Personal mementos of Nelson and his lover, Lady Emma Hamilton, wife of a British diplomat, are exhibited, including Nelson's pigtail, snipped from his hair at death and later presented to Lady Hamilton. The Baroque-styled Painted Hall was designed by Christopher Wren, the architect of St. Paul's Cathedral, and painted by James Thornhill, who completed his masterpiece in 1726 after 19 years of work. Wren's Chapel was destroyed by fire in 1776 and rebuilt in a Rococo style with a Benjamin West painting of a shipwrecked St. Paul on Malta dominating behind the altar. The attempted assassination scene in London was filmed on campus. While all museums require bag searches, expect increased security checks with requests for photo identification here because the college trains mid-career naval officers in the country's nuclear power program and because prominent guests appear at state dinners.
Admission is free.
Britain standing alone for freedom. The great city lived on. The rooms appear more as if the chaps just step out for their afternoon tea. The room is laid out as it was at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, October 15, 1940. The evening before bombs damaged Number 10 Downing Street, home of the prime minister.