Royal Interiors, Part II

[PAVLOV]

I dont think you willl find anything. Gatcombe Park was decorated in the 70's, after the Queen Bought it for her, and her then husband Mark Phillips.
 

[CHRISinUSA]

Spartan is what I expect of Anne's taste. I guess apart from Prince Charles, the rest of the family did not care a toss about interior decoration. Princess Margaret & The Queen Mum used to be the one who cared about this sort of thing. Another person would be Viscount Linley (who studied cabinet making at the Coltwords) and of course Prince & Princess Michael of Kent.

Somewhere earlier on this thread is a photo / discussion of Princess Michael of Kent's sitting room at Kensington Palace.  It could be kindly described as "late Victorian / early Edwardian", and bluntly described as "cram as many objects as possible into a room."

[Eric_Lowe]

Very much the style of "clutter" favoured by the late Queen Alexandra.

[Robert_Hall]

Yes, Eric & Chris, but Queen/Empress  Alexandra's "clutter"  did include lots of Faberge! Especially the Sandringham animals and loads of picture frames.  Otherwise, I find the  crammed environment  heavy & dark. It must have been quite uncomfortable, considering the  way they dressed in those days.

[CHRISinUSA]

   Quite true Robert, I can probably tolerate clutter a bit more when we're talking Faberge!   In PMoK's case, however, the objects in question were hundreds - if not thousands - of books stacked several layers high, overwhelming every flat surface in her sitting room.  Just looking at the picture gave me claustrophobia.

[Eric_Lowe]

Indeed. It was noted that QA starting to give away things in her old age from her "collection". Perfect strangers were given junk or Faberge depending on her mood...

[Robert_Hall]

I recall pictures of Princess Michael's  loosely called "decorating skills" when the  country house went up for sale.  "jumble sale" -or garage sale [for Americans] seemed appropriate.
 And Eric, remember Prince Andrew was instrumental in saving many precious objects  from the Windsor fire.
 I am no great fan of the Windsors [except the Queen, of course] but I think they appreciate what is in their care  as the national patrimony.
 As for Princess Anne, she does seem rather frugal in her tastes. I know of no pictures of her horse farm mansion.

[Eric_Lowe]

Indeed. No critizism of the RF on their preserving their heritage. However indiviual taste is quite another. Prince Charles had a luxurious hand in redecorating Clarence House for himself and his family using public money, the result was not universal approval.

[CHRISinUSA]

Not that I am keen to defend the Prince of Wales' spending habits, but as far as who paid for what for Clarence House - according to official Parliamentary records (Hansard's Debate June 2003), £ 3.2 million of public money was spent on restoring that building.  This was met from the regular Property Services Grant, meaning that no EXTRA public funds were provided (just that any money spent on CH wasn't available for projects at other royal properties that year).

The Prince of Wales personally paid £ 1.5 million for interior decoration of the rooms occupied by himself, Camilla and his sons.  £ 373,000 of public money was spent on interior decoration, but for staff and office areas. 

Granted, Charles gets the daily benefit of that expenditure because he gets to live in a nice place, but when you look at where the public money actually went (below), some of the media reports on this topic were a bit exaggerated.  Parliamentary records show that aside from its offices and staff areas, there are 16 main rooms in Clarence House.  5 are ground floor reception rooms, which leaves 5-6 rooms on the 1st floor for Charles and Camiilla's private use, and another 5-6 on the 2nd floor for William and Harry.  That's hardly extreme.

Work carried out   Total cost (£ thousand)
General builders work   445
Mechanical services and plumbing   428
Electrical services   410
Internal decoration   373
Specialist finishes    250
Fire protection   150
Asbestos removal   110
Catering equipment   96
Scaffolding—Internal and external   85
Carpentry   80
Service lift and shaft   72
Removal of redundant services   64
External decoration   60
Window refurbishment   54
Cleaning and repairs   24
Structural steelwork   19
Replacement of roof lights   13
Total of redecoration and refurbishment works   2,733
Construction manager's fees, services and site facilities relating to this work   512
Total   3,245

[Eric_Lowe]

I see...That is why I said the thing did not look good for him due to reports. Also they might have a discount for royals on the project ? I know some renovation work is needed beause since the Queen Mum lived there, there has been none.

[Windsor]

I am very curious as to the layout of the upper floors of Clarence House.  Based on the previous post, if there are only 5 or 6 principal rooms on each of the upper floors it is quite easy to imagine that perhaps the layout is similar to that of the White House in the US with a large, open central hall/living area with rooms opening off it on each floor.  Perhaps?  While Clarence House is undeniably a lovely house, it is understandable why the Queen Mother did not want to move there when leaving Buckingham Palace.  Personally, I would think that something more grand could have been managed!

[Eric_Lowe]

I think it was the memories that she shared with her "darling Bertie" that made the transition so difficult. Clarence House was the residence of Elisabeth & Philip before the death of the King.

[CHRISinUSA]

As quoted from a biography about her elsewhere on this thread, the Queen Mother supposedly once referred to Clarence House as "that horrid little house."  That says it all......

The ground floor is arranged like a capital L.  At the top of the L being the Dining Room, then the Library, then the Morning Room at the bottom left corner.  The Main Corridor or Hall runs up and down along those rooms.  Along the bottom of the L (facing the garden) is the Entrance Hall, Lancaster Room and finally Garden Room.  The Horse Corridor runs behind / above those rooms.  There are also a few smaller ancillary rooms off both corridors (overlooking the palace's interior courtyards).

I've never seen a floorplan of the house's upper levels, but from various pictures I've seen and things I've read, I can somewhat piece together how the 1st Floor (2nd floor for us Americans) is laid out.  Here's what I think:  At the top of the L (above the Dining Room and Library) is a large Drawing Room (I once saw an old photo shoot of the QM and Margaret taken in there, and it looked like a double room, with the two sections separated by columns).  At the bottom of the L  (above the Morning Room) is the private sitting room (it was Princess Elizabeth's during her occupancy, probably Charles' now).  Along the bottom of the L (above the Lancaster Room and Morning Room) must be Charles' bedroom, dressing room and bath (those spaces overlook the garden, and the principal bedroom of the house almost certainly would).  Before their marriage Charles' spokesman (somewhat surprisingly) confirmed that Camilla had been given a bedroom and bath adjoining Charles'.  I can only imagine those must lie above the ancillary rooms facing the courtyards, but that's just a guess.

[ashdean]

Indeed. No critizism of the RF on their preserving their heritage. However indiviual taste is quite another. Prince Charles had a luxurious hand in redecorating Clarence House for himself and his family using public money, the result was not universal approval.

I have been lucky enough to visit the public rooms of Clarence House on several occasions and find them very tastefully done with a certain homage too to the late Queen Mother..

[Eric_Lowe]

I think the cost from the usage of public money that was the problem as it was blow up in the British press. I did credit Prince Charles was the few members of the Royal Family who cared about taste (he has excellent taste). Anyway, I am sure you did not see Clarence House during the period when the Queen Mother was in residence. I am sure Prince Charles injected hios taste into his own home, not only as a memorial to his grandmother.