Royal Interiors, Part II

[ajwatson82]

Hey all, was just wondering does anybody have any floor plans for Balmoral and Windsor Castle, I am working on a 3D project using Sweet house 3D, I am plaining to post the completed projects here when it all done .

Thanks for any help from anyone,
Cheers all !

[Lindelle]

They say that St James Palace is a maze of corridors and quite clumsy. Does anyone know of the corridor that is supoosed to connect St James and Clarence House?

[traditionalist]

Queen victoria in her sitting room at windsor castle with princess beatrice late 1890s

[traditionalist]

Our current Queen Elizabeth 11 in the same sitting room at windsor (obuiously the silk on the walls has changed and it is no way near as clutterd) with john howard in 1997

[CHRISinUSA]

They say that St James Palace is a maze of corridors and quite clumsy. Does anyone know of the corridor that is supoosed to connect St James and Clarence House?

After the death of George IV in 1830, the Duke of Clarence acceded to the Throne as William IV.  In start contrast to his late brother, William IV was quite informal and not at all extravagent, and preferred to remain living at Clarence House as King.  When the Houses of Parliament were destroyed by fire in 1834, William IV actually offered the new Buckingham Palace as a ready-made replacement (Parliament declined).

William IV's main concession to his new role as Sovereign was the addition of a corridor at first-floor level in Clarence House to connect with the State Apartments of St. James's Palace. I'm not sure exactly where it is located - but old floor plans I have seen show a couple of small closets or anterooms at the western end of the first floor State Apartments at St. James' Palace (along with a back staircase), right where the two building meet.  I'd imagine that's where the corridor was added - which would also be right behind (north) of the Prince of Wales' bedroom suite which faces south over the palace gardens and the Mall.

[Windsor]

Forgive me if this seems a strange question, but in thinking about the Queen's apartments in both Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle, does anyone know if they are similar layouts?  On this site I have seen floorplans for her rooms at Buckingham Palace, but do not recall seeing any for Windsor.  I would assume that the living arrangements are equally "grand."  Also, how many personal items (e.g. clothes, pictures, whatnot's) would the Queen have taken to Windsor when she essentially moved there on a permanent basis?  Perhaps she has duplicates of everything or so much of everything that this would not even be considered?

[Nikola]

Glamis Castle:

[Nikola]

Glamis Castle:

The Drawing Room


The Crypt

[Nikola]

Glamis Castle:

The Dining Room


The Queen's Mother Bedroom


The Chapel

[traditionalist]

Forgive me if this seems a strange question, but in thinking about the Queen's apartments in both Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle, does anyone know if they are similar layouts?  On this site I have seen floorplans for her rooms at Buckingham Palace, but do not recall seeing any for Windsor.  I would assume that the living arrangements are equally "grand."  Also, how many personal items (e.g. clothes, pictures, whatnot's) would the Queen have taken to Windsor when she essentially moved there on a permanent basis?  Perhaps she has duplicates of everything or so much of everything that this would not even be considered?

The Queens apartments at Windsor are actually very different to those in Buckingham Palace.
The 3 most private rooms at Windsor are a large beautifully decorated sitting room and a good sized bedroom decorated in pink satin and a boudoir and all 3 of those room are situated in Victoria tower one would have to pass from the grand corridor through the sovereigns staircase and through a lobby to get to these rooms so they are very private.

At Buckingham Palace the Queen has a sitting room with a large bow window which can be seen clearly when you look at the palace from the north side a large bedroom a dressing room an audience room and a private dining room. Her sitting room also doubles up as a study.
I haven't seen a picture of her sitting room, bedroom and dressing room at buckingham palace in this period but there are many photographs of these rooms in this thread showing how they were during the reign of Queen Victoria and later in the reign of Queen Mary as consort to George V.
The Queens apartments at Buckingham Palace are no way near as private as the busy kings corridor used much by staff runs down there fully length and pass prince Phillips rooms.

[Lindelle]

They say that St James Palace is a maze of corridors and quite clumsy. Does anyone know of the corridor that is supoosed to connect St James and Clarence House?

After the death of George IV in 1830, the Duke of Clarence acceded to the Throne as William IV.  In start contrast to his late brother, William IV was quite informal and not at all extravagent, and preferred to remain living at Clarence House as King.  When the Houses of Parliament were destroyed by fire in 1834, William IV actually offered the new Buckingham Palace as a ready-made replacement (Parliament declined).

William IV's main concession to his new role as Sovereign was the addition of a corridor at first-floor level in Clarence House to connect with the State Apartments of St. James's Palace. I'm not sure exactly where it is located - but old floor plans I have seen show a couple of small closets or anterooms at the western end of the first floor State Apartments at St. James' Palace (along with a back staircase), right where the two building meet.  I'd imagine that's where the corridor was added - which would also be right behind (north) of the Prince of Wales' bedroom suite which faces south over the palace gardens and the Mall.

Thanks Chris.
Do you happen to know where I could see those pics?

[Ridgeway]

A photograph of the Dinning Room at Clarence House. (Set out for a lunch engagement)

[CHRISinUSA]

Thanks Chris.Do you happen to know where I could see those pics?

They used to be somewhere on the forum, probably even earlier this thread  - I imagine they are still there (try using the search option at the top of your screen and search for floor plans in the Windsor threads), or just click backward on the threads to view earlier pages.

On the other subject - the private rooms at BP and Windsor - I concur with  Traditionalist..... although at BP I believe there are a few additional rooms in the north wing considered part of the private apartments  In addition to the Queen's Dining Room, Sitting Room, Bedroom and Dressing Room.  There are a few (3-4) smaller rooms at the very northwest corner of the palace (I believe the Sheraton Room is the name of one of them) that we rarely ever hear or see pictures about.  Not sure what those rooms are used for on a daily basis.

Windsor seems to give the royal couple much more privacy - which is probably one reason they prefer it so much.  I've always thought the private areas of BP were inadequate because of the "Private" corridors that run along them.  They seem far from private.  For some odd reason the Prime Minister's weekly route to the Queen's Audience Chamber is up the King's Staircase and down that private corridor past the doors to the Queen's bedroom, sitting room, dining room, etc.   Why he doesn't instead enter via the Grand Entrance and go up the Minister's Staircase to reach the audience room is beyond me.  Perhaps it's one of those archaic "special rights" afforded to the prime minister long ago that the court doesn't wish to dispense with?  If I were King and had to live at BP, I'd have blocked off both ends of that corridor long ago and granted access only to family and personal staff.  Everyone else could jolly well go around the south (household) corridor, or travel from east to west on a lower floor.

[Learning]

If I were King and had to live at BP, I'd have blocked off both ends of that corridor long ago and granted access only to family and personal staff.  Everyone else could jolly well go around the south (household) corridor, or travel from east to west on a lower floor.

Me, too.

But that raises a question: how much authority do the Royals have to alter or renovate the official residences? Can the Queen rearrange the furniture in her sitting room on her own initiative? What about the furniture in a state room? Could they close a corridor as you suggest or do they have to apply to the Royal Household Property Agency? I suppose financing the changes would be an issue.

[Naslednik Norvezhskiy]

Can the Queen rearrange the furniture in her sitting room on her own initiative?

Lol, is your question serious? I think even the last Merovingians wielded that much power, even with the real bosses, the Carolingians, being majordomos! Haha, that's probably how Late Merovingians France was like: The butler ruled the kingdom while the king rearranged his furniture.

What about the furniture in a state room? Could they close a corridor as you suggest or do they have to apply to the Royal Household Property Agency? I suppose financing the changes would be an issue.

I would guess that the important power that be to be consulted or at least notified is the one responsible for the cataloguing and conservation of the historical furniture. They need to keep track of what is where and make sure nothing disappears, since the palace in addition to being a home and a workplace essentially is a museum.