LONDON A-Z An alphabetical journey through the capital's museums Queen's Gallery / Royal Mews
Location: Buckingham Palace Road, SW1A 1AA [map] Open: 10am - 5:30pm Admission: £14.50 (combined) (or about £8 each) Brief summary: Art and horses in the Queen's back garden Website:www.royalcollection.org.uk Time to set aside: half a day
In need of a museum I'd never visited before beginning with Q, there was only one option. Even better, nextdoor was a museum I'd never visited before beginning with R. So I visited them both. And I also visited the big house nextdoor, but I'll tell you about that tomorrow.
Q The Queen's Gallery is where HRH ERII displays her art collection to her humble citizens. Being the monarch of a once world-dominant nation she has a heck of a lot of art in her possession, and only a very small building in which to show it off. It's located along the southern edge of Buck House, in what used to be the Palace's private chapel until German bombs hit home, and was later refurbished as an exhibition space. It's all very grand, both on the way in and inside, with a sort of classical vibe to complement the centuries-old artefacts within. Therefore it seems slightly incongruous to see all the visitors wandering around wearing ugly modern headphones. But the audio guide (and its evocative minute-long descriptions) is crucial to enjoyment of the works on show, because without it you'd be in and out of the Gallery far too quickly.
When you're a rich ruler, two things happen. Firstly you can go round buying up as much art as you like because it's your head on the banknotes. And secondly lots of other rich rulers give you very expensive gifts to show off quite how rich they are. So there's some really opulent stuff here. The first gallery contains fabulous furniture, sumptuous sculpture and perfect paintings, for starters. Nextdoor there's a temporary exhibition of the very finest Sèvres porcelain, because it turns out that George IV was a crockery-hoarder extraordinaire. A tiny dim-lit alcove nearby holds some exquisite jewellery, including a Fabergé egg and some droopy diamond earrings. You'll need your reading glasses to be able to see the information about each item, else just gawp and admire.
A second large gallery repeats the formula, but on a larger scale. The Russians once sent our royals a huge malachite vase, so there it stands in the centre. George III bought that pair of Thames panorama Canalettos, so they've been stashed either side of the gold Flemish cabinet. Press audio button 23 for further information. And what's on show here is only a tiny part of the entire collection, so one can only guess at what the Queen might have hung in her own private quarters.
R A short distance down the road is the Queen's garage - the Royal Mews. It's no ordinary garage, obviously, because the HRH's modes of transport are always something special. Around the Mews' spacious quadrangle are parked some top of the range vehicles, as well some four legged hay-munchers. The horses arrived first, shifted into Buckingham House's back garden by George III, and thirty-ish are still stabled on site today. They're all lovingly cared for, and our present equine fanatic Queen knows every one by name. Visitors are able to walk through Nash's elegant long stable block where the horses are groomed and dressed for major ceremonies, although the penned-up Cleveland Bays and Windsor Greys are more likely to be glimpsed in the working stables on the way out.
In pride of place within the Mews is the Gold State Coach, which has been used by the sovereign at every Coronation for the last two centuries. It's magnificent, in a totally impractical showing-off sort of a way, bedecked with shiny sculpted gold at every opportunity [photo]. It's also very hard to manoeuvre and desperately uncomfortable to ride in. Our present Queen has only risked a trip three times - once at her Coronation and subsequently at her Silver and Golden Jubilees. If all goes to plan she'll be back inside for her Diamond in 2012, which will also be the 250th anniversary of the Gold Coach's first royal journey. For slightly lesser ceremonial trips other carriages are available, including the Glass Coach and the Australian State Coach. These have silkier seats and better suspension, and are better suited to lengthy parades with a lot of regal arm-waving.
When something quicker than horse-drawn is required, the Queen has a small collection of top-notch limousines. These include Bentley 1 and Bentley 2, as well as Rolls Royces 1, 2 and 3. One of these is usually on show, most probably the 1950s vintage Roller, whereas the Bentleys are considerably younger and carry out the donkey work on many a royal engagement. Each limo has a small heraldic flag that's raised manually through a hole in the roof, although apparently this has to be lowered whenever the vehicle exceeds 40mph so as not to cause damage. The Mews is a working community, so you might be fortunate enough to see one of the cars (or several of the horses) heading out on royal business. But don't expect to see HRH driving, merely smiling serenely from the back seat. by tube/train: Victoria
Q The Queen's Gallery is where HRH ERII displays her art collection to her humble citizens. Being the monarch of a once world-dominant nation she has a heck of a lot of art in her possession, and only a very small building in which to show it off. It's located along the southern edge of Buck House, in what used to be the Palace's private chapel until German bombs hit home, and was later refurbished as an exhibition space. It's all very grand, both on the way in and inside, with a sort of classical vibe to complement the centuries-old artefacts within. Therefore it seems slightly incongruous to see all the visitors wandering around wearing ugly modern headphones. But the audio guide (and its evocative minute-long descriptions) is crucial to enjoyment of the works on show, because without it you'd be in and out of the Gallery far too quickly.
R A short distance down the road is the Queen's garage - the Royal Mews. It's no ordinary garage, obviously, because the HRH's modes of transport are always something special. Around the Mews' spacious quadrangle are parked some top of the range vehicles, as well some four legged hay-munchers. The horses arrived first, shifted into Buckingham House's back garden by George III, and thirty-ish are still stabled on site today. They're all lovingly cared for, and our present equine fanatic Queen knows every one by name. Visitors are able to walk through Nash's elegant long stable block where the horses are groomed and dressed for major ceremonies, although the penned-up Cleveland Bays and Windsor Greys are more likely to be glimpsed in the working stables on the way out.
In pride of place within the Mews is the Gold State Coach, which has been used by the sovereign at every Coronation for the last two centuries. It's magnificent, in a totally impractical showing-off sort of a way, bedecked with shiny sculpted gold at every opportunity [photo]. It's also very hard to manoeuvre and desperately uncomfortable to ride in. Our present Queen has only risked a trip three times - once at her Coronation and subsequently at her Silver and Golden Jubilees. If all goes to plan she'll be back inside for her Diamond in 2012, which will also be the 250th anniversary of the Gold Coach's first royal journey. For slightly lesser ceremonial trips other carriages are available, including the Glass Coach and the Australian State Coach. These have silkier seats and better suspension, and are better suited to lengthy parades with a lot of regal arm-waving.
