Tours – Page 11 – Number One London

The Duke of Wellington Tour – Video Highlights – Part One

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be bringing you video of the places we’ll be visiting on The Duke of Wellington Tour in September. Today, we begin with our first stop – London.

The Grosvenor Hotel, Victoria, above, where our journey begins.

Apsley House, the first stop on our tour, where our group will be given a private, guided tour of the property.

Afterwards, we’ll visit the Wellington Arch.

We’ll then proceed by private motor coach to the Tower of London, where we’ll see the exhibition being mounted to illustrate the Duke of Wellington’s influence upon the Tower in the capacities of both Constable of the Tower and Prime Minister. Here’s a video that provides some background on the office of Constable, as well as Wellington’s influence on the Tower. We’ll also be meeting with the Ravenmaster of the Tower, who regularly posts amusing pictures of his charges on Twitter.

You can find the complete itinerary and pricing for The Duke of Wellington Tour here.

The Duke of Wellington Tour: St. James's Palace

On Sunday, September 5, 2014, the lucky participants in The Duke of Wellington Tour will take a walking tour (aka a leisurely stroll with many stops for refreshment) of part of London, principally through St. James’s. Victoria here, with a few facts and pictures.

St. James’s can mean a number of things in London, but generally it refers to a small neighborhood south of Mayfair and west of Whitehall and Trafalgar square, bounded by Piccadilly on the north, St James’s Park on the south, Green Park on the west and Haymarket on the east. St. James’s is a royal palace; a church on Piccadilly, designed by Sir Christopher Wren; a lovely park; an area known as clubland, and a street of distinguished shops.

The name comes from St. James’s Palace, so named because it was built on the site of a hospital for lepers dedicated to St. James the Less, one of the twelve Apostles. Here Henry VIII built the red brick structure which still serves as the official residence of the British monarch. Note that Ambassadors to Great Britain are officially designated as Ambassadors to the Court of St. James.

Main Entrance on Pall Mall

at the foot of St. James’s Street

The Tudor Entrance

Official events are held here and the Chapel Royal is often the venue for royal weddings and baptisms, such as the christening of Prince George of Cambridge on October 13, 2013.

Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, the Duchess of Cambridge

and Prince George of Cambridge at St James’s Palace for the Christening

The Altar, Chapel Royal, from The Mirror

for more pictures of the Chapel Royal, click here.

St. James’s Palace is not open to the public, though it is possible to attend some Sunday worship services at the Chapel Royal from October to Good Friday. Click here for details.

Caroline and George

The ill-fated wedding of George, Prince of Wales (later George IV) to Princess Caroline of Brunswick took place on April 8, 1795.

Albert and Queen Victoria

Queen Victoria married Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha on February 10, 1840 in the Chapel Royal. Eighteen years later, their daughter Victoria, The Princess Royal, married here as well, to the future German Emperor Frederick III.

The Marriage of George V and Princess Mary of Teck, July 6, 1893

Gardens at St. James’s, ca. 1700

According to the Garden Visit website (click here), the original renaissance garden, shown above, compartments, were re-designed in the “gardenesque style.”

18th Century Print: Cherries; a seller outside the Palace

St. James’s has often been the venue for Royal levees and receptions . This plate below from the Microcosm of London, 1810, shows a “Drawing Room,” where a chosen circle could present themselves and their friends and family formally to the Royals.

Ackermann’s Microcosm of London

On the Duke of Wellington Tour, we won’t be going inside, but we will see the Palace and its neighbors, The Queen’s Chapel, Marlborough House, Lancaster House, Clarence House, the Mall, St. James’s Street, and more. Below are a few pictures I took on a previous visit to St. James’s.

Palace from Marlborough Road

The Queens Chapel in Marlborough Road

Along the Mall, Trooping of the Colour, 2011

Marlborough House

St. James’s Church, Piccadilly

For all the Details about The Duke of Wellington Tour, click here.

The Wellington Tour: Exciting Changes!

Not so long ago, Victoria and I believed that we had the itinerary for The Wellington Tour finalized and that it was done and dusted, but instead we’re finding that it’s a fluid, ever evolving thing. One could even say that it’s got a life of its own. I recently received an email from the curator at the Tower informing Victoria and me that they were going to be mounting an exhibition this summer on the Duke of Wellington’s influence upon and changes to the Tower made whilst he was both Constable of the Tower and Prime Minister.

While we don’t have complete details regarding the Exhibition as yet, Victoria and I deemed it important that we take it in during The Wellington Tour in September. Accordingly, we have changed the itinerary by substituting the Tower of London for St. Paul’s Cathedral on Saturday, September 6th. Until further details arrive, you can read on to learn more about Wellington’s influence on the Tower of London.

Above – Items belonging to the Duke of Wellington shown previously at the Tower. Read more here.

From the Tower of London website:

The Duke of Wellington was Constable of the Tower from 1826 to 1852. Under his invigorating leadership the increasingly smelly and sluggish moat was drained and converted into a dry ditch.

The Grand Storehouse was destroyed by fire in 1841. The Duke arranged to clear the rubble and started work on a huge new barracks, to accommodate a thousand men. On 14 June 1845 the Duke laid the foundation stone on the barracks named after his greatest victory – Waterloo.

London 1840s was the scene of rallies and disturbances by Chartists demanding electoral reform. The Tower exerted its traditional role of state power over the people, probably for the last time. More defences were constructed, including a huge brick and stone bastion that finally succumbed to a Second World War bomb, but the Chartist attack never materialised.

It was also at the beginning of this century that many of the Tower’s historic institutions departed. The Royal Mint was the first to move out of the castle in 1812, followed by the Menagerie in the 1830s, which grew to become London Zoo. The Office of Ordnance was next to leave in 1855 and finally, the Record Office relocated in 1858. An increasing interest in the history and archaeology of the Tower led to a process of ‘re-medievalisation’ in an attempt to remove the unsightly offices, storerooms, taverns, and barracks and restore the fortress to its original medieval appearance.

Visitor numbers increased dramatically in the 19th century. now it was not just privileged sightseers (who were paying for a guided tour as early as the 1590s), but ordinary people who enjoyed a day out at the Tower. In 1838 three of the old animal cages from the Menagerie were used to make a ticket office at the eastern entrance where visitors could buy refreshments and a guidebook. By the end of Queen Victoria’s reign in 1901, over half a million people were visiting the Tower each year.

You can find more details about The Duke of Wellington Tour here.
Read on for an account of the ceremony swearing in the Duke of Wellington as constable of the Tower from The Life and Campaigns of Arthur, Duke of Wellington by George Newenham Wright (1841) by clicking here.
And you can see almost daily pictures of the Tower ravens posted by Ravenmaster on Twitter by clicking here. Black and white photo above (Beefeaters at Tower gate) also supplied by same.

The Wellington Tour: The Apsley House Remodel

As some of you may be aware, we will be visiting Apsley House during The Duke of Wellington Tour to England in September so I thought I’d pass along the news that Apsley House is currently closed for conservation cleaning (see below) as well as the remodel of the Entry Hall.

I recently learned about the project aimed at transforming the appearance of the Entrance Hall at Apsley House in order to return it to its original designs. Three key aspects to the work include removal of 20th century mosaic tiling, consolidation of the floor sub structure and the reinstatement of the Portland Stone floor and the historic decorative scheme, including specialist finishes. In addition, the reception desk and retail space will be moved to the Inner Hall, where previously there were several marble busts, as well as a table and chairs where visitors could look through books that told the story of the Dukes of Wellington.

The photo above shows the Entrance Hall before it was stripped out in early November 2013. The 20th century tile mosaic floor has now been replaced with Portland stone, in keeping with the original decor of the 1st Duke of Wellington. The photo above faces the entrance doors to Apsley House. Below is a view of the Hall looking towards the interior of the House. All photos in this post are the property of, and were graciously provided by, Apsley House.

Christopher Small, manager of Apsley House, was kind enough to answer a few questions I had about the remodel and here I pass along his answers to you:

Kristine: Just to be clear, the remodel is going on in what is now the Entrance Hall and not the Inner Hall/Waiting Hall, which was originally the entrance hall – correct?

Christopher: Yes, it is the present entrance hall, which was constructed in the time of the 1st Duke. The Inner Hall, where the ticket desk will now be located, was the original entrance hall in the 18th century Adam House.

Kristine: The 2nd Duke installed the mosaic floor around 1860, but I’m under the impression that it was again altered afterwards. Is that correct?

Christopher: As we understand it the entrance hall mosaic was early 20th century and replaced the 2nd Duke’s Victorian mosaic. The inner hall’s mosaic is still intact from the 2nd Duke’s time.

Above photo: Entrance hall, looking into the Inner Hall

Kristine: Is the plan to return the space to Wyatt’s original designs?

Christopher: Although we do not know exactly what the Wyatt entrance hall looked like, this will be a very close approximation.

Kristine: And will this include wall and ceiling treatments, as well as pictures and other decorative items, or just the Portland Stone floor?

Christopher: The floor has been the main piece of work carried out in the restoration, but the walls of both the entrance and inner hall are being re-painted in more authentic style and the marble effect paintwork is being carried out on the columns only this time. In addition, the ceilings have been repainted in white. In terms of pictures on the wall, they will remain pretty much as they were.

Entrance Hall painted and marbling samples being worked out on the columns.

Kristine: How will these changes affect the visitor experience?

Christopher: The admissions desk and retail area will be in the Inner Hall now, as opposed to being in the entrance hall – so that visitors will get that wow factor as they walk into the restored hall.

Kristine: Are there plans for further renovations ahead of the anniversary of Waterloo in 2015?

Christopher: There are plans to carry out some restoration work next winter on the furniture into the Waterloo Gallery, and there may even be some new carpets made, as well.

Apsley House will re-open to the public in April. I’m looking forward to seeing the renovations for myself in September. Meanwhile, we can keep up with the progress of the remodel schem
e by visiting the Facebook page for Apsley House.

Click Here For Full Details of the Duke of Wellington Tour

UPDATE – Below is a photo of the completed work on the Entry Hall

The Wellington Tour: Masterpiece Theatre

The Wellington Tour is still nine months away and so I do not dwell on it. Much. It would be folly for me to think on the prospect of seeing England again this far ahead of our departure. So I’ve decided that the best thing to do is to put the Tour as far from my mind as possible. You would think it would be relatively easy to accomplish this state of enforced amnesia, but it is not. Reminders seem to be round every bend. Rory Muir’s new biography of the Duke of Wellington was just published in December and so I’ve been reading reviews of it whilst awaiting the arrival of my own copy (oh, Joy!). And then there are the gossip items one can’t help reading lately regarding the engagement of the present Duke of Wellington’s granddaughter, Sofia Wellesley, to ex-guardsman and current crooner James Blunt, pictured below. Lately, one can hardly turn around without encountering the Duke of Wellington. And there was the diorama of the Duke of Wellington’s funeral procession, with rolls of handcoloured pictures of all the dignitaries and their carriages, which I found recently on eBay. It looked something like a thicker Etch-A-Sketch, the pictures moved along rollers that were controlled by the two knobs beneath the glass window. Alas, I was forced to stop bidding when the price flew above four hundred dollars, more’s the pity. It would have been a grand addition to my future Wellington Museum.

And then there’s Masterpiece Theatre, which seems to be on a mission to remind me of the Wellington Tour on a regular basis. I watch a lot of PBS, and thus have been treated to the spate of commercials and programs running up to the premiere of the new season of Downtown Abbey. PBS has been running Season Three episodes of Downton Abbey almost non-stop. Hubby has even gotten into the spirit of things, though unwittingly.

“Hey, Hon!”
“Yeah?”
“You watching your PBS?” (Hubby watches his shows in the living room – I in the bedroom).
“No. Why?”
“That woman’s on again. You know, the one who’s in every British program ever made.”

I switched over to our PBS channel, where I saw the Dowager Countess of Grantham on the screen. “Maggie Smith,” I yelled.”It’s Downton Abbey. I’m going there.”
“Riiight.”
“Downton is really Highclere Castle and we’re going there on the Wellington Tour.”
“Better you than me. My good man,” answered Hubby.

In fact, I’m watching The Secrets of Highclere Castle – again – as I write this. Once more I hear that Highclere Castle costs roughly a million pounds a year to maintain. And that within it’s walls is the priceless Van Dyck of Charles I, visible in the photo below.

I wonder if the family will be at breakfast when we arrive . . . . . . Once more, I’m told that in 1839 Highclere House was remodeled in the Gothic style. And that Capability Brown redesigned the landscape, which features a ruin-like folly and various temples, including the Temple of Diana, below.

In fact, the more I think on it, the more I realize that what I want to see most at Highclere are the grounds.

In the photo above, we see one of the fifty-six Cedars of Lebanon planted by the first Earl. I’m glad that Victoria and I have blocked out an entire day for our visit to Highclere, so that we’ll all have the time to take it in at our leisure. You can click this think for a map of the grounds.

This will also leave us plenty of time to visit the Tea Rooms

Highclere Castle Afternoon Tea Menu

Tea and Coffee

A glass of Sparkling Elderflower/Champagne

Selection of sandwiches that may include;

Roasted Chicken and Stuffing

Smoked Salmon and Horseradish

Honey Baked Ham

Egg and Cress

Freshly Baked Scones

Clotted Cream and Homemade Jam

A selection of cakes: Victoria Sponge, Carrot Cake or a Coffee and Cream Cake
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and, naturally, the Gift Shop. But returning to the house . . . .

I do want to see Lady Mary’s bedroom . . . . . . .

where Mr. Pamuk died.

It’s part of the tour, as is the gallery along which the ladies of the house carried the body.

I know, I know – with all that’s happened on Downton Abbey, why do I keep going back to that episode? Could it be because it was strangely comedic?

Of course, I’ll be tuning into Downton Abbey this Sunday since I can’t wait to find out what Thomas the Footman has up his sneaky sleeve this season. That should keep me from thinking about The Wellington Tour. Much.

Why not consider joining Victoria and me on our Tour? We’d love to have you with us as we experience all the fun of Highclere Castle, as well as the exciting feast of additional sites we have planned.