Prince must have been a frequent visitor.

The Prince's passion for Mrs Fitzherbert was described in this manner: “He cried by the hour … he testified to the sincerity and violence of his passion and his despair by the most extravagant expressions and actions, rolling on the floor, striking his forehead, tearing his hair, falling into hysterics and swearing that he would abandon the country, forego the crown, sell his jewels and plate and scrape together a competence to fly with the object of his affections to America.”-- Lord Holland.

The last words call to mind another British Monarch, Edward the VIII, who also wanted to defy the Royal Marriages Act to marry his mistress, a divorcee and an American, but was forced to abdicate. The parallel is interesting, as both women had been married twice before.

Despite all his excesses, the Prince's passion for Mrs Fitzwilliam must have outdated their separation in 1810, because after the King's death on 26 June 1830, they found that he had kept all her letters. It makes for fascinating speculation to imagine how history would have been different if either the Prince’s marriage had been accepted as legal, or if he had abdicated as his descendent had. Would marriage to her have curbed some of his excesses?

The bookcase, which didn't have the curtains originally, was designed by Thomas Hope and made by Marsh and Titham. It was relegated to the nursery when it was moved from Devonshire House to Chatsworth. I wonder if any of the children ever discovered the secret door and speculated on who could have used it.

The secret bookcase/door is not the most expensive item on sale at Chatsworth. The honour belongs to a chimney marble piece of carved marble, one of the architectural fixtures designed by William Kent estimated at £200,000-£300,000. The chimney piece was taken from the saloon at Devonshire House where Georgiana held so many of her famous evenings and where mourners came to bid their last farewell to her after her death. Picture marble chimney piece. I can’t help thinking of Mr Collins in Pride and Prejudice when he raves about Lady Catherine’s chimney piece. Perhaps it, too, was designed by William Kent?

Other items for sale are chairs that belonged to Lady Georgiana and a snuffbox that features a miniature of Georgiana and her daughter based on the Joshua Reynolds painting that currently hangs in Chatsworth.

This fascinating auction is being held as we speak, from October 5th to 7th.

Meanwhile, I’ve decided that my next Regency or Jane Austen inspired novel will feature a bookcase similar to that belonging to the Regent.

Monica Fairview

The Inspiration for the Royal Pavilion?

Last weekend I was out walking in the Cotswolds and almost literally stumbled across Sezincote house and gardens. I had no idea that a house like this existed in the Gloucestershire countryside and thought at first that I was seeing things.

Colonel John Cockerell, a grandson of the nephew of Samuel Pepys, bought the Sezincote estate in 1795 when he returned from Bengal. He had been in the service of the East India Company and on his death in 1798 left the estate to his brother Charles. Charles Cockerell, created a baronet in 1809 and MP for Evesham, employed another brother, the magnificently named Samuel Pepys Cockerell to design him a house on the estate in the Indian manner. SP Cockerell was an architect of some standing, Surveyor to the East India Company and he worked on the design for Sezincote with the artist Thomas Daniell, who had spent ten years in India making aquatints, watercolours and oils of Indian buildings and landscapes. Daniell had an unparallelled knowledge of Indian architecture and at Sezincote he and Cockerell designed a house that on the outside at least was a mixture of Hindu and Islamic detail. The style was reminiscent of the reign of Akbar, the Mogul Emperor who ruled from 1556 to 1605. Akbar deliberately mixed the Hindu and Islamic elements in architecture in an effort at cultural integration. Thus the pillars, the horizontal beams and the many depctions of the Lotus at Sezincote are inspired by Hindu design whilst the chattris (small minarets) and other elements are Islamic. The dome, a characteristic of Muslim architecture representing heart and heaven and a symbol of peace and tranquility, shows strong Persian influence.

Sezincote's charming and interesting architectural fusion is apparently not reflected inside the house, which is classical, or in the garden, which is decidely English. Although the house was designed and built for an eighteenth century generation who loved and respected Indian culture, by the time that it was completed in 1812, British attitudes towards India were changing. Nabobs such as the Cockerells were often looked down upon and were suspected of decadence. Some nineteenth century visitors to Sezincote described it as "grotesque."

Sezincote is, however, claimed to be the inspiration for the Prince Regent's Royal Pavilion at Brighton, though when I was reading about the house I could not find any information on how this happened. It is said that the Prince Regent chose an Indian style for its picturesque qualities and The Royal Pavilion is decorated in the chinoiserie style inside, of course, which is very different from both the Indian inspiration and the classical interior of Sezincote.

Sezincote opens to visitors in May and I shall definitely go back for a wander around the house and gardens and to marvel at this architectural jewel sitting in the Gloucestershire countryside!

The Prince Regent's priorities

Having completed and sent off my latest historical romance, Wild Justice, I’m now beginning research for my next book. It’s amazing how bits of really interesting information turn up in the most unlikely circumstances.
Two days ago was my Dad’s 93rd birthday and he decided to celebrate with a patio party for 28 guests. The average age was 80, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a more lively and talkative crowd. A large table under an enormous umbrella was loaded with food, and a bowl the size of a baby's bath brimmed with fruit punch spiced with strong cider, mint and six thinly-sliced oranges. There were a few bottles of wine as well.
An hour after the guests arrived later the noise was at pain level and all that was left on the table were a couple of paper plates and one wilted stick of celery. My father’s friends know how to enjoy themselves.
I spent an intriguing half hour talking to someone who recently retired from running a business designing and making medals for - among others - the Sultan of Oman. From him I learned that in 1804, while George 1V was still the Regent and Britain was fighting the French in the Napoleonic Wars, instead of channeling every penny he could lay his hands on into the war effort, the Regent was diverting considerable sums into having made the first silver-gilt wine labels in the world. All Europe’s other royalty used silver wine labels. Of the two images above, the left shows the wonderfully crafted style of the wine labels, and the right the warm tones of silver-gilt. Thirty-six of these labels form part of the silver-gilt Grand Service used at Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace.

Jane Jackson.