Royal Interiors

Very interesting the photo with QV's private sitting room in Windsor Castle. Hope you have a larger version of the photo Thank you. Could you tell us the source?

Many thanks to all of you who posted these photos.  This has been a fabulous tour from this side of the Pond; and Buckingham Palace seems to actually need a staff of 300 to manage its 770 rooms, with all this dusting that has to be continuously kept up. Some rooms are gorgeous; some private areas are best hidden. 

I guess what comes up for me is Conservation in a high-maintenance environment.  Buck House serves as Hotel & Conference Center; Museum and private Apartments, all together needing a Surveillance and Security system, top drawer.  I know from the financial reports, things have been done in certain ways for a long, long time; and Change often creates more problems than it solves.  I think I'd place a five-star hotel manager; a Museum-curator and a Green Construction Company on retainer as consultants, consolidating and isolating functions; with Staffing being promised transfers-at-will.  This is quite an edifice to keep up, actually.   Its stone walls hold back pollution and noise; the Royal Family is well situated, and the hope is they can share their situation with civil society positively.

Thank you again for having this very instructive and fascinating section.

EEWC

Queen Victoria's Private Sitting Room
http://images.google.com/hosted/life/f?q=windsor+castle+source:life&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dwindsor%2Bcastle%2Bsource:life%26ndsp%3D18%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26start%3D108&imgurl=97b36e495117f9a0

and Audience Room in Windsor Castle
http://images.google.com/hosted/life/f?q=windsor+castle+source:life&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dwindsor%2Bcastle%2Bsource:life%26ndsp%3D18%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26start%3D108&imgurl=81f915a91368ca29

Source: Life Image Collection

Those are some of the best enlarged photos I’ve seen. Simply spectacular!

Fabulous photos.  Yes, Victoria was known for her clutter; and that tradition carries on.

When my computer gets fixed, I want to see what I can do to bring up more details in these photos; but not now.  Crash, crash.

The rest of these are off the Royal site; they appear much more clearly here where they can be enlarged somewhat.

I like historic photos; and a great deal of history is encompassed in those Palace souvenirs and paintings.

EEWC

Queen Victoria's Private Sitting Room and Audience Room in Windsor Castle in the 1890s

In the top photo you can see the large painting is Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll. In the bottom photo, I believe the portraits are of her cousins, the children of Leopold I of Belgium.

Wow.  You really know this family well, well over a hundred and fifty years ago. 

I find that absolutely awesome!

EEWC

I read recently that Bagshot Park was the home of the Duke of Connaught, up until 1944, I think. He also lived in Clarence House. Does this mean that Bagshot Park has been owned by the Crown all this time ?

Yes, it has always been owned by the Crown Estate.

The original Bagshot Lodge was built between 1631 and 1633, one of a series of small lodges designed for King Charles I by Inigo Jones.  It was remodelled between 1766 and 1772 for George Keppel, the 3rd Earl of Albemarle.  In 1798 it was again remodelled for the Duke of Clarence (later King William IV), who lived there until 1816.  A later resident was Prince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester, nephew of King George III; his widow, Princess Mary, daughter of King George III, continued to live there after his death until she moved out in 1847.  The original house was demolished in 1877-78. 

A new building with 120 rooms was built in 1879 by Queen Victoria for her son Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn. The Duke died at Bagshot Park in 1942.  The house thereafter served as regimental headquarters and depot of the Royal Army Chaplains' Department.  They vacated the building shortly before the Earl and Countess of Wessex took over the tenancy from the Crown.

here is a link to a black and white photograph of the ballroom annex at buckingham palace.
i think it is also called ballroom gallery (not to be confused with the east gallery)
the ballroom annex is the room which is next to the ballroom on the south side.
it is a long relatively narrow room but it looks beautiful.
http://viewfinder.english-heritage.org.uk/search/reference.aspx?uid=79488&index=12&mainQuery=new%20gallery&searchType=all&form=home

hanks!  I've never seen a photo of that space before!  If I'm not mistaken, that's the gallery which extends the length of the ballroom's south outer wall, and which almost appears to be "sticking out" of the end of the palace's principal floor in aerial photos.  From video I've seen of investitures, I believe honors receipients line up in this gallery before entering the Ballroom individually to receive their honors from the Queen. 

I wonder if, during banquets or balls, this space is used primarily as a staging area by servants, or if it serves more as an anteroom for guests?  From the floorplans I have, it doesn't appear that this gallery connects to anything except the Ballroom at either end (no staircases or other rooms).

the website that that link takes you has some wonderful pictures of the state apartments in buckingham palace during victorias reign.
they are virtually the same as they are today but there are some notable differences.
obuiously the beautiful roof in the picture gallery has been repleaced with the one we know today.
but in the the blue and green drawing rooms you will see that in the victorian era there were 6 identical chandeliers hanging in the blue drawing room compared to only 4 today (id love to know what they did with the two that were removed)
and also in the green drawing room today there are 4 chandeliers but at one time there were 5
the room had the 4 that are currently in there today but there was also a gigantic one in the middle of the ceiling that looked bigger than the main one in the white drawing room.

the blue drawing room in victorias reign
http://viewfinder.english-heritage.org.uk/search/reference.aspx?uid=125898&index=0&mainQuery=blue%20drawing%20room&searchType=all&form=home

the ballroom in victorias reign.
i think edward v11 was mistaken when he took on redecorating the palace.
this photo showing the ballroom in victorias reign really shows the beauty of the room.
http://viewfinder.english-heritage.org.uk/search/reference.aspx?uid=125896&index=0&mainQuery=st%20james%20palace&searchType=all&form=home

the east front of buckingham palace in queen victorias reign.
it was refaced to its very famous present look in 1913 by sir aston webb

http://viewfinder.english-heritage.org.uk/search/reference.aspx?uid=56434&index=60&mainQuery=buckingham%20palace%20&searchType=all&form=home