When most people visit Buckingham Palace, they immediately think of Queen Elizabeth II, Queen Victoria. Probably King Charles III, too, or you will, soon enough, but not many associate it with King George IV.
But somehow that’s with him it all started. Well his mum, truth be told… Let’s explore the history of Buckingham Palace to find out how:
The palace’s genesis as a royal residence begins with King George III (1760-1820). He purchased the property from the Duke of Buckingham with the aim of turning it into a residence for his wife, Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg, as they needed a bigger space to accommodate their growing brood of children: 15 in total, 13 of whom survived to adulthood!
The house became her favourite residence, and was renamed the Queen’s House.
She even converted the Queen’s Mews into a makeshift zoo, where Queen Charlotte had her pride and joy on display, a zebra, which (probably) much to the dismay of Queen Charlotte became quickly known as ‘the Queen’s ass’.
An elephant joined in later on. No comments or funny songs on that one strangely…
Well from the portraits, Charlotte was quite slim and anyway, one does not attack someone on their physical appearance, right?
Fast forward to their eldest son, George, AKA the Prince of Wales, AKA the Prince Regent, AKA ‘Prinny’ AKA King George IV (from 1820 to 1830)
Well, George later took his share of mockery and derogatory nicknames: ‘The Great sausage’, ‘The Prince of Whales’ (yes ok, he was fat); he was even dubbed ‘England’s worst King’ by some when he died in 1830 (yes ok, he was not very popular)
He started well though, Prinny was a cute kid:
But the cute kid grew up, and then it turned sour. Unfortunately, George (Prinny) and George (George III, his father) hated each other, a common theme in the Hanoverian line of succession, it seems.
This may have stemmed from Prinny’s marriage to the divorced Catholic Maria Fitzherbert at the age of 22.
They wed in secret, without the King’s consent, so their marriage was eventually ruled invalid.
When George III became too unwell to reign, his son was appointed as Prince Regent, with limited royal power.
This was depicted brilliantly in the Channel 4 feature film, ‘The Madness of King George’, with Nigel Hawthorne as George III and Rupert Everett as George IV.
The film explores George III’s madness, a condition little understood in 1788, and how the Prime Minister and Queen Charlotte attempted to prevent the King’s political enemies from usurping the throne.
But George as Prince Regent went on living a life of extravagant luxury and scandalous behavior, and his debts increased as dramatically as his waistline. The government agreed to pick up all his debts if he made a legal marriage, and the chosen one, we might say the poor victim of that plan, was his cousin Caroline of Brunswick.
They had never met and when they did in 1794, it was ‘hate at first sight’ , and it appears the only thing they had in common was how much disappointed they were in each other.
They really despised each other : George claimed Caroline had a personal hygiene problem – basically, that she didn’t like to wash.
We can’t really be sure if it’s true or not, but we are sure that what Caroline said about George, however, WAS true:
“The Prince is very fat and he’s nothing like as handsome as his portrait.”
She might have received a portrait like that one, painted in 1792 by Richard Conway, although we know this one was probably intended as a love-token for either Mrs Fitzherbert or Mrs Crouch, the Prince’s two lovers in 1792.
watercolour on ivory
– National Portrait gallery –
But this one is just an early example of a series of ‘portraits with a twist’, depicting George as a young, slim, handsome, square-jawed military hero, all things he was not.
But a painter’s got to eat, right?
A particularly talented artist, Sir Thomas Lawrence, did wonders on that regard:
When this portrait was painted in 1815, King George IV was a 300 pound, 53 year old man…
If there is such thing as reincarnation, I am pretty sure Thomas Lawrence came back as the person who first came up with Photoshop, or the concept of Snapchat or instagram filters…
Unfortunately for him the public and the satirists did not see him the same way…
His marital life was a catastrophy (he was blind drunk on his wedding day!), he was very unpopular as Prince Regent because of his lavish and debauched lifestyle, and things didn’t get much better when he actually became King in 1820, upon the death of King George III.
His coronation is said to have been the most lavish in British history. He and Caroline had been estranged for years at this point, but she returned to attend his coronation ceremony (divorce was not an option, so you might as well be Queen, right?), but she arrived at the door of Westminster Abbey only to have it slammed shut in her face.
She died three weeks later, brokenhearted.
After George III’s death, George IV as a King decided to turn Buckingham House (The Queen’s House) into a real palace.
He employed his favorite architect, John Nash, to take on the project: Nash enlarged Buckingham House into the imposing U-shaped building which was to become Buckingham Palace: a central building with 2 wings enclosing a grand forecourt with a triumphal arch in its centre.
The arch was designed to be the state entrance to the ‘cour d’honneur’ of Buckingham Palace and was made of white marble…
Yes you are right: it is ‘THE’ Marble Arch, which moved to its current site in 1851.
But Buckingham was not the first collaboration between George IV and John Nash.
George’s London residence was Carlton House in Westminster at the time, and Nash also redeveloped the area, including the designs of the King‘s Opera House at the Haymarket, of Regent Street, which formed a ceremonial route to Regent‘s Park, and Regent’s Canal too. I believe they didn’t look too far to find the names, but what they created part of London’s identity, still recognized today by everyone.
Buckingham Palace was recognized from the start as a masterpiece, but Nash was later sacked for overspending on the project, which ended up costing nearly half a million pounds – equivalent to around 13 million pounds in today’s money.
George IV died before it was furnished, and he never got the chance to move in.
His successor, his brother William IV, showed no interest in moving from his home at Clarence House, and the first sovereign to actually live at Buckingham Palace was another Queen: Queen victoria.
She had a new wing designed, the one with the iconic balcony that we all recognize today.
The balcony is said to be a suggestion from her beloved husband Prince Albert. And from the first time in history, the balcony was used by Queen Victoria to see off her military troops departing for the Crimean War, and to welcome them on their return.
It has been a focal point for national celebrations and commemorations ever since.
Today the palace has 775 rooms in total. These include 19 state rooms, 52 royal and guest bedrooms, 188 staff bedrooms, 92 offices and 78 bathrooms.
The palace receives more than 50,000 visitors each year, and if you decide you would like to be one of them, you can book a visit on the Royal Collection Trust website (click here)
Tony P.
