Royal Interiors, Part II

[Nikola]

More details of the carpet:

[Margot]

I must admit it is a rather lovely carpet, but I really do not see it as being the most practical colour. The base colour is rather pale and will no doubt require shampooing rather often to make sure if doesn't turn grey or dirty creamy sepia tinged from countless foot falls, and think of all those receptions where footballers and their WAGS might be allowed in just to demonstrate how inclusive and 'with it' the monarchy is! God forbid the idea of wine slops! Yikes! Anyway I do like the carpet and wonder whether they will change that pink wall paper now or whether they will get another 30 years use out of it? I thought I read somewhere that someone had noticed water staining on the flock paper recently!

[Nikola]

Good view on The Room 1844 at Buckingham palace:

http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/microsites/thequeensyear/event.asp?id=21

And The Ballroom:

http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/microsites/thequeensyear/event.asp?id=23

[CHRISinUSA]

If you scan a selection from the Royal Insight's Gallery - which most every month includes photos of the Queen receiving various ambassador, high commissioners and other dignitaries -  you'll notice that sometimes Her Majesty faces North as the guest enters from the Principal Corridor, whilst other times she faces South as guests enter from the opposite direction.  I've no idea if the visitor's path is determined by their rank or position , or by nothing more than variety, but I have noticed it routinely.

When the queen receiving guests at Room 1844 she faces South, and when her majesty receiving guests at Audience Room she faces North. I'm sure that all guests enters in the Audience Room from north door.
[/quote]

   I admit error; I went back to some of the pictures I referenced, and now see that you are right about this Nikola.  I had never noticed before that when the Queen faces South, she is definitely in a different room than her Audience Chamber (the 1844 room you say). 

Still, I'm confused by why the palace would use this route to the Audience Chamber?  I mean, up the King's Staircase, and down the Principal Corridor past the Queen's bedroom door!  Why on earth wouldn't they instead have ambassadors and such enter via the Minister's Staircase and use the State Apartment Lobby approach?  Seems more logical, more formal, and avoids unnecessary people in the Queen's private apartments.
[/quote]

I've noticed that in recent pictures on the monarch's website, HM The Queen is now holding audiences with newly appointed ambassadors and high commissioners in the White Drawing Room.  Most earlier photos show that it has been the Queen's practice to hold such audiences in either her Audience Chamber on the State Floor, or the 1844 Room on the Ground Floor. By chance, does anyone know if the Audience Chamber or 1844 Room are perhaps being remodeled? 

[architect]

Attached is a link to a photo at Getty Images (http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/106106042/AFP) of Qatar's Emir in a Drawing Room prior to the recent State Banquet at Windsor.  Can anyone tell me if this is the Drawing Room of main Guest Suite for visiting Dignitaries - the one directly above the King George IV Gateway and on axis with the Long Walk?  From old photos and floor plans I have it appears to be so although the interior decoration has changed greatly. 

[CHRISinUSA]

I suspect you are correct Architect, I can't imagine what other room that would be.  It's clearly not one of the large, lavish state rooms in the north block, nor the equally large, lavish semi-state rooms in the east wing.  It therefore must be one of the rooms in the apartments reserved for principal guests (which as you states are those directly above the George IV Gate). 

If I'm not mistaken, my official Windsor guide book said that when foreign heads of state are staying at Windsor, they are often given use of the original Queen's Apartments for receiving official guests like the Prime Minister, Leader of the Opposition, etc.).  Those rooms include the Queen's Presence Chamber, Audience Chamber, Ballroom and Drawing Room.

But in this case the audience with the Leader of the Opposition was taking place immediately before the State Banquet.  Since the State Apartments were probably still being prepared for the banquet, it makes sense for the audience to have been moved to the Guest Apartments in the south wing.

As a side note, IMO the room in the photo looks a bit too cramped and not very well-decorated to be the Drawing Room in a royal palace's principal guest apartment.  I could forgive the small size (it is after all in an ancient castle), but the decor reminds me of my own grandmother's living room.

[architect]

Chris - thanks for the input.  The old photos I mentioned are in a book titled "For The King's Pleasure" by Hugh Roberts.  The book details the redecoration of George IV's private apartments at Windsor as well as the rooms used for Visitors towards the South.  There are a number of old photos that show this particular room as well as a very detailed description of the furnishings purchased or used during the redecoration.  The wainscoting and the fireplace appear to be the only surviving decoration.  Originally there were beautiful wall hangings on either side of the fireplace as well as very formal looking furniture and draperies.  I agree with your assessment of the current decoration, in particular that terrible 1970's looking coffee table. 

[Ridgeway]

A Painting by Will Topley of The Prince of Wale's Private Sitting Room at Clarence House



A Painting by Will Topley of The Duchess of Cornwall's Private Sitting Room at Clarence House



More info about artist at http://www.willtopley.com/Clarence/Clarence.html

[CHRISinUSA]

Fantastic pictures Ridgeway, thank you.  That's the first time I've seen images of either room, and the only other first floor rooms (2nd floor for us Americans) I've seen at Clarence House were old photographs of the big double drawing room when the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret were still both in residence.

So now we have a somewhat better idea of the first floor layout.  I knew that double drawing room is located directly above the Dining Room and Library, facing west.  Adjacent to that (in the southwest corner of the house above the Morning Room) is the Prince of Wales' private sitting room.  And now we can see that the Duchess' private sitting room (with the bay window) is above the Lancaster Room and overlooking the garden.

So now I wonder what is behind that round window between the two private sitting rooms, directly above the main doors and Portico roof?  It could either be the termination of the first floor hall running above the Main Corridor below, or it could be perhaps the Prince of Wales' Study, or a private dining room?

It still seems likely to me that the Prince of Wales' Bedroom suite would be the set of triple windows overlooking the garden (and above the Morning room), since the principal bedroom of a house like this must certainly face a garden.  I also wonder what the Duchess' sitting room would have been during the Queen Mother's residence (since her sitting room is the one in the corner now used by her grandson)? 

And finally, according to newspaper reports at the time Camilla moved into Clarence House, there were "several rooms prepared for her occupancy" which seemed to be code for "she has her own bedroom and / or dressing room."  Where would those rooms be located?  If I have the layout correct, the only space left unaccounted for on the first floor would be directly above the pair of small service rooms / offices that are across the Main Corridor from the Dining Room.  Those would face an odd-shaped courtyard on the inner side of the palace.

[Ridgeway]

The floor in question at CH remains a total mistery to me as well. I agree with you CHRISinUSA,that the double drawing room is above the dinning room/library. and your correct in thinking the picture i posted (the princes private sitting room) is above the morning room, The room is very similar to the morning room in size, and it has the one large window facing The Mall and three slimmer windows facing west.

Now looking at the pictures, it looks like the prince uses his private sitting room like a study as well (with the large desk playing centre stage), a bit like what The Queen does in BP so i would be surprised if he has a separate study. I thought the round window room, above the portico could be the prince's bedroom, Its a very private room as the portico hides it away and the prince often has tall flowers growing above it, but you mentioned something I’ve never thought about, which is a hallway window, which actually sounds more realistic otherwise it would be a very dark corridor without any natural light. If that’s the case, The Prince's private sitting room would be isolated as its a corner room.

an older picture of that room when the Queen Mother had it, which I’ve posted below, and when the Queen used it, shows there are two doors, one i assume leads into the corridor and another facing towards the double drawing room, so perhaps the prince's bedroom faces west and is above the library, just before you get to the double drawing room (only a suggestion).

from the picture of the Duchess's sitting room, I would have thought one of the doors (either right or more likely the left) leads into the duchess's bedroom, so that would mean it was above the Garden room. after all these rooms are the private rooms so it’s likely they directly lead off to their “masters” bedroom.

The sitting room, in the Queen Mother's day (The two door's)

the sitting room in Princess Elizbaeth's (The Queen) day

You can see from that picture that the ceiling has never changed.

[Eddie_uk]

I think they are beautiful rooms.

Aren't fireplaces a lovely feature? They really make any room!

[Eric_Lowe]

I think photos of the rooms were featured in a magazine.

[CHRISinUSA]

Ridgeway - I am 99.9% sure there are no bedrooms on the west facade sequence of rooms.  It goes Morning Room, Library and Dining Room on the main floor, and above are Charles' Sitting Room and the double Drawing Room.

Which leaves us with the south sequence facing the mall.  I agree with you that Charles' Sitting Room appears to double as his study (I hadn't noticed the desk until you pointed it out).  But I don't think the round window above the portico is the master bedroom.  I'm still quite sure that is above the Morning Room - actually there are probably 2 rooms above the quite-large Morning Room:  Charles' bedroom and his dressing room.

One possibility would be (left to right), Charles' Sitting Room, Camilla's Dressing Room (above portico), Camilla's Sitting Room, then the Master bedroom and Charles' Dressing Room (not sure which of those would come first). 
If Charles and Camilla share a bedroom here, that would explain all the key rooms. 

Makes me wonder though - is there a private dining room on this floor?  I can't imagine Charles and Camilla take all meals in the large Dining Room downstairs (especially when it's just the two of them).  Maybe there is a small table in that big drawing room which is used for private meals.  Or - maybe one of the ancillary rooms across the hall are used for breakfasts / lunches.

Of course - once we figure all this out, there's the matter of the Second Floor, which contains the private rooms of the two princes.  Obviously the floor plan is similar on all levels, but wonder what the sequence of rooms is up there?

[Learning]

Great photos. I, too, like fireplaces. Glad to see Charles has not caved in to the big screen TV craze. Now, I wonder what William and Harry's rooms are like? They have their own apartments now at St. James, right?

[CHRISinUSA]

That's a funny thought, I can't imagine Charles decorating any room around a massive flat-screen TV.  I would think that would offend his sensibilities to the very core. 

On the other hand, Camilla seems a bit more relaxed, and it wouldn't surprise me to find out that the Chinese cabinet in her sitting room hides a television!  It seems perfectly positioned to watch television from the sofas or armchairs.

Yes, after their mother's death William and Harry shared apartments on the second floor of Clarence House above the private rooms of Charles and Camilla.  I'm sure there was quite a large flatscreen TV up there!

Hard to say if the two princes still regularly use those rooms now that they are both grown - I've read that Harry has "unofficial" use of a few rooms at KP when he is in London - and William seems to already have several homes (the house he's presently renting in Wales and a lodge near Birkhall to name two).