Green Park is one of London’s eight Royal Parks and covers an area of about 40 acres.
Although it is next door to Buckingham Palace, which is often besieged by thousands of tourists, Green Park is a peaceful oasis of mature London Plane trees and lawns and offers a quiet retreat from city life.
But Why Are There No Formal Flower Beds?
Did you know that Green Park is notable among central London parks for having no formal flower beds. Why is this? Read on to find out.
In Medieval times, most of the land now occupied by London’s central parks was originally owned by the church.
The land was seized by Henry VIII during the Dissolution of the Monasteries, which occurred between 1536 and 1541, and he added this land to his hunting grounds to the west of London.
Then King Charles II, in the 17th Century, enclosed Green Park with a brick wall, named it Upper St James’s Park, and built one of the first ice houses in Britain here, so that he could offer his guests cold drinks in summer.
It was also where the King went for his daily walk or ‘constitutionals’, and this explains how Constitution Hill got its name!
And Catherine of Braganza, wife of King Charles II, once caught her husband picking flowers here for another woman,
so she demanded that all the flowers be removed…
True or not, here is your answer as to why there are still no formal flowerbeds in Green Park!
Queen Caroline
In the 1700s, Queen Caroline, the wife of George II, built a reservoir called the Queen’s Basin to provide water to St James’s Palace, and she also built the Queen’s Walk, which is now a broad path running down the east side of the park.
Music For The Royal Fireworks
Handel’s Music for the Royal Fireworks was commissioned by George II to celebrate the treaty of Aix-La-Chapelle, ending after 8 years the War of the Austrian Succession.
It was given its first public performance in 1749 in Green Park.
The fireworks were let off from a specially constructed pavilion and, although the music was a success, the firework display was less so. The weather was rainy causing many misfires and in the middle of the show the right side of the pavilion caught fire and burnt to the ground
A woman’s dress was set on fire by a stray rocket and other fireworks injured three soldiers, and there was a public fight when the pavilion’s architect, the Chevalier Servandoni, drew his sword and confronted the organiser of the event, the Duke of Montagu.
Dueling At Green Park
The park was quite well known anyway as a dueling ground; one particularly notorious duel took place in 1730 between William Pulteney, 1st Earl of Bath, and John Hervey, 1st Earl of Bristol.
Memorials
Canada Memorial
More recently, the park has become a place to remember people who served in the two world wars.
The Canada Memorial commemorates members of the Canadian Forces killed during the First and Second World Wars.
It was designed by the Canadian sculptor Pierre Granche, erected in 1992 and unveiled by Queen Elizabeth II in 1994.
It is divided by a walkway into two distinct halves, representing Britain and Canada’s joint participation in World Wars I and II.
Royal Air Force Bomber Command Memorial
The Royal Air Force Bomber Command Memorial commemorates the crews of RAF Bomber Command who embarked on missions during the Second World War.
The memorial was built to mark the sacrifice of 55,573 aircrew from Britain and other allied countries, as well as civilians of all nations killed during raids. Queen Elizabeth II unveiled the memorial in 2012, the year of her Diamond Jubilee.
Gun Salutes In Green Park
On State Visits, at the State Opening of Parliament and on other special occasions, the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery fire gun salutes in Green Park. The number of rounds fired depends on the occasion. The basic salute is 21 rounds, usually fired at midday.
Paul
