Life Abroad - Part 31:
A glimpse of The Buckingham Palace
On
August 6, 1993, the red carpet at Buckingham Palace rolled out to give
access to the Royal abode for more than 400,000 visitors for the first
time for a period of nearly two months up till October 1, 1993. Such a
decision was taken by The Queen followed by the gutting of the ‘Windsor
Castle’ which was estimated at £40 million on restoration work and
particularly followed by the public outcry when she expected British tax
payers to foot the bill for the fire damage. The consequences of all
such matters made her skirmish and to decide to open her London Home to
make a licensed invasion for 400,000 or more commoners which finally
seemed to have given £4.5 million gross.
Preparation
As the London Correspondent attached to The Island newspapers at the
time, I took my position among 600 journalists from the world media at
Ambassador’s Court on August 5 on the ‘Palace Review Day’ for the press.
After a long procedure of checking out credentials media personnel had
to go through a strict security check. Next we climbed the grand
entrance taking a breathtaking glimpse at ten portraits of Queen
Victoria’s relatives which included William IV, George III and Queen
Charlotte. The gilded balustrade had a Perspex covering to preserve it
from finger prints of visitors. The Guard Room contained 19th Century
statuary including Queen Victoria, a painting done in 1847.
Queen Elizabeth II |
Rope cordons with brass fittings kept the visitors precisely to a
defined route while some of the Queen’s valuable carpets had been rolled
up to avoid damage from the exodus of the trudging peasantry.
The furniture at the Green Drawing Room included two French chests of
drawers decorated with the late 18th Century marble (pietra dura) and a
Sevres porcelain vase in the shape of a boat (1758) belonged to Madame
de Pompadour which were used for the assembly of visitors before a state
banquet.
The Throne Room used by the Queen to receive loyal addresses on
formal occasions had one of the most exquisite ornamental ceilings
inside the Palace illumined by seven early 19th Century glass and gilt
bronze chandeliers. On the dais, under the canopy were the thrones of
the Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip which were used during her
Coronation ceremony at the Westminster Abbey in 1953. Along with these
were other thrones used in earlier coronations.
The Picture Gallery, the largest room at Buckingham Palace contained
a collection of important works by Van Dyck, Rubenas, Cuyp, Rembrandt
and others.
The arranged route led from the Picture Gallery via Silk Tapestry
Room to many galleries led to the State Dining room used for formal
occasions was decorated with seven portraits of the Hanoverian dynasty
of George IV, his parents, grandparents and great grandparents. 24
columns with sculptural reliefs of Shakespeare, Spencer and Milton by
William Pitt at either end supported the brilliant Blue Drawing Room
with four chandeliers.
The Music Room had been occasionally used for Royal family
Christenings of Prince of Wales, Princess Royal, the Duke of York and
Prince William of Wales. The White Drawing Room with a modelled and
guides ceiling was supported by 28 pilasters used for the Royal family
to assemble before state occasions.
Buckingham Palace, one of the most legendary buildings in the world
resembles a small town with hundreds of staff with its own post office,
police station, staff canteens and dining rooms. It has the capacity to
serve up to 600 meals a day and the post office deals with over 100,000
items every year.
There is an army of secretaries, clerical staff, tradesmen,
gardeners, butlers, and domestic staff; clock repairers wind and
maintain the Palace’s 300 clocks.
The electric bulb that glows from the Queen’s chambers at night is an
indicative that even she has to work at times till late hours attending
to paperwork that pour in red and blue leather pouches containing
official state papers for her signature.
Buckingham Palace |
Approximately 600 rooms in the Palace are more or less in constant
use with more than 200 domestic staff employed at Buckingham Palace
while 30,000 guests arrive for royal functions annually.
Since the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 the Royal collection
comprised over 10,000 pictures, 20,000 drawings, 16,000 water colours,
500,000 prints and many thousand pieces of furniture, sculpture, glass,
porcelain, arms and armour, textiles, silver, gold and jewellery
including the crown jewels.
Immunity
The Queen’s immunity from taxation was under fire in the early part
of 1993 and led to severe criticism and misdemeanour while the Crown
earned a reputation of being ‘dishonourable’ and the treasury
‘unprofessional’. The monarch was transformed from taxpaying to tax free
status since Edward Vii in 1901. As the queen’s savings from income tax
of £7.3 million (£200,000 a day) became a hot potato she volunteered to
pay taxes on her private income from 1993. This was regarded as a
sledgehammer blow to her income and she had to ‘cut her expensive coat
according to her cloth’.
Gloomy year
The year 1993 was certainly a bad year for the Queen who completed 40
years of executing her responsibilities as the Queen of England and Head
of the Commonwealth touring thousands of miles within England and abroad
and shaking millions of hands without devising any special grip to
protect her fingers. Out of all her past 40 years (up to 1993) she had
not experienced many a nightmare before.
It was mentioned in the news at the time that ‘at the age of 67 she
suddenly turned grey overnight and smiles turned into a frown’ possibly
because of the ‘Annus Horribilis’ of royal scandals and disasters which
were packed and delivered to her in a large bitter dose over a period of
12 months.
The young members of the Royal family at the time had not helped her
much.
Breaking up of her son’s marriage (Duke of York and Sera Fergusson),
Prince Edward joining the millions of the British unemployed and
deliberating on Harley Davidson motor cycle rides in leather gear,
Prince Phillips getting exposed in the newspaper headlines by asking a
girl once whether ‘she wore mink knickers’ and Prince Charles and
Diana’s marriage saga seemed to have naturally affected her health
rapidly.
With the opening of the Buckingham Palace door to 400,000 visitors
charging £8 per head the Palace became an attraction as ‘a biggest box
office hit’ in the summer of 1993.
Naturally ardent monarchists camped at St. James’ Park to become part
of the modern history between August 6 and October 1, 1993 while the
cynics and the anti-royals wondered whether the tax man kept an eye on
the red carpet that rolled at the Buckingham Palace.
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