HOMES OF THE ROYAL FAMILY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 7 January 1935, Page 8

HOMES OF THE ROYAL FAMILY

Homo to the Duke of Gloucester is Buckingham Palace, where he has quarters for himself and his staff. They are “men’s” .apartments, devoid of frills and furnished comfortably with deep armchairs and other solid fittings. The walls are painted cream; the curtains are of dark red brocade. The establishment is simple, the Duke having a Comptroller, Major R. T. Stanyforth, M.V.0., M.C., and two Equerries, Captain Howard Kerr, who is with him on his present tour, and Captain E. W. Brook.

When alone the Duke amuses himself with his wireless set, or reading and smoking, settling down comfortably in an old jacket, with his Scotch terriers Jock and Doug'al at his side, .Although the Duke’s library is largely composed of works on military matters, he frequently reads much lighter books; being fond of a good detective story, and of humour. P. G. WodehousO is one of his favourites, the Duke never tiring of the, adventures of th'o inimitable “Jeeves ” He is a regular church attender, the King and Queen having brought up their children in a sincere and quiet piety. When presiding at an annual meeting of the British and Foreign Bible Society, the Duke said: “It would be a happier and a more peaceful world if nr our personal and public affairs we all made the Bible our final court of appeal and accepted its ruling as the law of life.” Architects and those whose delight in castles is line old lines and atmosphere, do not like Buckingham Palace, which b?.s been described as the ugliest and least pretentious of the Royal palaces of Europe. It has been asserted that the dignity usually embodied in the design of Royal palaces is completely absent from Buckingham Palace, and that the building is unworthy of the splendid site on which it is situated at the top of-Constitution.Hill. An ambition of James I. to start a silk-worm industry in England was responsible for the acquisition of the property by the Government .and its planting in mulberry trees in 1609. The venture was a failure and the grove was turned- into a public park which came to be known as the Mulberry Gardens, frequently mentioned in the diaries Of Samuel Pepys. Eventually the greater part of the ground was sold to Lord Goring, who built the famous Goring House on the site of the present palace. After the death of Goring the property passed into the hands of Lord Arlington, the first man to introduce tea to England He imported it from Holland at 60 shillings a pound, and it is Believed that the first tea drunk m England was consumed at Goring House. After the fine old building had been burned down once and rebuilt it was acquired by the Duke of Buckingham, who did not like its appearance and ordered it to be pulled down m 1704. In its place Buckingham House, a much more pretentious structure, was erected. In 1761 George. 111, bought the bouse and property for £.21,000 and moved there from St. James. Palace, to which be had taken a dislike. Many unbalanced and unharmonious additions were made from time to time, with the result that, on the death of his father and mother, George IV. entrusted his favourite architect, Nash, with the task of super vising the demolition of the building and the erecting of a new palace. The work was started in 1825 without anv proper plans or models. Even the architect himself expressed disgust when the last of the scaffolding was removed and the lines of the building were, revealed. “I did not mean it to look like that,” he naively confessed. The building was completed in 1837 at a total cost of £500,000. George IV. was thoroughly disappointed with, the new palace and never lived in it. ITis successor, William IV., hardly used it at all and after the big fire at Westminster in 1840 offered Parliament the use of the building. The offer was declined. flaring the reign of Queen Victoria additions costing over £200,000 were made to the palace, these including a new cast front and the state ballroom, admitted to be one of the finest in Europe. Various other improvements have been made since Victorian times, including £60,000 worth in 1912, since when the exterior appearance of the building has changed but little. In its present shape Buckingham Palace is said to hear a. striking resemblance to the Royal palace, in Brunswick, the home of King George’s ancestors. It, was at Sandringham Castle, holiday home and favourite residence of the Royal Family, that the Duke of Gloucester spent most of his boyhood, having been horn at York Cottage, an annexe of the main buildings. Purchased hv the nation in 1861 ns a country home for the Prince and Princess of Wales, later King Edward and Queen Alexandra, the fine old building and its grounds have been improved year by

Tear until now Sandringham is considered to be one of tho finest and most delightful homesteads in the world. It is set in magnificent park-like grounds of nearly 7000 acres, which contain several fine visitors’ residences. Balmoral Castle, tho Scottish residence of the Royal Family, is picturesquely situated on a curve of the River Dee, at the foot of Graig Cowan, the. mansion being of white Crat-hio granito

in tho Scottish baronial style. Tho castle was bought by tho Prince Consort in 1848 and bequeathed by him to Queen Victoria after extensive building operations had been carrifltl out. The King and Queen generally stay at Balmoral Castle while on visits to Scotland.