by Edna Healey
A Queen for All Seasons
Perhaps one of the greatest achievements of Queen Elizabeth IF’s reign has been that she has used the Palace as never before, opening it to many millions of people from all walks of life. In addition to the three garden parties a year, thousands more are received at investitures, official receptions and conferences. During the summer opening, up to seven thousand a day walk through the State Rooms and into the Palace gardens.
The Queen has allowed television cameras into Buckingham Palace, bringing it into millions of sitting rooms. Thanks to television, millions have been able to see The Queen in many of her different roles. She is seen driving out of the Palace gates in the State Coach, crowned and glittering in full regalia, for the State Opening of Parliament, or in evening dress, wearing dazzling tiara and jewels, at banquets and receptions at Buckingham Palace. She is seen at her desk, working at the red boxes of official documents, or with Prince Philip on ‘walkabouts’ in towns and villages at home and abroad. Now she appears, distressed, at the scene of such disasters as that at Aberfan; or radiant, with her family at christenings in the white and gold rooms of the Palace, or, with them, waving from the balcony to the crowds in the Mall. Now the camera catches her relaxed, in tweeds, walking her corgis in the Palace garden. Viewers have heard the bagpipes played at nine each morning under her Palace windows and remember pictures of Highland dancing at Balmoral and of The Queen in the tartan of her clan striding over the moors.
These glimpses, however, cannot convey the full extent of The Queen’s working life. Prime Ministers, visiting heads of state and all who work with her pay tribute to her dedication and sheer professionalism. The red boxes come to her daily wherever she may be, containing briefs for meetings or visits, reports from Parliament or abroad, and documents to be signed. The Queen deals with them promptly and thoroughly. Often, after a long day’s official work, she works on the boxes before going to bed.
*
In 1995, on the fiftieth anniversary of VE Day, the victory in Europe, once again thousands thronged the Mall to cheer The Queen, Prince Philip and the royal family as they made their traditional appearance. As wartime songs rang across the Park, there were many who remembered the courage of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, who had braved the bombs with the people of London. Viewers caught the unforgettable moment when Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, then ninety-five, gave her characteristic wave as she sang with the crowds the wartime song Wish me luck as you wave me goodbye’.
In August, on the fiftieth anniversary of VJ Day, the victory over Japan, there was a significant change. The Queen took the salute at the foot of the memorial to Queen Victoria; and Prince Philip joined the veterans of the war in the Far East for the march past The Queen, walking beside the daughter of the late Lord Mountbatten. He has never forgotten his service in the Far East, when he was second-in-command of the destroyer HMS Whelp, nor that he was with his uncle Lord Mountbatten for the signing of the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945.
The Coronation made Queen Elizabeth II a star on the world stage, but she has never played to the gallery. When her friends have encouraged her to smile more, she has replied that she smiles and smiles until her face aches, but that in repose her expression is naturally solemn. When deeply moved she can appear impassive. She remembers her grandfather King George V’s reply to the same criticism: ‘Sailors don’t smile on duty.’ So the radiance of her sudden unexpected smile is all the more dazzling.
Without seeking applause, The Queen has earned it. She has made remarkably few mistakes in her long reign. She has inspired the admiration even of staunch republicans, who concede that she is a hard-working professional. Even her one-time critic, Lord Altrincham, now John Grigg, could write with approval, ‘no breath of scandal has ever touched her … she behaves decently, because she is decent’.48
As for those who work for her, their praise is warm and unanimous. The late Sir Michael Adeane, her Private Secretary for nineteen years, described her to the present writer as ‘pure gold’. Others who have come to the Palace from the services or business declare that they have never met a more supportive boss or colleague. In times of crisis she is, they say, a rock, a ‘still centre’, in a turbulent world. For the royal Household, Buckingham Palace is, without question, ‘The Queen’s House’, in which they are proud to serve.
In the past Buckingham Palace has undergone many transformations, not always for the better. The modern challenge has been to organize efficiently a vast building that has so many different functions. The Palace has ‘19 state rooms, 52 bedrooms, 188 staff bedrooms, 92 offices and 78 bathrooms. Four hundred and fifty people work in the Palace and 40,000 are entertained there every year.’ On state occasions it is the setting for magnificent displays of traditional ritual, yet it has also to be the modern headquarters of the Head of State – now with a site on the Internet. It has to house treasures and be a family home; and it opens its doors to the public.
Throughout the ages it has been fiercely criticized by some for its architecture and cost. For long periods it was certainly underused, such as during George Ill’s illness, for example, and Queen Victoria’s widowhood. In the past it has been badly organized and slow to be reformed.
But the Palace has endured. Neither harsh words nor enemy bombs have destroyed it, because it has fulfilled a deep-seated need – to have a focus, above party politics, which can in time of crisis or celebration unite the nation. The importance of a focal point for the expression of national joy or grief was powerfully illustrated by the scenes outside the royal palaces after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. Vast seas of flowers surrounded the gates of Buckingham Palace, as well as those of Kensington Palace, as lines of mourners sought to share their sorrow. It is, too, the setting for honouring all kinds of people, from the simplest to the highest. An investiture at the Palace, conducted with time-honoured formality, means a great deal to the recipients. An invitation to one of the summer garden parties is a valued recognition of the service of a wide range of people from all over the country and the world. It would be difficult to find a better site for those occasions when there is a need to celebrate together. It has been a significant focal point over the years, when millions of people have lined the Mall to watch royal processions or crowded around Queen Victoria’s Memorial to cheer the royal family on the balcony.
Buckingham Palace has come to represent an important part of our history, in which not only kings and queens, but also architects and artists, craftsmen and women, have all had their roles. The knowledge of those deep roots brings a sense of stability and security in a changing world.
Notes
PROLOGUE
1. Gentleman’s Magazine, June 1863, vol. xxxiii, p. 311.
2. Horace Walpole, Letters, Clarendon Press, Oxford 1905.
CHAPTER ONE
1. It was removed by George III. Quoted Clifford Smith, Buckingham Palace, Country Life Ltd., 1931.
2. Walford, Edward, Old and New London., 8 vols., Cassell Peter & Galpin, London, 1897.
3. ibid.
4. See Bruce Graeme, The Story of Buckingham Palace, Hutchinson & Co., 1928.
5. ibid.
6. Quoted Clifford Smith, Buckingham Palace, from Charles Gatty, Mary Davies and The Manor of Ebury.
7. See Bruce Graeme, The Story of Buckingham Palace.
8. Sir Charles Sedley, The Mulberry Garden, 1675.
9. John Evelyn, Diary, vol. 2,10 May 1654, ed. William Brag, J. Dent & Sons, 1907.
10. Samuel Pepys, Diary, vol. 2, 5 April 1669, ed. H. Wheatley, 8 vols., G. Bell & Sons Ltd., London, 1924.
11. Samuel Pepys, Diary, vol. 2,10 July 1660.
12. John Evelyn, Diary, vol. 2, 29 March 1665.
13. Thomas Macaulay, History of England, ed. Henderson, Routledge, 1909.
14. Comte de Gramont, Memoirs, transl. Peter Quennell, London, 1930.
15. Samuel Pepys, Diary, vol. 2, 10 July 1666.
16. Samuel Pepys, Di
ary, vol. 2, 24 June 1667.
17. John Evelyn, Diary, vol. 2,1 August 1672.
18. John Evelyn, Diary, vol. 2, 6 November 1679.
19. John Evelyn, Diary, vol. 2, 26 October 1683.
20. John Evelyn, Diary, vol. 2,17 April 1673.
21. John Evelyn, Diary, vol. 2, 21 September 1674.
22. See Clifford Smith, Buckingham Palace.
23. John Dryden, The Poems of John Dryden, ed. James Kinsley, 4 vols., Clarendon Press, 1903–5.
24. Quoted Clifford Smith, Buckingham Palace, from the Surveyor General’s Report, 1698.
25. Thomas Macaulay, History of England.
26. ibid.
27. Quoted Clifford Smith, Buckingham Palace, from A New View of London, 1708.
28. John Sheffield, letter to Duke of Shrewsbury. Complete Works, 2 vols., 1740.
29. Quoted Clifford Smith, Buckingham Palace, from vol. 1, p. 117.
30. Horace Walpole, Letters, 8 vols., Clarendon Press, Oxford.
31. Alexander Pope, The Character of Katherine, late Duchess of Buckingham and Normanby, M. Cooper 1764.
32. B. M. Original Papers, vol. 1 1743–84 Folio 9; B. M. Original Papers, General Meeting, vol. 1., 2 April 1754, GM29.
CHAPTER TWO
1. It was removed by George III. Quoted Clifford Smith, Buckingham Palace, Country Life Ltd., 1931.
2. Horace Walpole, Letters, to Sir Horace Mann, British Envoy at Florence.
3. ibid.
4. Quoted E. S. Turner, The Court of St James, Michael Joseph, 1959, from Court & City Register.
5. The Diaries of Mrs Lybbe Powys, ed. E. J. Climenson, Longman, 1899.
6. Horace Walpole to Sir Horace Mann. Quoted Bruce Graeme, The Story of Buckingham Palace, Hutchinson & Co., 1928.
7. Duke of Buckingham, Letter to Duke of Shrewsbury, Works, vol. 2,1753.
8. See John Brooke, King George III, Constable, 1972.
9. Sir Joshua Reynolds, source unknown.
10. John Thomas Smith, Nollekens and His Times: the Life of the Sculptor Joseph Nollekens, Turnstile Press, 1949.
11. Quoted Clifford Smith, Buckingham Palace.
12. Megan Aldrich (ed.), The Craces, John Murray and Brighton Pavilion, 1990.
13. Quoted Clifford Smith, Buckingham Palace, from Whitley, ‘Artists and Their Friends in England 1700–1799’.
14. Quoted Clifford Smith, Buckingham Palace.
15. Sophie von la Roche, Sophie in London, transl. Clare Williams, Jonathan Cape, 1933.
16. Horace Walpole, letter to Sir Horace Mann, 1762. Quoted Clifford Smith, Buckingham Palace.
16. The Diaries of Mrs Lybbe Powys, March 23 and 27 1767, ed. E. J. Climenson, Longmans, 1899.
18. E. S. Turner, The Court of St James.
19. Mrs Charlotte Papendiek, Court and Private Life in the Time of Queen Charlotte, ed. Mrs Kernon Delves Broughton, Richard Bentley & Son, 1887.
20. Sophie von la Roche, Sophie in London.
21. J. T. Smith, Nollekens and His Times, 1949.
22. Mme D’Arblay, Diary and Correspondence of Fanny Burney, ed. G. F. Barrett, 6 vols., 1904.
23. Mrs Charlotte Papendiek, Court and Private Life in the Time of Queen Charlotte.
24. Mme D’Arblay, Diary and Correspondence of Fanny Burney.
25. London Chronicle, May 1764.
26. Journals of the House of Commons, 11 February 1780.
27. Nathaniel Wraxall, Historical Memoirs, ed. H. Wheatley, vol. ii, 1884.
28. Mrs Charlotte Papendiek, Court and Private Life in the Time of Queen Charlotte.
29. Mme D’Arblay, Diary and Correspondence of Fanny Burney.
30. Mrs Charlotte Papendiek, Court and Private Life in the Time of Queen Charlotte.
31. Gentleman’s Magazine, 1802.
32. William H. Pyne, A History of the Royal Residences, vol. 3, L. P., 1819.
33. Quoted Bruce Graeme, The Story of Buckingham Palace, Hutchinson and Co., 1928, from Holt’s Life of George III.
34. Letters of Princess Charlotte 1811–1817, ed. A. Aspinall, Home and van Thal, 1949.
35. Memoirs of Baron Stockmar by his Son, Baron E. von Stockmar, ed. F. Max Müller, 2 vols, Longmans, Green & Co., 1872.
36. Olwen Hedley, Queen Charlotte, John Murray, 1975.
37. Richard Rush, diary of 17 February 1818, Memoranda of a Resident at the Court of London, 1833.
38. Quoted Olwen Hedley, Queen Charlotte, from Mme D’Arblay (Fanny Burney), Diary and Correspondence of Fanny Burney.
39. ibid.
40. Princess Lieven, The Private Letters, John Murray, 1934.
CHAPTER THREE
1. King George IV to John Nash, quoted Clifford Smith, Buckingham Palace, Country Life Ltd, 1931.
2. Mrs Arbuthnot, The Journal of Mrs Arbuthnot, 1820–1832, 2 vols. Macmillan & Co., 1950.
3. Quoted John Summerson, The Life and Work of John Nash, Allen & Unwin. 1935
4. The Times, 23 January 1826.
5. Mrs Arbuthnot, The Journal of Mrs Arbuthnot.
6. John Nash to Sir John Soane, 18 September 1822, quoted John Summerson, The Life and Work of John Nash.
7. The Times, May 1825.
8. The Times, June 1825.
9. Quoted John Summerson, The Life and Work of John Nash.
10. The Literary Gazette, 4 September 1826.
11. Fraser’s Magazine, 1830.
12. John Summerson, The Life and Work of John Nash.
13. Professor Richardson, quoted Clifford Smith, Buckingham Palace.
14. John Summerson, The Life and Work of John Nash,
15. Quoted in Alison Kelly, Mrs Coade s Stone, Self Publishing Association Limited, 1990.
16. ‘Obituary of Mrs Coade, Inventor of Coade Stone’, Gentleman’s Magazine, 1821.
17. Alison Kelly, Mrs Coade’s Stone.
18. The Times, 10 March 1826.
19. The Times, 5 November 1827.
CHAPTER FOUR
1. Lord Holland, Holland House Diaries, ed. A. D. Kriegal, Routledge & Paul, 1977.
2. Report of House of Commons Select Committee, October 1831.
3. John Summerson, The Life and Work of John Nash, Allen & Unwin, 1935.
4. Lord Holland, Holland House Diaries.
5. Robert Huish, Memoirs of George IV, ed. Kelly, 2 vols., London, 1831.
6. Thomas Creevey, The Creevey Papers, 14 March 1831, ed. Sir Herbert Maxwell, John Murray, 1903.
7. Philip Ziegler, King William IV, Collins, 1971.
8. John Martin Robinson, Royal Palaces: Buckingham Palace, Michael Joseph, 1995.
9. Thomas Creevey, The Creevey Papers.
10. William Hazlitt, quoted Claire Tomalin, Mrs Jordan s Profession, Viking, 1994.
11. Lord Holland, Holland House Diaries.
CHAPTER FIVE
1. Quoted Bruce Graeme, The Story of Buckingham Palace, Hutchinson 8cCo., 1928.
2. Leaves from the Greville Diary, ed. Morrell, Eveleigh Nash & Grayson, 1929.
3. Memoirs of Baron Stockmar by his Son, Baron E. von Stockmar, ed. F. Max Miiller, 2 vols., Longmans, Green & Co., 1872.
4. Elizabeth Longford, Victoria R.I., Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1964.
5. Princess Lieven, The Private Letters, John Murray, 1934.
6. Lord Holland, Holland House Diaries, ed. A. D. Kriegal, Routledge & Paul, 1977.
7. Lord Holland, Holland House Diaries.
8. Michael Joyce, My Friend H:the Life of John Hobhouse, Lord Br ought on, John Murray, 1948.
9. Queen Victoria, Queen Victoria’s Letters: a Selection from Her Majesty’s Correspondence (see Bibliography).
10. Queen Victoria, 7 May 1839, Journal (see Bibliography).
11. Queen Victoria, 9 May 1839, Journal.
12. Queen Victoria, Letters.
13. Queen Victoria, 29 May 1839, The Girlhood, ed. Viscount Esher, 2 vols., John Murray, 1912.
14. ibid.
15. Baron Stockmar to Prince Albert, quoted Robert Rhodes-James, Albert, Prince Consort, Hamis
h Hamilton, 1983.
16. Baron Stockmar to Queen Victoria, Memoirs of Baron Stockmar by his Son, Baron E. von Stockmar.
17. ibid.
18. Dowager Duchess of Gotha, quoted Robert Rhodes-James, Albert, Prince Consort.
19. Louise, Duchess of Coburg, Prince Albert’s mother, June 1820, quoted Robert Rhodes-James, Albert, Prince Consort.
20. Quoted Robert Rhodes-James, Albert, Prince Consort.
21. Baron Stockmar to Prince Leopold, quoted ibid.
22. Queen Victoria, 18 May 1836, Journal.
23. Prince Albert to a friend, 1838, quoted Robert Rhodes-James, Albert, Prince Consort.
24. Prince Leopold to Baron Stockmar, quoted Robert Rhodes-James, Albert, Prince Consort.
25. Queen Victoria, 11 October 1839, Journal.
26. Queen Victoria, 15 October 1839, Journal.
27. Prince Albert to Baron Stockmar, 16 October 1839, Letters, ed. K. Jagow, John Murray, 1938.
28. Prince Albert to Baron Stockmar.
29. Queen Victoria, address to Privy Council, 23 November 1839. Quoted Elizabeth Longford, Victoria R.L
30. Queen Victoria to Prince Albert, quoted Elizabeth Longford, Victoria R.I.
31. Prince Albert to Duchess Caroline of Saxe-Gotha-Altenberg, 12 February 1841, Letters.
32. Quoted Bruce Graeme, The Story of Buckingham Palace.
33. Mendelssohn, Felix Bartholdy, to his mother, 9 July 1842, Letters 1833–1847, ed. Jacob, 1863.
34. Queen Victoria, 31 December 1843, Journal. Quoted Christopher Lloyd, The Royal Collection, Sinclair-Stevenson.
35. Queen Victoria, Letters. Quoted Elizabeth Longford, Victoria R.I.
36. Quoted Sir Oliver Millar, Victorian Pictures in the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen, Cambridge University Press, 1992.
37. ibid.
38. Memoirs of Baron Stockmar by his Son, Baron E. von Stockmar.
39. ibid.
40. ibid.
