Buckingham
Palace is the London residence and principal workplace of the monarchy of the
United Kingdom. Located in the city of Westminster, the palace is often at the
center of state occasions and royal hospitality. It has been a focus for the British
people at times of national rejoicing.
Originally
known as Buckingham House, the building which forms the core of today’s palace
was a large town house built for the Duke of Buckingham in 1703 on a site which had been in private
ownership for at least 150 years. It was subsequently acquired by the King
George III in 1761 as a private residence
for Queen Charlotte and was known as “the Queen’s House”. During the 19th
century it was enlarged, principally by architects John Nash and Edward Blore,
who formed three wings around a central courtyard. Buckingham Palace finally
became the official Royal Palace of the British Monarchy on the accession of
Queen Victoria in 1837. The last major structural additions were made in the
late 19th and early 20th centuries, including the East
front, which contains the well – known balcony on which Royal Family traditionally congregates to greet
crowds outside However, the palace chapel was destroyed by a German bomb during
Second World War. The Queen’s Gallery was built on the site and opened to the
public in 1962 to exhibit works from the Royal Collection.
The
original early interior designs, many of which still survive, included
widespread use of brightly colored blue and pink lapis, on the advice of Sir Charles
Long. King Edward VII oversaw a partial redecoration in a Belle Epoch cream and
gold color scheme. Many smaller reception rooms are furnished in the Chinese
regency style with furniture and fittings brought from the royal Pavilion at
Brighton and from Charlton House. The Buckingham Palace is the largest private
garden in London.
The state
rooms, used for official and state entertaining, are open to the public each
year for most of August and September, as part of the Palace’s Summer Opening.
In the
Middle Ages, the site of the future palace formed part of the Manor of Ebury.
The marshy ground was watered by the Tyburn River, which still flows below the courtyard
and south wing of the palace. Where the river was fordable the village of Eye Cross
grew. Ownership of the site changed
hands many time, owners included Edward and his Queen Consort Edith of Wessex
in late Saxon times, and after the Norman Conquest. William the Conqueror gave
the site to Geoffrey de Mandeville, who bequeathed it to the monks of
Westminster Abbey. In 1531, Henry VIII
acquired the hospital of St James And in 1536 he took of Ebury from Westminster
Abbey. These transfers brought the site of Buckingham Palace back into the
Royal hands for the first time since William the Conqueror had given it away
almost 500 years earlier.
Various
owners leased it from royal land fords and the freehold was the subject of
frenzied speculation during the 17th century. By then, the old
village of Eye Cross had long since fallen into decay, and the area was mostly
wasteland. Needing money, James I sold off party of the crown freehold, but
retained part of the site on which he established a 4 – acre mulberry garden for the production of silk.
Buckingham
palace finally became the principal Royal Residence in 1837, on the accession
of Queen Victoria who was the first
monarch to reside there as her predecessor William IV had died before its
completion. While the state rooms were a riot o gilt and color, the necessities
of the new palace were somewhat less luxurious. For one thing, it was
reported the chimneys smoked so much
that the fires had to be allowed to die down, and consequently the court
shivered in icy magnificence.
Following
the Queen’s Marriage in 1840 her husband. Prince Albert concerned himself with
a reorganization of the household offices and staff, and with the design faults of the palace. The problems
were all rectified by the close of 1840. However the builders were to return
within a decade. By 1847, the couple had found the palace too small for their
growing family, and consequently the new wing designed by Edward Blore was
built by Thomas Cubitt enclosing the central quadrangle. The large East Front
facing the Mall is today “the public face” of Buckingham Palace and contains
the balcony from which the royal family acknowledge the crowds on momentous
occasions and annually after Trooping the Color. The ballroom wing and a
further suite of state rooms were also built in this period, designed by Nash’s
student Sir James Penethrone contemporary musicians entertained at Buckingham
Palace. The composer Felix Mendelssehn is known to have played three on three
occasions Johann Strauss II and his orchestra played three when in England
Strauss’s “ Alice Polka” was first performed at the palace in 1849 in honor of
the Queen’s daughter, Princess Alice. Under Victoria, Buckingham Palace was
frequently the scene of lavish costume balls, in addition to the routine royal
Ceremonies, investitures and presentations. Widowed in 1861, the grief –
stricken Queen withdrew from public life
and left Buckingham Palace to live at Windsor Castle, Balmoral castle and
Osborne Castle. For many years the palace was seldom used and even neglected.