Part II London UK

Tags

George II, Germany, Hanover, Hanoverian dynasty, Kensington Palace, London, Peter Pan, Queen Victoria

After our visit to the Victoria exhibit, we re-entered the hall of the Palace and walked up the King’s Staircase to the Royal apartments under the Hanoverian Dynasty. Which started 1714 to 1837.  With the death of Queen Anne having no heir the House of Stuart ended. George I of Hanover was the closest relative, 52sd in line to the Throne eligible to succeed in England because he was a Protestant Prince and the Act of Settlement stipulated that you had to be Protestant to be King. His successor was his only son George II also born in Hanover, however unlike his father, he spoke English.

When he ascended the throne he shared his father’s problem of having to fend off opposition from Jacobite supporters, with 1745 seeing ‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’ raise a strong army of rebellion in Scotland. This was famously crushed the following year in the notoriously bloody Battle of Culloden Moor. We got General Cornwallis, safe to say that by today’s standard, Cornwallis was a war criminal, he is infamous amongst Scots and also in Canada, despite being the founder of Halifax.

During George II’s later years he showed little interest in politics but he did involve Britain in the Seven Years War, which saw many European countries rise up against one another. In Canada, this war produce the deportation of the Acadians and the fall of New France in 1763. His reign also saw the foundation of the Industrial Revolution. After thirty-three years on the throne, he died while on the toilet and was buried at Westminster Abbey. As his eldest son Frederick had died of an abscess, the heir became the King’s grandson, George III.

The people you see in these Italian Renaissance style paintings are Courtiers of George I.

The King’s Staircase which is decorated in the Italian style and illuminated by these glass boxes in which candles were placed.

Music of Georg F. Handel played in the background, it really made our visit atmospheric.

King George II was married to Caroline Princess of Brandenburg-Ansbach, they had a happy marriage but she died young of bowel obstruction. They loved parties and Kensington Palace was party central for the Aristocracy.  We saw card games displayed which at the time were very popular. People also put wagers on who might win. Dancing and music was another pastime and Georg F. Handel was the favourite composer of the King.

The Game of Court, somewhat like modern Monopoly. Some of the rules below.

Kensington Palace belongs to Queen Elizabeth II and is a Royal Palace, London home to William, Duke of Cambridge and his wife Kate and their children. Many other Royals live in the Palace, that portion is not open to the public.

What we visited are known as the King’s State Apartments and decorated in the fashion of the time 1727-1760. Queen Anne lived here and at Hampton Court. Queen Victoria was the last Sovereign to live at the Palace, she moved in 1837 to Buckingham Palace.

The window treatment here in the King’s Gallery recalls Government House in Charlottetown.

Here is Will with the statue of William III of Orange who was Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders and Overijssel in the Dutch Republic from the 1670s and King of England, Ireland and Scotland from 1689 until his death in 1702, co-reigning with his wife, Queen Mary II, they were the first monarchs to live at Kensington Palace in 1689. The building at the back on the left is the portion where members of the Royal family live today.

Back in the 1600’s prior to the purchase of the house and land by the Crown, it was known as Nottingham House. What we see today is the modified and enlarged building made by William and Mary, Queen Anne and George II and Queen Caroline. Today several apartments are allocated by H.M. the Queen to members of her family. The apartments vary greatly in size depending on rank within the Royal family. Per example when Prince Harry was single he had a small 2 bedroom apartment whereas his brother William being Heir to the Throne had a far larger apartment. Nowadays he has a 21 room apartment. Once his father Prince Charles becomes King, at that point William, Kate and the children will probably be moved to their own palace.

Part of the gardens in the orangerie, that day gardeners were busy putting the garden to sleep for Winter. Queen Anne created this space.

Apartment flats in the area, neo-classical architecture. Will told me that Mr. Darling’s, Wendy and the family in the book of James Barrie, Peter Pan, lived in this neighbourhood on the border with Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. Note the palm trees.

In the book not the play, the Fairies find baby Peter Pan in Kensington gardens after he has fallen from his pram.

The Italian Gardens within Hyde Park built on the orders of Prince Albert as a gift for his wife Victoria in 1860.

So with this last day we returned to Canada. From Paddington Station to Heathrow airport the Express train takes only 12 minutes. Flying to Montreal.

Final leg, London,UK

Tags

Kensington Palace, London, St-Pancras station, Victoria, William IV

London with Brexit is now referred to as Dailymailistan. Today 14 October the look on the face of the Queen in Parliament and of Prince Charles said volumes, she has been humiliated by this thug Boris J. and his incompetent government. Despite the Speech from the Throne there is NO guarantee anything will happen. The whole thing is a huge farce. It also opens the door to questions of the relevance of the Monarchy, if the Prime Minister can lie to the Sovereign and get away with it. But I digress

So on our final leg of our European trip we arrived from Amsterdam by Eurostar train at St-Pancras Station in London. It is truly a marvel of architecture of the 19th century and has been completely restored. I really like it as a Train Station, it is the one referred to in Harry Potter.

In London there is a great choice of Hotels and Air B&B but the problem is the price, not that Amsterdam is any more affordable. We did find a great place to stay in a Pub. Yes a British Pub. The company is called www.pubandrooms.com  they have 4 establishments in Central London and at $192 CDN dollars simply great.

The Hayden Pub and rooms on 65 Westbourne Grove, Bayswater, London

We were tired at this point and London was just a short stop of 2 days, so we simply decided to walk around. We did not see JP and Guido of itsmyhusbandandme on WordPress.  Unfortunate because we would have liked to met them.

We strolled around and went to see two exhibits at Kensington Palace, one on the Hanoverian Dynasty, George I and George II and Queen Caroline very interesting and funny. The second one was on Queen Victoria who was celebrating her 200th Birthday in September. She was born at Kensington Palace, grew up there and this is where it was announced to her early one morning that she was now  Queen. The rooms have been preserved and it was interesting to see. What I did not know was that Victoria was only 4.5 feet tall, she had 9 children which caused her a serious hernia which affected her after 1863 until her death in 1901, causing her to become morbidly fat, not being able to walk properly and depression. The exhibits had her dresses and many personal artifacts.

Her parents bedroom where she was born in 1819 and her crib. Her parents were Prince Edward, one of the sons of King George III and her mother was German, Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, later Duchess of Kent and Strathearn.

Here is a dress Victoria wore at age 31, (1850) notice how the left arm is smaller and shorter than the right, a deformity hidden from the public.

Here is the room on the ground floor at Kensington Palace with the table were Princess Victoria sitting at the top was told by the Prime Minister and with all the other Court Officials in attendance that her uncle King William IV had died in the night and now she was Queen. The display on the table recreates the situation of that early morning announcement in this very room. She was 18 years old.

H.M. King William IV, son of King George III and uncle to Victoria. Government House on Fanningbank Estate in Charlottetown PEI was built under his reign.

In part two, I will complete the story of our visit to the Palace.