HM Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother (1900-2002) - The Royal Forums HM Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother (1900-2002) HM Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother (1900-2002) Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Attached Images Posts: 754 Clarence House to open to public The Queen Mother&#39;s former home Clarence House will open to the public this summer for the first time. The house, near Buckingham Palace, was the Queen Mother&#39;s home from 1953 until her death last year. It is soon to become the London residence of her favourite grandson Prince Charles and his sons Princes William and Harry, who currently live next door in St James&#39;s Palace. Their relatively cramped living space, York House, is expected to be converted into offices. Clarence House, off The Mall, is undergoing extensive refurbishment and redecoration under the direction of the Prince of Wales&#39;s interior designer, Robert Kime. Grand design William, who will be 21 in June, and 18-year-old Harry have designed their own rooms.

The taxpayer is paying for an estimated ï¿½4.5m structural work on the building, while Prince Charles is footing the bill for other work. The house will be open to the public from 6 August to 17 October. Visitors will be given a guided tour of five ground-floor rooms where Charles will receive VIPs. Tickets will cost ï¿½5 for adults, and ï¿½3 children under 17. Children under five will be admitted free. Clarence House was built by John Nash between 1825 and 1828 for William, Duke of Clarence, later William IV, who lived there from 1830 until 1837. It has since been altered and enlarged twice and needed extensive restoration work following bomb damage during World War II. In 1942 the building became the headquarters of the Red Cross and St John Ambulance Brigade. Three of its original storeys remain, along with several mantelpieces and ceilings from the early 19th century. The grand design of Clarence House has made it a favourite home for successive generations of senior royals.

Following its post-war renovation, Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh lived there after their marriage until her accession as Queen Elizabeth II in 1952. Memories Prince Charles himself lived there until he was three years old. A year later the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret moved in, although Margaret left when she married Anthony Armstrong-Jones in 1960. The years that followed saw the Queen Mother move many pieces from her private art collection into Clarence House. It contains many other memories of her long life and was among the four homes used by her. In Scotland she was a frequent visitor to Birkhall, on the Balmoral Estate, and also the Castle of Mey in Caithness. She died at her Windsor residence, the Royal Lodge, on 30 March, 2002. __________________ __________________ Women have served all these centuries as looking-glasses possessing the magic and delicious power of reflecting the figure of man at twice its natural size.

-Virginia Woolf Charles moves into Queen Mum&#39;s home with his boys - and Camilla By BRUCE WILSON in London 29apr03 PRINCE Charles and longtime companion Camilla Parker Bowles are setting up house ï¿½ in his beloved grandmother&#39;s former home. The heir to the throne and his sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, will move into the late Queen Mother&#39;s former home, Clarence House, within the next few months, a spokesman said yesterday. Mrs Parker Bowles is to have what is coyly called "rooms" in the new set-up, which will replace St James&#39;s Palace as Prince Charles&#39;s official residence. The residence is being renovated at a cost of &#036;A13 million ï¿½ a bill that will be picked up by the British taxpayer. Prince Charles, though, is believed to have spent some of his own money on parts of the refurbishment. Prince Charles is believed to have kept much of the atmosphere of Clarence House as a memorial to his grandmother, who died last year.

In fact, the Queen Mother never much liked Clarence House when she first moved into it, but came to call it home. She shared it with Princess Margaret, who also died last year. Mrs Parker Bowles will not officially live there and will keep her home in Wiltshire. She has played a part in decorating Clarence House and will have a small suite of offices and an apartment of her own with perhaps a small staff. But, in practice, she will share Prince Charles&#39;s quarters. There have been consistent reports that Mrs Parker Bowles had been sidelined by the new household running Prince Charles&#39;s official life, headed by Sir Michael Peat. However, she is known to attend all of the prince&#39;s diary conferences and remains one of his closest advisers. There also were reports yesterday that Prince William has opted out of any large public affair for his 21st birthday in June, preferring to delay his entry into public life until he finishes his university course. For the first time Clarence House will be open to the public this year, from August 6 to October 17.

Article From: The Advertiser __________________ Women have served all these centuries as looking-glasses possessing the magic and delicious power of reflecting the figure of man at twice its natural size. -Virginia Woolf CAMILLA PARKER BOWLES TO HAVE PRIVATE OFFICE AT CLARENCE HOUSE 28 APRIL 2003 The Prince of Wales is set to move into the late Queen Mother&#39;s estate, Clarence House, in just a few months ï¿½ and his companion, Camilla Parker Bowles, will apparently be made to feel completely at home there. Not only is the 55-year-old National Osteoporosis Society president helping redesign the interior of the 19th-century building, she will also have her own private office, according to newspaper reports. It is understood that she will be dividing her time between Clarence House and her home in Lackock, Wilts near Highgrove. Sources say that Mrs Parker Bowles, who currently splits her time between her home and many of the royal residences, will initially have no formal suite of rooms at Clarence House, and will instead share the Prince&#39;s.

The interior design work for the ï¿½7-million renovation project ï¿½ taxpayers will foot the bill for structural work, while the Prince pays for decorating ï¿½ is under the charge of Robert Knie, who is being helped by Mrs Parker Bowles and the Prince&#39;s former valet, Michael Fawcett. Fawcett is now a freelance consultant, having resigned from the royal staff in March after the release of a palace inquiry conducted by Sir Michael Peat. Article From: Hello Magazine + __________________ Women have served all these centuries as looking-glasses possessing the magic and delicious power of reflecting the figure of man at twice its natural size. -Virginia Woolf Wednesday, April 30, 2003 ï¿½ Last updated 1:21 a.m. PT Prince Charles Blasted Over Luxury Life By JANE WARDELL ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER LONDON -- Prince Charles is being criticized for lavishing millions of taxpayers&#39; dollars on the refurbishment of a London mansion to share with his longtime companion, Camilla Parker Bowles.

Charles, already accused of enjoying such trivial luxuries as servants who squeeze his toothpaste, has spent &#036;7.4 million to redecorate Clarence House, royal officials confirmed. The prince already has an official residence in the capital at St. James&#39;s Palace. "How many palaces does a prince need?" said an editorial in the Guardian newspaper Tuesday. A spokeswoman for Charles confirmed that the heir to the throne and his two sons, Princes William and Harry, will move into the former home of the late Queen Mother Elizabeth within the next few months, replacing the prince&#39;s current official residence. "There is a lot more space for the family," she said on customary condition of anonymity. The taxpayer money being used for the upgrade of the house comes from a fund earmarked for the maintenance of occupied royal palaces, and the prince is reportedly spending &#036;3.2 million from his own pocket in the addition to the &#036;7.4 million.

The staunchly monarchist Daily Mail reported that Charles had been frugal in restoration of the building, which has not been redecorated since 1947 - using bronze leaf at "a fifth of the cost" of the alternative gold leaf. Parts of the 19th-century house will be opened up to the public for the first time when renovations are completed this summer. But critics said Charles could lose public goodwill with his extravagant lifestyle. The prince also has a large home in rural Gloucestershire and recently acquired another one in Scotland. "Both a sharper eye and a firmer hand need to be kept on what the prince is up to. Why should the prince acquire another palace in London from the public purse, and have it so expensively done up, when he has got one already? How many palaces is it appropriate for the heir to the throne to maintain at public expense?" the Guardian asked. Recent news reports have claimed that the prince, who has about 50 personal staff, has bestowed royal warrants - the coats of arms printed on jars of jam and boxes of soap - on companies to get free toiletries.

Royal aides said Parker Bowles would spend a significant amount of time at Clarence House and did not deny reports that rooms would be set aside for her ailing father. Queen Elizabeth II gave the house to her eldest son following the death of the queen mother in April 2002. It is just minutes from Buckingham Palace, and the move to include Parker Bowles is being seen as further tacit acceptance from the royal household of her relationship with Charles. Critics, however, say his spending on chauffeured cars and designer clothing for Parker Bowles will not help endear her to the public. Since she divorced her husband and Charles split with Princess Diana before her death in 1997, his relationship with Parker Bowles has brought criticism, with questions raised about his suitability as the next monarch. The two now often appear in public together, leading many people to assume they will eventually marry. But polls show the public may not accept Parker Bowles as queen. Still, Charles has slowly regained popularity, and his obviously warm relationship with his two sons has helped win back much of the favor he had lost in his disputes with the late Diana.

David Nash, who lectures on politics at Oxford-Brookes University, said the British public increasingly wants to see "value for money" from the royal family. "The argument goes that the cost of the monarchy is only the same as the cost of one Eurofighter" warplane, Nash said. "That may be true, but that does look frightful when the money is being used to have someone squeezing your toothpaste." Article From: seattlepi.com __________________ Women have served all these centuries as looking-glasses possessing the magic and delicious power of reflecting the figure of man at twice its natural size. -Virginia Woolf Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 274 I suspect the Queen Mum&#39;s shallow and mean-spirited attitute might have set the stage for the low opinion in which the British monarchy is held today. It&#39;s fitting that Prince Charles was closest to her and is the one to preserve her memory in Clarence House and in the choice of who should write her biography. It wasn&#39;t enough that Edward VIII abdicated and was exiled, Queen Mum had to continue to heap every abuse on him that was within her power.

She claimed it was because the pressure of being king was the cause of the relatively early death of her husband, George VI. Yeah, Riiiight. Diana referred to the royal familly as &#39;The Firm&#39; and called the good Queen Mum its #1 member. Then the Queen Mum&#39;s funeral was marked for the paucity of genuine morners and the news media trying to make something out of nothing. It&#39;s comforting to know that sometimes, justice does rear its ugly head, even though this was quickly and quietly smoothed under by &#39;The Firm&#39;. [QUOTE=King Christian,Oct 25th, 2003 - 11:24 pm] Quote: TOMMIX* Posted: Oct 25th, 2003 - 10:45 pm TOMMIX, I remember about this vigil. Weren&#39;t there other Royals who took turns at this vigil ? Also, there is this thought I have that at one time, there were four Royals each at one of the corners during the vigil ???

At the same time the POW was standing vigil, the Queen Mother&#39;s other grandsons were standing vigil also. Her other grandsons being, HRH The Duke of York, HRH The Earl of Wessex and David, Viscount Linley. This photo shows that scene, although you can not see Lord Linley [and to clarify things a bit, there are three Royals and one non-royal, that being Lord Linley. He is a member of the extended Royal family, but Lord Linley is not royal]. Attached Images Location: Pommersfelden, Germany Posts: 58 Above, Lady Elizabeth, four, is pictured with her younger brother David, three, with whom she had a very close relationship. One of their brothers, Captain Fergus Bowes-Lyon, was killed at the Battle of Loos in France, during World War I. This event did disturb Elizabethï¿½s quiet life at Glamis Castle: the castle was transformed in a hospital for soldiers and, disturbingly enough, the war began on Lady Elizabethï¿½s birthday, 4 August 1914.

Above, Aged 14, Lady Elizabeth was a simple countrywoman, although raised in the highest standards of rural aristocracy. Pictured here outside Glamis Castle, by this time she had met her future husband Prince Albert, for regularly the Royal Princes came to Glamis and the Bowes-Lyons were invited at the Court. The picture was taken the year World War I began, bringing to Europe the feared blood that the new weapons could create. Although too young to work as a nurse, Lady Elizabeth did assist some of the soldiers who went through Glamis. Above, After the wedding ceremony, the couple was escorted in carriage to Buckingham Palace, where they appeared on the balcony to greet the people who had gathered in large numbers. It was undoubtedly due to Queen Maryï¿½s love for pomp and sense of royalty that the British Royal Weddings became the glittering ceremonies that conquered history. Above, The new Duke and Duchess of York are pictured with their parents. On the left, the Earl and Countess of Strathmore. On the right King George V and Queen Mary. The Kingï¿½s reign had lasted for 13 years, since his father&#39;s death in 1910.

The King was extremely popular among his subjects, mainly due to the success of Britain in World War I. __________________ Royal Residences - British Monarchist League British Monarchist League Contact Royal Residences Throughout the centuries, Britain's kings and queens have built or bought palaces to serve as family homes, workplaces and as centres of government. Some of these are still being used today as official Royal residences and many can be visited by the general public. The residences still standing today can be roughly divided into three categories: Official Royal residences which are held in trust for future generations. As well as being family homes for members of the Royal Family, these are also working buildings which are used for housing the offices of staff from the Royal Household, entertaining official guests and hosting formal events and ceremonies. The best-known of these residences are probably Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle. Private Estates are owned by The Queen and are often used to generate private income through farming or public access to Royal residences, they also house some well-known private residences such as Balmoral Castle and Sandringham House. Unoccupied Royal residences are all other buildings in Great Britain which once housed members of the Royal Family and are therefore of historical interest.

These buildings are owned by numerous bodies and individuals and many are open to the general public. Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace - has served as the official London residence of Britain's sovereigns since 1837 and today is the administrative headquarters of the Monarch. Although in use for the many official events and receptions held by The Queen, the State Rooms at Buckingham Palace are open to visitors every year. Buckingham Palace has 775 rooms. These include 19 State rooms, 52 Royal and guest bedrooms, 188 staff bedrooms, 92 offices and 78 bathrooms. In measurements, the building is 108 metres long across the front, 120 metres deep (including the central quadrangle) and 24 metres high. The Palace is very much a working building and the centrepiece of Britain's constitutional monarchy. It houses the offices of those who support the day-to-day activities and duties of The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh and their immediate family. The Palace is also the venue for great Royal ceremonies, State Visits and Investitures, all of which are organised by the Royal Household.

Although Buckingham Palace is furnished and decorated with priceless works of art that form part of the Royal Collection, one of the major art collections in the world today. It is not an art gallery and nor is it a museum. Its State Rooms form the nucleus of the working Palace and are used regularly by The Queen and members of the Royal Family for official and State entertaining. More than 50,000 people visit the Palace each year as guests to banquets, lunches, dinners, receptions and the Royal Garden Parties. For those who do receive an invitation to Buckingham Palace, the first step across the threshold is into the Grand Hall and up the curving marble stairs of the Grand Staircase. Portraits are still set in the walls, as they were by Queen Victoria. The Throne Room, sometimes used during Queen Victoria's reign for Court gatherings and as a second dancing room, is dominated by a proscenium arch supported by a pair of winged figures of 'victory' holding garlands above the 'chairs of state'. It is in the Throne Room that The Queen, on very special occasions like Jubilees, receives loyal addresses. Another use of the Throne Room has been for formal wedding photographs.

George IV's original palace lacked a large room in which to entertain. Queen Victoria rectified that shortcoming by adding in 1853-5 what was, at the time of its construction, the largest room in London. At 36.6m long, 18m wide and 13.5m high, the Ballroom is the largest multi-purpose room in Buckingham Palace. It was opened in 1856 with a ball to celebrate the end of the Crimean War. It is along the East Gallery that The Queen and her State guests process to the Ballroom for the State Banquet normally held on the first day of the visit. Around 150 guests are invited and include members of the Royal Family, the government and other political leaders, High Commissioners and Ambassadors and prominent people who have trade or other associations with the visiting country. Today, it is used by The Queen for State banquets and other formal occasions such as the annual Diplomatic Reception attended by 1,500 guests. This is a very formal occasion during which The Queen will meet every head of mission accredited to the Court of St James's. For the diplomats it is perhaps the highlight of the annual diplomatic social calendar.

The Ballroom has been used variously as a concert hall for memorial concerts and performances of the arts and it is the regular venue for Investitures of which there are usually 21 a year - nine in spring, two in the summer and ten in the autumn. At Investitures, The Queen (or The Prince of Wales as Her Majesty's representative) will meet recipients of British honours and give them their awards, including knighting those who have been awarded knighthoods. From the Ballroom, the West Gallery, with its four Gobelin tapestries, leads into the first of the great rooms that overlook lawn and the formal gardens - setting for the annual Garden Parties introduced by Queen Victoria in 1868. The State Dining Room is one of the principal State Rooms on the West side of the Palace. Many distinguished people have dined in this room including the 24 holders of the Order of Merit as well as presidents and prime ministers. Before the Ballroom was added to the Palace in the 1850s, the first State Ball was held in the Blue Drawing Room in May 1838 as part of the celebrations leading up to Queen Victoria's Coronation.

The Music Room was originally known as the Bow Drawing Room and is the centre of the suite of rooms on the Garden Front between the Blue and the White Drawing Rooms. Four Royal babies - The Prince of Wales, The Princess Royal, The Duke of York and Prince William - were all christened by the Archbishop of Canterbury in the Music Room. One of its more formal uses is during a State Visit when guests are presented to The Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh and the visiting Head of State or for receptions. The last of the suite of rooms overlooking the gardens on the principal floor is the White Drawing Room. Originally called the North Drawing Room, it is perhaps the grandest of all the State Rooms. The Room also serves as a Royal reception room for The Queen and members of the Royal Family to gather before State and official occasions. The Bow Room is familiar to the many thousands of guests to Royal Garden Parties who pass through it on their way to the garden. It was originally intended as a part of George IV's private apartments - to be the King's Library - but it was never fitted up as such. Instead, it has become another room for entertaining and is where The Queen holds the arrival lunch for a visiting Head of State at the start of a State visit.

Windsor Castle Windsor Castle - is an official residence of The Queen and the largest occupied castle in the world. A Royal home and fortress for over 900 years, the Castle remains a working palace today. The Queen uses the Castle both as a private home, where she usually spends the weekend, and as a Royal residence at which she undertakes certain formal duties. Every year The Queen takes up official residence in Windsor Castle for a month over Easter (March-April), known as Easter Court. During that time The Queen hosts occasional 'dine and sleeps' events for guests, including politicians and public figures. The Queen is also in residence for a week in June, when she attends the service of the Order of the Garter and the Royal Ascot race meeting. The Order of the Garter ceremony brings together members of the senior order of chivalry for a service in St George's Chapel. Beforehand, The Queen gives a lunch for the Knights of the Garter in the Castle's Waterloo Chamber. Any new Knights of the Garter are invested by The Queen in the Garter Throne Room.

On the walls are portraits of monarchs in their Garter Robes, from George I to the present Queen, whose State portrait by Sir James Gunn was painted in 1954. Windsor Castle is often used by The Queen to host State Visits from overseas monarchs and presidents. Foreign Heads of State enter the Castle in horse-drawn carriages through the George IV Gateway into the quadrangle in the Upper Ward, where a military guard of honour is drawn up. The traditional State Banquet is held in St George's Hall (55.5m long and 9m wide), with a table seating up to 160 guests. Recent State visits held at Windsor Castle include those of President and Mrs. Mbeki of South Africa (2001), and King Abdullah II and Queen Rania of Jordan (2001), as well as a special visit by President and Madame Chirac of France to mark the centenary of the Entente Cordiale (2004). St George's Chapel remains an active centre for worship, with daily services open to all.

The Chapel is a Royal Peculiar, that is, a chapel which is not subject to a bishop or archbishop but which owes its allegiance directly to the Sovereign. The Chapel, together with the remainder of the College of St George (a school for 400 children and St George's House, a consultation centre), is governed by the Dean and Canons of Windsor, who, with their officers and staff, are independent of the Royal Household. Many Royal weddings have been celebrated in St George's Chapel, most recently that of Prince Edward and Miss Sophie Rhys-Jones in June 1999. In 2005 a service of dedication and prayer was held in the Chapel following the marriage of The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall. Funerals such as those of Princess Margaret and Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, have also taken place there. Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother lies buried in the Chapel with her husband, King George VI, and Princess Margaret, her younger daughter. Various departments of the Royal Household are based at Windsor Castle. The ancient Round Tower houses the Royal Archives and the Royal Photograph Collection. The Print Room and Royal Library house precious drawings, prints, manuscripts and books in the Royal Collection.

These are shown in a programme of changing exhibitions in the Castle's Drawings Gallery. Those who live and work within the Castle include the titular head of the Castle community, the Constable and Governor of Windsor Castle; the Dean of Windsor, Canons and other staff who run the College of St George; the Military Knights of Windsor; the Superintendent of Windsor Castle and his staff, who are responsible for day-to-day administration; the Housekeeper and her staff; and soldiers who mount a permanent military guard in the Castle. Windsor Castle is also a busy visitor attraction. Many parts of the Castle are open to the public, including the precincts, the State Apartments, Queen Mary's famous dolls' house, St George's Chapel, and the Albert Memorial Chapel. When The Queen is in official residence, Changing the Guard provides a colourful spectacle in the quadrangle. Palace of HolyroodHouse Palace of Holyroodhouse - Founded as a monastery in 1128, the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh is The Queen's official residence in Scotland.

Situated at the end of the Royal Mile, the Palace of Holyroodhouse is closely associated with Scotland's turbulent past, including Mary, Queen of Scots, who lived here between 1561 and 1567. Successive kings and queens have made the Palace of Holyroodhouse the premier royal residence in Scotland. Today, the Palace is the setting for State ceremonies and official entertaining. During The Queen's Holyrood week, which usually runs from the end of June to the beginning of July, Her Majesty carries out a wide range of official engagements in Scotland. The Investiture held in the Great Gallery is for Scottish residents whose achievements have been recognised in the twice-yearly Honours List which appears at New Year and on The Queen's Official Birthday in June. King George V and Queen Mary held the first garden party in the grounds of Holyroodhouse and the tradition has been maintained to the present day. Each year, The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh entertain around 8,000 guests from all walks of Scottish life during Holyrood week. St James's Palace St. James's Palace is the senior Palace of the Sovereign, with a long history as a Royal residence.

As the home of several members of the Royal Family and their household offices, it is often in use for official functions and is not open to the public. St. James's Palace is one of London's oldest palaces. It is situated in Pall Mall, just north of St James's Park. Although no sovereign has resided there for almost two centuries, it has remained the official residence of the Sovereign and the most senior royal palace in the UK. For this reason it gives its name to the Royal Court (the "Court of St James's"). St James's Palace is still a working palace, and the Royal Court is still formally based there – foreign ambassadors are still accredited to the Court of St James's, even though they are received by the monarch at Buckingham Palace. It is also the London residence of the Princess Royal and Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy. The Palace forms part of a sprawling complex of buildings housing Court offices and officials' apartments.

The complex includes York House, the former home of the Prince of Wales and his sons, Princes William and Harry, Lancaster House, which is used by HM Government for official receptions, as well as the nearby Clarence House, the home of the late Queen Mother and now the residence of the Prince of Wales. The Queen's Chapel, built by Inigo Jones, adjoins St James's Palace. While the Chapel is open to the public at selected times, the palace is not accessible to the public. St James's Palace is one of the four buildings in London where guards from the Household Division can be seen (the other three are Buckingham Palace, Clarence House and Horse Guards). Since the beginning of the 2000s, the Royal Philatelic Collection has been housed at St James's Palace, after spending the entire 20th century at Buckingham Palace. From October 2008 onwards, and officially from 6 January 2009, the staff of Princes William and Harry moved into their own rooms in St James's Palace and began reporting directly to the royal princes for the first time. Until recently the brothers' duties were looked after by Prince Charles's office at Clarence House.

Clarence House Clarence House which stands beside St James's Palace, was built between 1825 and 1827 to the designs of John Nash for Prince William Henry, Duke of Clarence. He lived there as King William IV from 1830 until 1837. During its history, the house has been altered, reflecting the changes in occupancy over nearly two centuries. It was the London home of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother from 1953 until 2002 and was also the home of The Queen, then Princess Elizabeth, and The Duke of Edinburgh following their marriage in 1947. Today Clarence House is the official London residence of The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall, and Princes William and Harry. It is open to the public during the summer months each year. Balmoral Castle Balmoral Castle on the Balmoral Estate in Aberdeenshire, Scotland is the private residence of The Queen. Beloved by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, Balmoral Castle has remained a favourite residence for The Queen and her family during the summer holiday period in August and September.

The Castle is located on the large Balmoral Estate, a working estate which aims to protect the environment while contributing to the local economy. The Estate grounds, gardens and the Castle Ballroom are open to visitors from the beginning of April to the end of July each year, under the management of the Balmoral Estate Office. Sandringham House Sandringham House in Norfolk has been the private home of four generations of Sovereigns since 1862. The Queen and other members of the Royal Family regularly spend Christmas at Sandringham and make it their official base until February each year. Like Balmoral, the Sandringham Estate is a commercial estate managed privately on The Queen's behalf. Kensington Palace Kensington Palace in London is a working Royal residence. Of great historical importance, Kensington Palace was the favourite residence of successive sovereigns until 1760. It was also the birthplace and childhood home of Queen Victoria. Today Kensington Palace accommodates the offices and private apartments of a number of members of the Royal Family. Although managed by Historic Royal Palaces, the Palace is furnished with items from the Royal Collection. British Monarchist League Ltd © 2014.

✕ Kensington Palace, London, England Kensington Palace, London, England history Kensington Palace, London, England Kensington Palace is a royal residence set in Kensington Gardens, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England. It has been a residence of the British Royal Family since the 17th century, and is the official London residence of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Harry, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, the Duke and Duchess of Kent, and Prince and Princess Michael of Kent. Today, the State Rooms are open to the public and managed by the independent charity Historic Royal Palaces, a nonprofit organization that does not receive public funds.[1] The offices and private accommodation areas of the Palace remain the responsibility of the Royal Household and are maintained by the Royal Household Property Section. History King William III and Queen Mary II Kensington Palace began as a simple two-story Jacobean mansion built by Sir George Coppin in 1605 in the village of Kensington.

The mansion was purchased in 1619 by Heneage Finch, 1st Earl of Nottingham and was then known as Nottingham House.[2] Shortly after William and Mary assumed the throne as joint monarchs in 1689, they began searching for a residence better situated for the comfort of the asthmatic William, as Whitehall Palace was too near the River Thames, with its fog and floods, for William's fragile health. In the summer of 1689, William and Mary bought Nottingham House from Secretary of State Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham for £20,000.[2] They then instructed Sir Christopher Wren, Surveyor of the King's Works to begin an immediate expansion of the house. In order to save time and money, Wren kept the structure intact and added a three-story pavilion at each of the four corners, providing more accommodation for the King and Queen and their attendants. The Queen’s Apartments were in the north-west pavilion and the King’s in the south-east.

Wren then re-oriented the house to face west, building north and south wings to flank the approach, made into a proper cour d'honneur that was entered through an archway surmounted by a clock tower. The palace was surrounded by straight cut solitary lawns, and formal stately gardens, laid out with paths and flower beds at right angles, after the Dutch fashion.[3] The royal court took residence in the palace shortly before Christmas 1689, and for the next seventy years, Kensington Palace was the favoured residence of British monarchs, although the official seat of the Court was and remains at St. James's Palace, which has not been the actual royal residence in London since the 17th century. Additional improvements soon after, included Queen Mary's extension of her apartments by building the Queen's Gallery, and after a fire in 1691, the King's Staircase was rebuilt in marble and a Guard Chamber was constructed, facing the foot of the stairs. William had constructed the South Front, to the design of Nicholas Hawksmoor, which included the Kings' Gallery where he hung many works from his picture collection.

Mary II died of smallpox in the palace in 1694, and in 1702, William suffered a fall from a horse at Hampton Court and was brought to Kensington Palace, where he died shortly afterwards from pneumonia. Queen Anne After William III's death, the palace became the residence of Queen Anne. She had Christopher Wren complete the extensions that William and Mary had begun, resulting in the section known as the Queen's Apartments, with the Queen's Entrance, and the plainly decorated Wren designed staircase, that featured shallow steps so that Anne could walk down gracefully. These were primarily used by the Queen to give access between the private apartments and gardens. Queen Anne's most notable contribution to the palace were the gardens. She commissioned the Hawksmoor designed Orangery, modified by John Vanbrugh, that was built for her in 1704.[4] The level of decoration of the interior, including carved detail by Grinling Gibbons, reflects its intended use, not just as a greenhouse, but as a place for entertaining.

Also, a magnificent 30 acre (121,000 m2) baroque parterre, with sections of clipped scrolling designs punctuated by trees formally clipped into cones, was laid out by Henry Wise, the royal gardener. Kensington Palace was also the setting of the final argument between Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough and Queen Anne. The Duchess, who was known for being outspoken and manipulative, was jealous of the attention the Queen was giving to Abigail Masham, Baroness Masham. Along with the previous insensitive acts of the Duchess at the death of Anne's husband, Prince George of Denmark, who had died at Kensington Palace in October 1708, the friendship came to an abrupt end on 6 April 1710, with the two seeing each other for the last time after an argument in the Queen's Closet. Queen Anne died at Kensington Palace on 1 August 1714. King George I and King George II George I spent lavishly on new royal apartments, creating three new state rooms known as the Privy Chamber, the Cupola Room and the Withdrawing Room.

He hired in 1722, the unknown William Kent to decorate the state rooms, which he did with elaborately painted trompe l’oeil ceilings and walls. The Cupola Room was Kent's first commission for the King. The octagonal coffering in the domed ceiling was painted in gold and blue, and terminated in a flat panel decorated with the Star of the Order of the Garter. The walls and woodwork were painted brown and gold to contrast with the white marble pilasters, doorways and niches which were surmounted with gilded statuary. George I was pleased with his work, and between 1722 and 1727, Kent oversaw the decoration and picture hanging for all of the royal apartments at Kensington Palace. Kent's final commission was the King's Grand Staircase which he painted with 45 intriguing courtiers from the Georgian court, including the King’s Turkish servants Mahomet and Mustapha, Peter ‘the wild boy’ as well as himself along with his mistress. King George I also enlarged the palace with the addition of an apartment, built on the north-west side, to house his mistress, Melusine von der Schulenburg, Duchess of Kendal.

The last reigning monarch to use Kensington Palace was George II, who did not undertake any major structural changes to the palace during his reign, and left the running of the palace to his wife Queen Caroline. At the request of the Queen, Charles Bridgeman, successor to Henry Wise as royal gardener, swept away the outmoded parterres and redesigned Kensington Gardens in a form that is still recognizable today: his remaining features are The Serpentine, the basin called the Round Pond, and the Broad Walk. After the death of his wife, George II neglected many rooms and the palace fell into disrepair. King George II died at Kensington Palace on 25 October 1760.[5] Notable palace residents 19th Century With the accession of King George III in 1760, Kensington Palace was only used for minor royalty. The sixth son of George III, Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex, was allocated apartments in the south-west corner of Kensington Palace in 1805 known as Apartment 1. He was interested in the arts and science and amassed a huge library that filled ten rooms and comprised over fifty thousand volumes.

He also had a variety of singing birds that were free to fly around his apartments and a large number of clocks. He was elected as president of the Royal Society and gave receptions in his apartments at Kensington Palace to men of science, but the expense they incurred induced him to resign the presidency, as he preferred to employ the money in making additions to his library. The Duke of Sussex caused quite a scandal when he married twice in contravention of the (Royal Marriages Act 1772) because it had not been approved by the King. His second wife, Lady Cecilia Letitia Buggin, was never titled or recognized as the Duchess of Sussex. However, she was created Duchess of Inverness in her own right in 1840. The Duke died at Kensington Palace in 1843, and as he had lived beyond his means and amassed substantial debts, his possessions, including the library, were sold after his death. The Duchess of Inverness continued to reside at Kensington Palace until her death in 1873.

Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, the fourth son of King George III, was allocated two floors of rooms in the south-east corner of the palace, below the State Apartments, which he renovated for his use. The apartments were next to his near-blind sister Princess Sophia. His daughter, Alexandrina Victoria was born on 24 May 1819 and her christening conducted in the Cupola Room the following month. The Duke of Kent and Strathearn died nine months after the birth of his daughter, and she grew up in the confines of the palace in an unhappy and lonely childhood as a result of the Kensington System adopted by her mother, Victoria, Duchess of Kent and the domineering Sir John Conroy, her mother's comptroller of the household.[6] Princess Sophia fell under the sway of Conroy, who took advantage of her senility and blindness. She frequently served as his spy on the Kensington household as well as on her two elder brothers, while Conroy squandered most of her money until she died in 1848 at Kensington Palace. In 1837, Princess Alexandrina Victoria was awakened to be told that her uncle, King William IV had died and that she was now queen.

She took the regnal name of Victoria and held her first privy council in the Red Saloon at the palace. The Queen promptly moved to Buckingham Palace, but she did grant rooms in Kensington Palace to her family and retired retainers, which included the Duke and Duchess of Teck, parents of Queen Mary (grandmother of the present Queen), who was born at Kensington Palace in 1867. In 1873, Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll was given Apartment 1 that were formerly occupied by the Duchess of Inverness, widow of the Duke of Sussex. Princess Louise had an art studio in the palace from which the statue of Queen Victoria in Kensington Gardens was sculpted. Louise made one change to her apartments when she ordered the windows bricked up after discovering her husband, Lord Lorne, was climbing through them to visit his mistress at night.[7] Louise's younger sister, Princess Beatrice, was given by Queen Victoria the apartments once occupied by the Queen and her mother below the State Apartments.

20th Century During World War I, George V allowed a number of rooms in the palace to be used by those working for Irish POWs and Irish soldiers at the front, and decreed that its royal inhabitants adhere to the same rations as everyone else. The royal inhabitants now included Helena, Duchess of Albany, her daughter Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone with her husband Alexander Cambridge, 1st Earl of Athlone, who was the brother of Queen Mary. In 1921, upon widowhood, Victoria, Marchioness of Milford Haven moved into a grace-and-favor apartment at Kensington Palace. During this period, her grandson, Prince Philip would live with her at times as she was in charge of his education. As a result of the number of royal relatives residing there during the 1920s and 1930s, Edward VIII called the palace "the aunt heap."[8] Kensington Palace was severely damaged during The Blitz of 1940 when it was hit by an incendiary bomb that exploded in the north side of Clock Court, damaging many of the surrounding buildings including the State Apartments, particularly the Queen's Apartments.

The Headquarters of Personnel Section occupied Apartment 34, and as a result the garden was overrun with anti-aircraft guns, sandbags and trenches. Repairs to the palace were not completed for several years, but after the war, Prince Philip stayed with his grandmother in the lead-up to his 1947 marriage with Princess Elizabeth, later to become Queen Elizabeth II. With the bombing damage and the deaths of Princess Louise and Princess Beatrice, the palace entered a period of neglect. During the 1950s, residents of the palace included Master of the Horse, Henry Somerset, 10th Duke of Beaufort who had married Lady Victoria Cambridge (a niece of Queen Mary as the daughter of the 1st Marquess of Cambridge), Sir Alan Lascelles, Queen Elizabeth's private secretary and Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone who lived in the palace until her death in 1981. In 1955, the widowed Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent moved into Apartment 1, with her children, which had been vacant since Princess Louise's death in 1939. It was at this time that the apartment was divided and Apartment 1A being created.

The stylish Duchess of Kent continued to live in the apartment until her death at Kensington Palace of a brain tumor in 1968. Following their wedding on 6 May 1960, Princess Margaret, sister of Queen Elizabeth II, and Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon moved into Apartment 10, that Princess Margaret termed "the doll's house," which had been vacated by the recent death of Alexander Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Carisbrooke, eldest son of Princess Beatrice, Queen Victoria's youngest daughter, while they set about transforming the much larger Apartment 1A to new designs. In 1960, Kensington Palace was under the auspices of the Department of the Environment, and the renovation had to be carried out under the strictest of budgets, with the eventual costs coming in at £85,000 (approximately £1.5 million today). By 1962, the whole interior had been gutted and all the floors, except the attic floor, had been removed to deal with rising damp.

The resulting modern apartment consisted of the main reception rooms, three principal bedrooms and dressing rooms, three principal bathrooms, the nursery accommodation, nine staff bedrooms, four staff bathrooms, two staff kitchens and two staff sitting rooms. Twenty ancillary rooms included a linen store, a luggage room, a drying room, a glass pantry and a photographic dark room for Lord Snowdon. The house in 18th century style, had a modern color palette with the bold use of colors including Margaret's favorites, pink and kingfisher blue. The house was largely designed by Snowdon and Princess Margaret with the assistance of the theatre designer Carl Toms, one-time assistant to Oliver Messel, Lord Snowdon’s uncle, and a close friend of the royal couple.[7] The royal couple moved into Apartment 1A on 4 March 1963, prior to the birth of their daughter, Lady Sarah, who was born at the palace the following year. The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester moved into Apartment 1, the 21-room house previously occupied by Princess Marina after their marriage in 1972, and where they subsequently raised their three children.

In 1994, after the Gloucesters had to give up their country home, Barnwell Manor, for financial reasons, they moved the Duke's aged mother Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester from Barnwell to Kensington Palace where she died in her sleep on 29 October 2004 at age 102. She holds the record as the oldest person in the history of the British Royal Family.[9] The Queen gave the keys to the five-bedroom, five-reception grace-and-favour Apartment 10 to Prince and Princess Michael of Kent at the occasion of their marriage in 1978. In 2008, there was controversy when it was claimed that the couple paid a rent of only £70 per week, though they fulfilled no official duties on behalf of the Queen. A committee of British MPs looking for "value for the money" demanded they be evicted. The British Monarchy Media Centre denied these reports and stated that, "The Queen is paying the rent for Prince and Princess Michael of Kent's apartment at a commercial rate of £120,000 annually from her own private funds...

This rent payment by The Queen is in recognition of the Royal engagements and work for various charities which Prince and Princess Michael of Kent have undertaken at their own expense, and without any public funding."[10] It was announced that from 2010, that Prince and Princess Michael would begin paying rent of £120,000 a year out of their own funds to continue living in the apartment.[11][12] In 1996, Prince Michael's older brother, the Duke of Kent and his wife moved into Wren House on the Kensington Palace estate. In 1981, in the part of the palace that George I had built for the Duchess of Kendal, Apartments 8 and 9 were combined to create the London residence of the newly married Prince of Wales and his wife, Diana, Princess of Wales, and it remained the official residence of the Princess after their divorce until her death. Her sons, Princes William and Harry were raised in Kensington Palace and went to local nursery and pre-preparatory schools in Notting Hill, which is a short drive away.

According to Andrew Morton, the palace was a "children's paradise" with its long passageways, a helicopter pad, and many outdoor gardens, including one on the roof where the family spent many hours.[13] Upon Diana's death on 31 August 1997, the gold gates at Kensington Palace became the focus of public mourning with over one million bouquets, reaching 5 feet (1.5 m) deep in places, placed as tribute before them stretching out into Kensington Gardens.[14] The Princess's coffin spent its last night in London at Kensington Palace. On the morning of 6 September 1997, a tenor bell was sounded to signal the departure of the funeral cortege, carrying the coffin from the palace on a gun carriage, to Westminster Abbey where the ceremony was conducted.

Diana, Princess of Wales's residence was stripped bare and lay vacant for 10 years after her death until they were split back into two apartments, with Apartment 8 being used by four of Charles’s charities and Apartment 9 becoming home to the Chief of Defense Staff.[15] a 21st Century On 6 November 2011, it was announced that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge would move from their temporary residence of Nottingham Cottage on the Kensington Palace grounds, to the four-story, 20-room Apartment 1A, formerly the residence of Princess Margaret.[16] Renovations took 18 months at a cost of £4.5 million ($7.6 million). The buildings costs included new heating, electrics, plastering, removal of asbestos that required nearly everything to be stripped out internally, as well as a new roof.[17] The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge kept many of the home's original details, including crown moldings, but used a subtle color palette of beiges, creams and earth tones.

The royal couple moved into the apartment with their infant son, Prince George of Cambridge in October 2013.[18] On 28 March 2012, it was announced that Prince Harry had moved his residence from Clarence House to a one-bedroom apartment at Kensington Palace.[19] Kensington Palace as a tourist attraction By the end of the 19th century, the State Rooms were severely neglected. The brickwork was decaying and the woodwork was infested with dry rot. Calls were made for the palace to be demolished, but Queen Victoria declared that "while she lived, the palace in which she was born should not be destroyed." In 1897, Parliament was persuaded to pay for the restoration which was completed two years later. The State Rooms were opened to the public on the Queen's birthday, 24 May 1899. This began the palace's dual role as a private home to royalty and a public museum.[20] Queen Mary was instrumental in opening the State Apartments as a temporary location for the London Museum (now known as the Museum of London) from 1911 to 1914.

The State Apartments were filled with showcases, some containing hundreds of objects including 18th century costumes and dresses worn by Queen Victoria, Queen Alexandra and Queen Mary. The museum returned from 1950 to 1976 before it moved to its permanent home at the Barbican Centre.[21] The Kensington Palace State Rooms underwent a two-year, £12 million ($19 million) renovation, underwritten with contributions from the Heritage Lottery Fund as well as other public and private sources. The re-opening of the palace occurred in time for the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II in 2012. Visitors now can choose four different routes throughout the palace that offer exhibits incorporating cutting-edge digital presentations, interactive experiences, and even audio sequences that bring to life the gatherings of gowns, antique furniture, and other memorabilia of notable residents of the palace including William and Mary in the Queen's State Apartments, the court of George I and II in the King's State Apartments and the life of Queen Victoria in the rooms most associated with her.

The fourth exhibit displays selections of Queen Elizabeth's wardrobe in the 1950s, Princess Margaret from the 1960 and 70s and Diana, Princess of Wales in the 1980s during their fashion heyday. The grounds of the palace were also renovated with enhancements including eliminating railings, fences, and shrubs that had undermined royal gardener Charles Bridgeman’s original landscaping. Two new public gardens to the south and east of the palace were installed that connect the property to Kensington Gardens.[22] The nearest tube stations are in Queensway, Bayswater, Kensington High Street, or (slightly farther) Gloucester Road. References Jump up ^ "Who We Are". Historic Royal Palaces. Retrieved 9 January 2012. ^ Jump up to: a b "Origins," Kensington Palace official website, Retrieved 1 May 2013. Jump up ^ palace "'Kensington Palace', Old and New London: Volume 5 (1878), pp. 138-152" Check |url= scheme (help). Retrieved 3 May 2014.

Jump up ^ The London Encyclopaedia, ed. Ben Weinreb and Christopher Hibbert, rev. ed. (London: Macmillan London, 1993; ISBN 0-333-57688-8), pp. 311, 438. Jump up ^ Nicholls, Frank (1761) "Observations concerning the body of His Late Majesty", Philos Trans Lond 52: 265–274. Jump up ^ "Queen Victoria: the original people's princess". Retrieved 25 April 2014. ^ Jump up to: a b Freedman, Lisa (6 April 2013). "A right royal starter home: As the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge prepare to move into Apartment 1A at Kensington Palace this summer, Lisa Freedman revisits the house during its 1960s heyday". Daily Mail. Retrieved 13 May 2014. Jump up ^ Alderson, Andrew (17 February 2002). "Margaret's home to be opened to public". The Daily Telegraph (London).

Retrieved 4 June 2009. Jump up ^ "Queen's tribute to Princess Alice". BBC News. 30 October 2004. Retrieved 27 December 2011. Jump up ^ Corrections to inaccurate media stories about the Royal Family Jump up ^ Cockcroft, Lucy (6 October 2008). "Prince and Princess Michael of Kent to pay £120,000 rent for Kensington Palace flat". The Daily Telegraph (London). Retrieved 4 June 2009. Jump up ^ Routledge, Paul (14 June 2002). "Comment on Queen's grace-and-favour apartments". Daily Mirror (London). Retrieved 4 June 2009. Jump up ^ "Growing Up Royal". Time. 25 April 1988. Archived from the original on 31 March 2005. Retrieved 4 June 2009. Jump up ^ The Independent, 10 September 1997. Jump up ^ Tominey, Camilla (18 December 2011). "Princes William and Harry back in Diana's flat". Express.

Retrieved 15 May 2014. Jump up ^ Jephson, Patrick (14 July 2013). "Kensington Palace could feel like a prison to the newest Royal". Express. Retrieved 17 July 2013. Jump up ^ Foster, Max (26 June 2014). "Royal palace upgrade for William, Catherine and George costs $7.6 million". CNN. Retrieved 26 June 2014. Jump up ^ "By George! Cost of fixing up William and Kate's four-storey Kensington Palace residence ready for baby prince spirals to £2million after first budget is 'blown out of the water". Daily Mail. 16 March 2014. Retrieved 26 April 2014. Jump up ^ "Prince Harry moves into Kensington Palace". CBS News. 28 March 2012. Retrieved 18 June 2013. Jump up ^ "Queen Victoria," Kensington Palace official website, Retrieved 27 April 2014. Jump up ^ Porter, Laura. "Kensington Palace". Retrieved 27 April 2014.

Jump up ^ Owens, Mitchell (June 2012). "KENSINGTON PALACE’S NEW LOOK". Architectural Digest. Retrieved 27 April 2014. Further reading Impey, Edward (2003). Kensington Palace: The Official Illustrated History. London: Merrell Publishers in association with Historic Royal Palaces. ISBN 978-1-85894-205-6. OCLC 51569080. External links

Question: What was the name of the Queen Mother’s official residence in London until 2002? It is now the official residence of Prince Charles.
Answer: Clarence House