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Palace: A Fascinating Behind-The-Scenes Look at How Buckingham Palace Really Works
Traces the history of Buckingham Palace, describes the functions and duties of the Royal Household, and looks at the members of British royalty who have lived there
200 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 1984
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July 19, 2018
5 sections
191 pages
My Review—I am not at all into or impressed by royalty; the only reason why I read this was because I’m currently researching the monarchical system and heraldry. I found this book, Palace, very interesting with regards to the former. It gives a rudimentary look at England’s Buckingham Palace and the Royal Life or a “day in the life of” the Royal Household.
First, the author presents an introduction, which is a quick summation of the sovereign’s life at Buckingham Palace since Queen Victoria.
“Part One” then goes on to give a fairly detailed history of Buckingham Palace, which started out first as Goring House (owned then by George Goring), then as Arlington House (owned by the Earl of Arlington), and finally achieved its current first name, Buckingham, when John Sheffield bought it, who was eventually made Duke of Buckingham and so named the property Buckingham House. After his death, Buckingham House passed through his widow’s and son’s hands until the house and land were bought by George III (“our” King George III, against whom we, as a nation, rebelled) for his wife, Queen Charlotte, to use as a Dower House, the place she’d go to when he died and “Prinny” (George IV) became king. It then became known as “The Queen’s House,” though still officially called Buckingham House.
Queen Charlotte adored “her” house and gave it her all in the interior decorations while King George made changes to the property outside and added on to its basic manor-house configuration to become statelier. However, it was Queen Victoria (and Prince Albert) who made it Buckingham Palace. In fact, Prince Albert is said to’ve been the one responsible for “ruining” it, making it the “monstrosity” the world knows today (according to the author, there are very few royals who actually like the place but several who abhor it!). Queen Victoria, upon learning of her ascension, wasted no time (about two weeks, I think) in switching residences. She’d hated living under her dominating niggardly mother and practically bowled over the men who came to tell her, her uncle, William IV, had died, making her queen.
And then, after going into life at Buckingham Palace under Queen Victoria and Prince Albert (which was, apparently, gay and lively until Victoria really came under Albert’s influences), this section quickly goes through the next owners, coming to Queen Elizabeth, the current monarch, who claims Windsor Castle as “her home.” Also within this section is a two-page floor plan for Buckingham Palace’s three main floors (a rough sketch—not an accurate rendering of its 600 rooms) and a fairly detailed account of for what most of them are used. One thing you learn in this section is the queen is her own bloody Macy’s! She has her own wardrobe department! And Prince Philip has his own, too, though smaller. The queen also has her own in-house masseur, hairdresser, makeup artist, and manicurist—not to mention her own couturier, milliner, and cobbler!
“Part Three” deals with a Royal Visit: Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands’ first visit as queen. The author takes you “on the scene” as the two queens arrive in horse-drawn carriage and details all the pomp and circumstance involved in the Royal State Welcome, then tells you where visiting royals or dignitaries stay and what they do, and then comes to the State Dinner—a seven-course (or thereabouts) meal with an orchestra playing in the choral balcony.
“Part Four,” the final section, gives you a typical workday at the palace for queen and her consort (that’s Prince Philip, the prince consort), while also touching on some of the staff jobs (there are about 300 full-time and 120 part-time employees) not covered in the previous sections. It’s also the section you learn about the Royal Finances (or the way the royal family “earns” their “salary” and how much they get (or got, since this was published in 1983)). The book ends in this section with the breakdown of how Michael Fagan twice broke into the palace, the second time, about a month after the first, making his way to the queen’s bedroom and sitting on her bed, asking for a smoke! The biggest shocker? There were no police or security around to come to her aid! And when she called for “cigarettes” (she doesn’t smoke), this didn’t sound an alarm to the palace police on duty! (Sounds to me as if the queen could’ve used a gun and taken care of her own self-defense instead of waiting around on others to “hop to” or for a husband who sleeps in another room and could’ve been out of town at the time (the book doesn’t mention Prince Philip’s whereabouts at all)!)
I liked this book for research; it gave a good glimpse into the court life and showed me where I might want/need to do more exhaustive study. (It also has some good pictures: photographs and drawings.) Plus it gives a bibliography at the back of more books to read on the Royal Life or Buckingham Palace.
Grade (for my purposes): A
191 pages
My Review—I am not at all into or impressed by royalty; the only reason why I read this was because I’m currently researching the monarchical system and heraldry. I found this book, Palace, very interesting with regards to the former. It gives a rudimentary look at England’s Buckingham Palace and the Royal Life or a “day in the life of” the Royal Household.
First, the author presents an introduction, which is a quick summation of the sovereign’s life at Buckingham Palace since Queen Victoria.
“Part One” then goes on to give a fairly detailed history of Buckingham Palace, which started out first as Goring House (owned then by George Goring), then as Arlington House (owned by the Earl of Arlington), and finally achieved its current first name, Buckingham, when John Sheffield bought it, who was eventually made Duke of Buckingham and so named the property Buckingham House. After his death, Buckingham House passed through his widow’s and son’s hands until the house and land were bought by George III (“our” King George III, against whom we, as a nation, rebelled) for his wife, Queen Charlotte, to use as a Dower House, the place she’d go to when he died and “Prinny” (George IV) became king. It then became known as “The Queen’s House,” though still officially called Buckingham House.
Queen Charlotte adored “her” house and gave it her all in the interior decorations while King George made changes to the property outside and added on to its basic manor-house configuration to become statelier. However, it was Queen Victoria (and Prince Albert) who made it Buckingham Palace. In fact, Prince Albert is said to’ve been the one responsible for “ruining” it, making it the “monstrosity” the world knows today (according to the author, there are very few royals who actually like the place but several who abhor it!). Queen Victoria, upon learning of her ascension, wasted no time (about two weeks, I think) in switching residences. She’d hated living under her dominating niggardly mother and practically bowled over the men who came to tell her, her uncle, William IV, had died, making her queen.
And then, after going into life at Buckingham Palace under Queen Victoria and Prince Albert (which was, apparently, gay and lively until Victoria really came under Albert’s influences), this section quickly goes through the next owners, coming to Queen Elizabeth, the current monarch, who claims Windsor Castle as “her home.” Also within this section is a two-page floor plan for Buckingham Palace’s three main floors (a rough sketch—not an accurate rendering of its 600 rooms) and a fairly detailed account of for what most of them are used. One thing you learn in this section is the queen is her own bloody Macy’s! She has her own wardrobe department! And Prince Philip has his own, too, though smaller. The queen also has her own in-house masseur, hairdresser, makeup artist, and manicurist—not to mention her own couturier, milliner, and cobbler!
“Part Three” deals with a Royal Visit: Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands’ first visit as queen. The author takes you “on the scene” as the two queens arrive in horse-drawn carriage and details all the pomp and circumstance involved in the Royal State Welcome, then tells you where visiting royals or dignitaries stay and what they do, and then comes to the State Dinner—a seven-course (or thereabouts) meal with an orchestra playing in the choral balcony.
“Part Four,” the final section, gives you a typical workday at the palace for queen and her consort (that’s Prince Philip, the prince consort), while also touching on some of the staff jobs (there are about 300 full-time and 120 part-time employees) not covered in the previous sections. It’s also the section you learn about the Royal Finances (or the way the royal family “earns” their “salary” and how much they get (or got, since this was published in 1983)). The book ends in this section with the breakdown of how Michael Fagan twice broke into the palace, the second time, about a month after the first, making his way to the queen’s bedroom and sitting on her bed, asking for a smoke! The biggest shocker? There were no police or security around to come to her aid! And when she called for “cigarettes” (she doesn’t smoke), this didn’t sound an alarm to the palace police on duty! (Sounds to me as if the queen could’ve used a gun and taken care of her own self-defense instead of waiting around on others to “hop to” or for a husband who sleeps in another room and could’ve been out of town at the time (the book doesn’t mention Prince Philip’s whereabouts at all)!)
I liked this book for research; it gave a good glimpse into the court life and showed me where I might want/need to do more exhaustive study. (It also has some good pictures: photographs and drawings.) Plus it gives a bibliography at the back of more books to read on the Royal Life or Buckingham Palace.
Grade (for my purposes): A
Displaying 1 of 1 review