Author: Kristine Hughes

AH, LISBON

Vibrant, historic, unique, diverse – Lisbon. I’ve been twice in the last year, preparing for Number One London’s Peninsular War Tour in May, 2024. It’s a fabulous city, able to wow first time visitors with it’s river, hills, cobblestone streets, old town Alfama and an abundance of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. As to diversity, start with transport – you can easily travel around Lisbon via their iconic trams, in a tuk tuk or by boat. Of course, you can also take a cab or walk, which is the best way to see all the nooks, crannies and history of Lisbon.

Tuk tuks are everywhere and can be booked for a tour in advance or hailed as a taxi. You’ll find tuk tuk ranks dotted around the City.

A ride on one of the iconic Lisbon trams is a must do – but avoid Tram 28 like the plague. The line uses an older, heritage tram and it’s route passes many of the popular sites in the City, two reasons for the journey having become a crowded tourist trap, more often than not operating with standing room only.

You’ll see the decorative tiles Lisbon is known for everywhere, beneath your feet, on buildings and on ceilings. The Arabs brought the tiles to Lisbon from Egypt in the 12th century. You can read more about the tiles here.

If Lisbon’s 25 de Abril Bridge looks familiar, it’s probably because it was designed by the same company that constructed the Bay Bridge in San Francisco. Standing at the southern end of the bridge is the Christ the King (Cristo Rei) monument, inspired by the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro.

 

 

Among the UNESCO sites we’ll be visiting during the Peninsular War Tour is the Belem Tower, below.

A 16th century fortification, the Tower has stood through the centuries as a landmark for explorers, navigators and commercial shipping.

Nearby, we’ll find the Monument to the Discoveries, celebrating the 15th and 16th century Portuguese explorers who made Portugal the most powerful seafaring nation of the age.

But there’s more to Lisbon than UNESCO sites, history and monuments. There’s food. And drink. And we’ll be sampling both – there will be tapas!

 

And Pastel de Nata. A Portuguese egg custard tart created by 18th century monks who used egg whites for starching clothes. What to do with all the left over egg yolks? Viola. Pastel de Nata. To simply call them custard tarts is to do them a disservice and yet the flavour is elusive and hard to describe, though the likes of Anthony Bourdain and Phil Rosenthal have tried their best to do so. One taste and you, like me and millions of others, will be hooked.

We’d love to show you Lisbon on Number One London’s Peninsular War Tour in May, 2024. You’ll find the complete tour itinerary and further details here.

 

A TOUR GUIDE IN ENGLAND: DAY 2 – PART 2

After watching the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace, Diane and I
skirted St. James’s Park and noted all the glorious gardens in full bloom, above and below.
Crossing the Mall, we then walked up the path that runs along Green Park up to Piccadilly, but instead we turned in at Milkmaid’s Passage as short cut through to St. James’s Street.
I wanted to introduce Diane to Boulestin, a favourite restaurant of Victoria’s and
mine in St. James’s Street. In fact, I like it so well that I’ve included it on the itineraries for several upcoming tours as a dinner venue.
The restuarant is a revival of Marcel Boulestin’s pre-war venue in Covent Garden and has achieved the perfect blend of modern chic, French flair and historic touches. Click here to read about the original restaurant, the most expensive in London, and about chef Marcel Boulestin.
In the photo above, you can see the outdoor seating area which is in Pickering Place, which is also adjacent to Berry Brothers and which was also the site of the last public duel in England.
Diane and I each had a bowl of homemade soup and shared a cheese plate afterwards. Delicious!
Afterwards, we detoured through Jermyn Street in order to pay a visit to an old and dear friend.
Then it was on to meet another old friend, antique dealer Mark Sullivan,
whose shop is in Cecil Court.
After pouring Diane and I a glass of wine each, it was at least a half hour of catch up before we got to the business at hand – Artie-facts, the true reason for our visit. As usual, Mark had found me another Wellington for my collection, and what a corker!
As you can see, he’s right at home now and fits beautifully into the collection.
We decided to end the afternoon seeing even more of our pals, so Diane and I headed over to the Regency section at the National Portrait Gallery.
Part Three Coming Soon!

CALKE ABBEY – THE UNSTATELY HOME

The National Trust presents Calke Abbey as an illustration of the English country house in decline. Displays show how house was left when abandoned in the 1920’s and the NT refers to the property as an “unstately home.”

From Wikipedia: “Set in the midst of a landscape park, the National Trust presented Calke Abbey as an illustration of the English country house in decline. A massive amount of remedial work but no restoration has been done and interiors are almost as they were found in 1985 so the decay of the building and its interiors has been halted but not reversed. Before the National Trust work of the late 1980s everything had remained untouched since the 1880s. The Trust manages the surrounding landscape park with an eye to nature conservation. It contains such features as a walled garden, with a flower garden and a former physic garden, now managed as a kitchen garden. Some years after Calke was handed over to the National Trust to settle death duties, an heir was discovered: Andrew Johnson, a distant cousin of the Harpur family. Johnson was a wealthy resident of Vermont and the owner of important stands of timber and of a lumber business, though the popular press in Britain referred to him as a `lumberjack.’ Johnson was given the use of an apartment in the Abbey, which he and his family have used on occasional visits.”

And from The History of the County of Derby, Part 2 (1829) by Stephen Glover: “In this house, although it has never yet been put up, either for use or ornament, is, perhaps, one of the most splendid state beds in the kingdom, presented, on the occasion of her marriage,-by ” Caroline,” queen of George the Second, to Lady Caroline Manners (afterwards Harpur) as one of her bridemaids. This now beautiful seat was, in the memory of persons n6w living, one of the plainest and least ornamental, it is said, almost desolate and ugly, places in the county. The present improvements were all planned and executed by the late Sir Henry Crewe, bart. who devoted a life of retirement to this purpose, affording thereby, for many years, ample employment to the workmen and labourers of the surrounding neighbourhood. The house being ill supplied with water, Sir Henry Crewe, at a great expense, brought it from an excellent spring beyond Ticknall, about a mile and a half, to a covered reservoir in the park, from whence the stables, house, gardens, and dairy, are now fully and amply supplied. The style of architecture is Ionic, highly enriched, with fluted pilasters between the windows, and an elegant balustrade round the whole building, within which is a flat roof covered with lead. The stables are excellent, and stand on an elevated site to the north of the house.”

The Potting Shed at Calke Abbey from natures-desktop.com
All of this sounds vastly intriguing and Victoria and I are loathe to admit that neither of us has yet visited Calke Abbey. Have you? If so, please share your visit with us. And in the meantime, Victoria and I have yet another stop to put on a future itinerary.

The Book of Fashionable Life – Drawing Rooms

From The Book of Fashionable Life by A Member of the Royal Household (London, n.d.)

REGULATIONS
TO BE OBSERVED AT
HER MAJESTY’S DRAWING ROOMS.
 
 
All ladies attending Her Majesty’s Drawing Rooms are requested to bring with them two cards, with their names legibly written thereon—one to be left with the Queen’s page in attendance in the Presence Chamber, and the other to be delivered to the Lord in Waiting, who will announce the name to Her Majesty. And those ladies who are to be presented are informed, that it is absolutely necessary that their names, together with the names of the ladies who are to present them, should be sent into the Lord Chamberlain’s Office two clear days before the Drawing Room, in order that they may be submitted for the Queen’s approbation, it being Her Majesty’s command that no presentation shall take place, unless the name of the lady presenting, together with that of the lady to be presented, shall appear on the card delivered as before directed, corresponding with the names sent into the Lord
Chamberlain’s Office; and it is especially requisite that the Ladies who present others, should be actually present at the Drawing Room. One card must be left with the Queen’s Page, in the Presence Chamber, and another be delivered to the Lord-in-Waiting, who will present the Lady to the Queen.
At a Birthday Drawing Room, no presentations take place; but, nevertheless, each Lady and Gentleman, who proposes to attend, should send a card to the Queen’s Lord Chamberlain a few days before the holding of the Drawing Room Afterwards, when you attend, take care that your carriage arrive at the Palace before two o’clock. You should be provided with two cards, to be delivered as before mentioned, one to the Queen’s Page in the Presence Chamber. Afterwards you enter Queen Anne’s Chamber, where you wait until the door is opened at the end of the room, looking down from the fire-place. You should enter within the rails near the fire-place, and go in procession to the Anti-Drawing Room. Ladies carry their trains on the left arm until they come near to Her Majesty, when the train is dropped, a card delivered to the Lord-in-Wailing, who will announce the Lady’s tide or name, when she makes a graceful courtesy to Her Majesty, and then retires. The Ladies who attend Drawing Rooms will be pleased to observe that there is an established regulation with regard to their dresses. Court Etiquette requires that they should not appear in hats and feathers, or turbans and feathers, but in feathers and lappets, in conformity with the established orders.
It must be particularly observed, that no persons are permitted to remain in the Throne Room, having passed Her Majesty at the Drawing Room, but the Ministers and their ladies, the great Officers of the Household and their ladies, the Foreign Ministers and their ladies, and the Officers of the Household upon duty.

The Wellington Connection: The Household Calvary

As we recently ran a post about a Household Calvary horse named Sefton, we thought it would be appropriate to look into the Duke of Wellington’s connection to the Household Calvary, a term used to describe the cavalry of the Household Division, the most elite senior military groupings or those military groupings that provide functions associated directly with the Royal Family. The British Household Cavalry is made up of two regiments of the British armed forces, the Life Guards and the Blues and Royals (Royal Horse Guards and 1st Dragoons). These regiments are divided between the Armoured Regiment stationed at Combermere Barracks in Windsor and the Household Calvary  stationed at Knightsbridge Barracks, London. 

 

The first Regiment with whom the Duke of Wellington was connected was the Royal, or 1st, Dragoons, who served under Wellington, as Lord Wellesley, during the Peninsular War. They acted as rearguard during the retreat at the Torres Vedras lines in 1810 and their charge at Fuentes d’Onor in 1811 contributed greatly to that victory. By the end of 1814, the Royal Dragoons had advanced into southern France and were granted permission to march through France to Calais.
In 1815, their successful charge at Waterloo alongside the Union Brigade was responsible for maintaining the Allies’ weakest position until the Prussians arrived. The famous charge against the French Cuirassiers took place at the height of the battle and saved the British centre from being overrun. During this charge, the 105 Eagle, now part of the The Royals’ and The Blues dress, was captured from the French 105th Infantry Regiment of the Line by Captain Clarke and/or Corporal Stiles.
 

 

 

 

However, the Duke of Wellington is most closely connected to the Royal Horseguards, also called The Blues. He was appointed as Colonel of the Regiment on 1st January, 1813, which proved to be the first step towards raising The Blues to the distinction of belonging to the Household Calvary. Wellington was the first Colonel to take office as Gold Stick with the colonels of the 1st and 2nd Life Guards, regiments with whom The Blues fought at the battle of Vittoria.

The Blues formed the Heavy Cavalary Brigade at Waterloo, fighting alongside the 1st and 2nd Regiments of Life Guards. At the beginning of the Brigade charge, the Regiment was in support, but as the charge unfolded, they drew into the first line. After the battle, the following equine casualties were reported: 48 killed, 21 wounded and 25 missing.

 

In 1821, King George IV ordered the Regiment to be brigaded with the 1st and 2nd Life Guards and to share the duties of the King’s Life Guard.
Today, the Household Cavalry continue to guard the monarch, appearing daily at the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. Fittingly, the Viewing Galleries within the Wellington Arch, in front of Apsley House, offer unique views of the Household Cavalry passing beneath the Arch on their way to and from the Changing of the Guard. The Arch opens daily at 10 a.m., with the Guards usually passing at around 10:30 a.m.