BUCKINGHAM PALACE - May ‘97 British Heritage Feature

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Only in the latter part of her reign did Queen Victoria make occasional appearances at the Palace, notably for her two Jubilees in 1887 and 1897. Princess Alice (Countess of Athlone) appeared on the balcony both in 1887 for Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee and again in 1977 for the present Queen’s Silver Jubilee. Alice, Queen Victoria’s granddaughter, was too young to take part in the 1887 procession, but not too old to do so in 1977.

During Victoria’s absence, the Palace sometimes housed foreign dignitaries. In 1873, Nassered-Din, Shah of Persia, stayed there. His Imperial Majesty had unconventional personal habits: eschewing the dining-room table, he ate roast lamb straight from the floor; and he once organized a boxing match in the Palace gardens. It is even said that the bones of one of his staff, executed with a bowstring, lie beneath the immaculate lawn.

During Edward VII’s reign, the Palace provided the setting for great balls and evening courts, though the King called it ‘the Sepulchre.’ Sir Compton Mackenzie noted: ‘It was not until April 1902 that the Palace was ready for the residence of the King and Queen and even now we may reflect with awe on the perfume of that first cigar lighted in what had been Queen Victoria’s private apartments’.

George V and Queen Mary made it very much their home, adding a new domestic touch. The First World War overshadowed the early years of their reign, but later Queen Mary, one of the Palace’s great benefactors, undertook a considerable reorganization of the pictures and collections of china, reuniting separated pieces and making the Picture Gallery less crowded and easier to enjoy. George V spent many happy hours in the Stamp Room, and by 1936, the King had amassed a collection of 250,000 stamps in 325 large volumes.

Not all monarchs felt such affection for Buckingham Palace. Edward VIII hated the place and spent only a few nights there during his short reign. Nor was each stay without incident. George VI made it his headquarters during the Second World War, and it suffered bomb damage on more than one occasion. At the end of the War, the Palace played a part in the Nation’s grateful celebrations, when, symbolically, the Royal Family gathered together on the balcony with Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister who had led the Nation during this traumatic period in history.

Since 1952 Buckingham Palace has been The Queen’s working home. Visitors once could enter the Palace only by invitation, but this has changed somewhat during the present reign. The Royal Mews in Buckingham Palace Road opens its doors to visitors, who can see The Queen’s carriages, horses, and the stables and Riding School, which are an essential part of daily life for this department of the Royal Household. The Queen’s Gallery (on the site of a chapel destroyed by German bombs) opened in 1962 and has exhibited a succession of treasures from the Royal Collection.

The Queen also opened the State Rooms to visitors in the summer of 1993. In November of the previous year, fire badly damaged Windsor Castle, and though The Queen bore no official responsibility to pay for the repairs, she decided that one Royal residence should come to the assistance of another. Each summer when the Royal Family is at Balmoral, Buckingham Palace admits the public in an effort to raise 70 per cent of the money needed to repair the castle.

Visitors see the State Rooms where the Royal Family gathered for state banquets and family christenings; the settings for some of Cecil Beaton’s fine portraits of The Queen, The Queen Mother, and Princess Margaret; and the Palace’s extensive lawns, so reminiscent of the evening when, in 1762, Queen Charlotte had the entire grounds lit by thousands of coloured lamps and led King George III to the window to enjoy the full glory of his new home.

The Palace remains a private home to the Royal Family, but it is also a national treasure, a potent symbol to the British people of their own strength, continuity, and tradition. It is a highly visible part of British heritage just as the White House is a vital part of America’s historic fabric. It was no accident that the Palace became a target for German bombs; if it had been destroyed, the Nation would have been dealt a heavy moral blow. Fortunately for us, it survived to open its doors on another era.

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