Royal sights in London
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Clarence House
After his beloved granny the Queen Mum died in 2002, Prince Charles got the tradesmen into her former home and spent £4.6 million of taxpayers’ money reshaping Clarence House to his own design. The ‘royal residences are held in trust for future generations’, but the current generation has to pay to have a look at five official rooms when the Prince, his sons and Camilla are away on their summer hols. The highlight is the late Queen Mother’s small art collection, including one painting by playwright Noël Coward and others by WS Sickert and Sir James Gunn. Admission is by tour only, which must be booked (far in advance); book also for disabled access. The house was original…
reviewed
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B
Queen’s Chapel
The royal sights generally don’t leave people breathless, but this one may touch your heartstrings: it’s where all the contemporary royals from Princess Diana to the Queen Mother have lain in their coffins in the run-up to their funerals. The church was originally built by Inigo Jones in the Palladian style and was the first post-Reformation church in England built for Roman Catholic worship. It was once part of St James’s Palace but was separated after a fire. The simple interior has exquisite 17th-century fittings and is atmospherically illuminated by light streaming in through the large windows above the altar.
reviewed
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C
Horse Guards Parade
In a more accessible version of Buckingham Palace’s Changing of the Guard, the mounted troopers of the Household Cavalry change guard here daily, at the official entrance to the royal palaces (opposite the Banqueting House). A lite-pomp version takes place at 4pm when the dismounted guards are changed. On the Queen’s official birthday in June, the Trooping of the Colour is also staged here. Fittingly, as the parade ground and its buildings were built in 1745 to house the Queen’s so-called ‘Life Guards’, this will be the pitch for the beach volleyball during the London 2012 Olympics.
reviewed
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D
Royal Mews
South of the palace, the Royal Mews started life as a falconry but is now a working stable looking after the royals’ immaculately groomed horses, along with the opulent vehicles the monarchy uses for getting from A to B. Highlights include the stunning gold coach of 1762, which has been used for every coronation since that of George III, and the Glass Coach of 1910, used for royal weddings. The Mews is closed in June during the four-day racing carnival of Royal Ascot, when the royal heads try to win some money on the horses.
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