Category: Video Wednesday

Part Two of our video tour of the sites we’ll be visiting during The Duke of Wellington Tour in September continues with more on our London stops. We hope you will sign up and come along to share our adventures. After leaving the Tower of London, its on to the Horse Guards and the Household Cavalry Museum.

From the Household Cavalry website:

Perhaps Horse Guards most illustrious tenant, the great Duke of Wellington, the Victor of Waterloo, had two stints at Horse Guards as Commander in Chief, a year from 1827-28 and the last ten years of his life from 1842. His office, formerly the Court Martial Room, is now the office of the Major-General Commanding the Household Division and General Officer Commanding London District. A print shows Wellington receiving visitors at the very same desk which is still in use today, and the decor of the room unchanged. The Duke also had quarters at Horse Guards and what is now an office was once his bedroom with the bed situated under the arch. He had an ensuite closet and a private stairway to the stables below, now blocked off, its entrance used as a cupboard. 

We’ve blogged about the Duke of Wellington’s connections to Horse Guards previously and you will find one of those posts by clicking here. You can read about Victoria’s previous visit to the Museum here, and one of Kristine’s visit to the site here.

You can take a peek inside the Museum here and you can read more about the history of the Household Cavalry here.

For a look at day in the life of a soldier in the Household Cavalry and the training and preparation involved, click here. And here’s the link to a stirring video of the Household Cavalry’s musical ride at Earls Court in 2012.

Click here to read the story of Sefton, one of the Cavalry’s most famous horses who survived an IRA bombing. And on the flip side, you can click here to see video of  the naughty Fenton, who led Guards on a merry chase down Whitehall during the wedding of William and Kate. Watch with the sound on so that you can hear a Guard repeatedly calling Fenton – to no avail. All came right in the end, however – Fenton was finally cornered at the Wellington Arch.

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.