Someone is Always "Up and Doing"

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22777, 10 July 1937, Page 9 (Supplement)

Someone is Always "Up and Doing"

By ARTHUR NETTLETON

AS a self-contained residence, /A Buckingham Palace, is not surpassed by even the "wonder" hotels of London or New York. The resources of this Royal home have been severely taxed throughout the last few months, and they will continue to be so during the rest of Coronation year. Yet the 500 workers who form the household staff of the building are not perturbed. They know, more than an "outsider" can realise, that only the most extreme contingency is likely to catch the palace unawares. Always 011 the spot are experts ready to cope with any emergency, for workrooms of many kinds are to be found within its walls. They range from a post office to a cabinet-makers' workshop; tucked into the palace are workshops for motor mechanics and electrical engineers; there is a small photographic darkroom (a converted clothes closet); and another of the numerous rooms is set apart for experts, who maintain the valuable tapestries which form a striking feature of the furnishings. Finding Accommodation In recent years, the increasing number of trades and professions actually carried on within the palace has somewhat worried the Lord Chamberlain and his stall, who have to find accommodation for these workers. On the other hand, upon the Lord Chamberlain's department falls the duty of running and preserving the residence, and tliev are the first to admit the necessity for the host of skilled workers who have to be accommodated there to-day. For instance, nobody can deny the present-day need for a motor repair shop, conveniently situated. The fleet of Royal cars is of the utmost importance and the possibility of a mechanical breakdown must be kept to a minimum. But this fact has not in any way eased the task of the Lord Chamberlain. While it is true that fewer horses are now kept at the palace than atone time, and that it lias been possible to convert stables into garages, a considerable number of animals have had to be retained for use on ceremonial occasions. Thus to accommodate the cars and the engineers, careful planning has been essential and the fullest use has had to be made of every foot of space.

The basement of Buckingham Palace contains some of the least-known .vet Important departments. The splendour "above stairs," which entrances visitors, is largely dependent upon the efficiency of the "below stairs" workers. To one of the basement workshops go, in turn, the various pieces of furniture in the palace. The inception of this workshop, with its permanent staff of cabinet-makers, dates from the reign of King Edward the Seventh. At an important function, a chair collapsed under a guest —fortunately without disastrous results. But His Majesty immediately insisted that cabinet-makers bo permanently engaged as members of the palace Btaff, so that every piece of furniture could he examined periodically and kept in perfect repair.

Buckingham Palace, but at Windsor Castle and elsewhere) often enabled him to suggest the lines the renovations should take. He was once responsible for the discovery of a valuable oil painting hidden beneath a modern one. The Keeper of the King's Pictures, who is officially in charge of this department, also looks after the preservation of the gilded frames. And the building has its own heating and water engineers. Some of the British Royal palaces in the past have not been notable for their comfortable atmospheric conditions, but such a criticism certainly cannot be levelled at Buckingham Palace to-day. Thermostatically controlled heaters are one of the latest additions to the residence. The kitchens, situated in the basement on the Buckingham Palace Road

The cabinet-makers employed to-day are not only required to bo tip-top craftsmen; thev have to know all about antiques too/for the valuable old furniture in tho residence comes under their inspection. Other little-known workers attaclied to this London Royal home are those who look after the pictures, Though other experts are called in from time to time, there is a good deal of everyday routine work to bo acconiplisJicd* in connection with the numerous valuable paintings. King George the Fifth himself took a very close interest in this particular work, and frequently visited the "picture renovation room." His close contact with old paintings (not only at

side, would astonish most sightseers, Though all the food for the palace comes from tlieso kitchens, they are astonishingly small in size. One moderatel.v large kitchen and four small ones comprise the arrangements. But their size is not a measure of their efficiency. It is doubtful whether any modern hotel could show a greater number of labour-saving devices packed within so small a space.The photographic darkroom, already mentioned, serves a unique purpose. It is for the use of photographers who photograph tho various apartments before any article is removed for repair or cleaning. The resulting records enable the objects to bo replaced in exactly the same position.

BEHIND THE SCENES AT BUCKINGHAM PALACE, LONDON

When chinaware and glass is removed from cabinets for washing, it is photographed similarly. The precaution may seem unnecessary, but Queen Mary (when she lived at the palace) was always able to detect a misplaced piece. Such errors struck a jarring note in her nature; so the photographic idea was adopted. Buckingham Palace never sleeps. In addition to the sentries and guards who watch the building, both inside and out, by night as we'll as by d/iy, a staff of cleaners is always working from midnight to about 7 a.m. Members of the RoyaJ family are fairly early risers, but before they rise each morning the corridors have been cleaned and dusted, furniture has been polished, and everything is spick-and-span. Cleaners at Work When a battery of electric vacuum cleaners was being bought for the palace, a few years ago, the order was given to the firm offering the most silent ones, the reason being that the cleaners would be used during the night! The purchase of these electric cleaners was an immense boon, for hitherto it had been necessary to remove the cai~pets for cleaning—not only because they could be more thoroughly cleaned that way, but because rising dust would otherwise have harmed the pictures on the Walls. Now that vacuum cleaners are employed, the carjiets have to be removed far less frequently. Keeping the interior perfectly gilded is another full-time job. Every inch of the decorations is gone over methodically, at times when the work will not interfere with the more important tasks carried out in the building. Gilding Operations The decorators estimate that a complete tour of the palace, attending to every flaw that may have arisen, takes about a fortnight. Then they start over again. Pure gold leaf, and not gold paint, is used for the gilding operations. Other experts are not permanently employed at the palace, but are under contract to visit the residence periodically and undertake all repairs which seem necessary. Thus, once a week, the table in the billiard room, is looked over, and, in addition to its everyday cleaning, carefully brushed down by an expert sent by the makers. Co-ordinating all these varied duties, however, is the duty of the Lord Chamberlain. He is in charge of this most famous and most efficiently run residence in the world. —K.P.F.