The Gold State Coach at the Royal Mews, Buckingham Palace

Gold State Coach at the Royal Mews, Buckingham Palace

The Gold State Coach is, without doubt, the most magnificent coach I have ever seen. What is more, it is Georgian. For me, this huge golden carriage is the highlight of any visit to the Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace, London.

‘A beautiful object’

The Gold State Coach is on display in the former State Carriage House at the Royal Mews. It measures 7.3 metres long, 2.5 metres high and 3.9 metres wide, and is gilded all over.

Gold State Coach at the Royal Mews, Buckingham Palace

The coach is adorned with palm trees and lions’ heads, and devices representing the British victory in the Seven Years’ War against France.

Lion detail on Gold State Coach at the Royal Mews, Buckingham Palace

The exterior boasts exquisitely painted panels by the Florentine artist, Giovanni Battista Cipriani.

Panel detail on Gold State Coach at the Royal Mews, Buckingham Palace

On its roof, there are three cherubs representing the guardian spirits of England, Scotland and Ireland, supporting the Royal Crown, and holding the Sceptre, the Sword of State and the Ensign of the Knighthood in their hands.

Cherubs on the roof of the Gold State Coach
at the Royal Mews, Buckingham Palace

The body of the coach is supported by braces covered in Morocco leather decorated with gilded buckles held by Tritons.

Triton detail on Gold State Coach at the Royal Mews, Buckingham Palace

Horace Walpole wrote to his friend Horace Mann:

There is come forth a new state coach, which has cost 8,000l. It is a beautiful object, though crowded with improprieties. Its support are Tritons, not very well adapted to land-carriage; and formed of palm-trees, which are as little aquatic as Tritons are terrestrial. The crowd to see it on the opening of the Parliament was greater than at the coronation, and much more mischief done.1

Gold State Coach at the Royal Mews, Buckingham Palace

An unusual piece of extravagance

George III commissioned the Gold State Coach in 1760 and it was designed by the architect Sir William Chambers. As Walpole wrote in his letter, the coach cost nearly £8,000 to build. Based on the Retail Price Index, £8,000 would equate to well over £1,000,000 in today’s money. If we consider relative incomes, the equivalent cost would be as much as £14,000,000 or more.2 This seems uncharacteristically extravagant of George III.

Given the cost of building the Gold State Coach, it is perhaps surprising to discover that it was made not for George IV – renowned for his profligacy and love of pomp and ceremony – but for his much more frugal father.

The Gold State Coach’s first outing

The coach was completed in time for the State Opening of Parliament on 25 November 1762. Its first journey was deemed a success, despite the fact that one of the door handles broke and a pane of glass cracked.

Driving the coach

Gold State Coach at the Royal Mews, Buckingham Palace

The Gold State Coach is usually displayed with four replica horses, with a postilion riding one horse in each pair. However, the coach actually requires eight horses to pull it as it weighs around four tonnes. The horses wear a special harness made of red Morocco leather, known as No. 1 State Harness which is reserved especially for this coach.

Originally, the coach was pulled by eight Cream Hanoverian stallions, with six of the horses being driven by a coachman from the box and the leading pair being driven by a postilion riding one of them. From 1918 to 1925, black horses were used, but since George VI’s coronation in 1937, the coach has been drawn by Windsor Greys.

The hammer cloth and box were removed by Edward VII to promote greater visibility and the coach is now pulled by eight postilion-driven horses.

Because of its weight, the coach can only travel at a walking pace and is no good at all on hills. It also takes a very long time to stop. A brakeman walks immediately behind the coach, ready to operate the brake handle when required. The brake needs to be applied approximately 27 metres before the desired stopping point.

Unfortunately, the magnificence of its exterior is not matched with the comfort of the ride. The body of the coach is supported by leather braces and not only rocks backwards and forwards, but sways from side to side as well.

Gold State Coach
at the Royal Mews, Buckingham Palace

Coronations and jubilees

The Gold State Coach has been used at every coronation since that of George IV in 1821. The frieze around the walls of the former State Carriage Room where the coach is on display was painted by Richard Barrett Davis (1782-1854) and depicts the coronation procession of William IV in 1831.

The coach is still used today, but only for special occasions. This is just as well as a large section of the wall on one side of the carriage room has to be removed in order to get the enormous coach out.

The Queen used the Gold State Coach for her coronation on 2 June 1953. It was last used on 4 June 2002 as part of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee celebrations.

Gold State Coach at the Royal Mews, Buckingham Palace

Last visited 1 August 2017 for Bloggers' breakfast event.

Rachel Knowles writes clean/Christian historical romance set in the time of Jane Austen. She has been sharing her research on this blog since 2011. Rachel lives in the beautiful Georgian seaside town of Weymouth, Dorset, on the south coast of England, with her husband, Andrew.

Find out more about Rachel's books and sign up for her newsletter here.

If you have enjoyed this blog and want to encourage me and help me to keep making my research freely available, please buy me a virtual cup of coffee by clicking the button below.

 

Notes

(1) In a letter dated 30 November 1762, from Walpole, Horace, Letters of Horace Walpole to Sir Horace Mann volume 1 p126 (1833).
(2) Relative values calculated using the Measuring Worth website (see link below).

Sources used include:

Vickers, Hugo, The Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace (Royal Collection Enterprises Ltd, 2011)

Walpole, Horace, Letters of Horace Walpole to Sir Horace Mann volume 1 (1833).

Measuring worth website

All photographs © Regencyhistory.net

The Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace

What is the Royal Mews?

The Royal Mews is a department of the Queen’s household and is responsible for all travel by road undertaken by the Queen and her family. It houses the Queen’s carriages and carriage horses as well as a fleet of cars.

Diamond Jubilee State Coach at Royal Mews, Buckingham Palace (2017)

The history of the Royal Mews

The King’s Mews goes back to the 14th century when Richard II was on the throne, and was originally at Charing Cross, where the National Gallery is now. It was the place where the king kept his falcons and the name mews comes from the falcons mewing, that is, moulting. Henry VIII rebuilt the mews as stables in 1534 but kept the name ‘mews’ and it has been associated with horses ever since.

The quadrangle of the Royal Mews, Buckingham Palace (2017)

The Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace

In 1761, George III bought Buckingham House for his wife, Queen Charlotte. He commissioned the building of the Riding School, which is the oldest part of the Mews. It was designed by the architect Sir William Chambers and built in 1765-6.

After George IV succeeded to the throne in 1820, he decided to rebuild Buckingham House and make it his royal palace. The Royal Mews was built in 1822-5 and was designed by the architect of Buckingham Palace, John Nash. Unfortunately, the foundations were faulty, there was a drainage problem, and the original building work was shoddy so that it was constantly under repair. 

Nash built the Doric-style arch topped with a clock tower leading into the quadrangle of the Mews, but the pediment carving portraying the tale of Hercules catching Thracian horses was added later, in 1859.

The Master of the Horse

Traditionally, the Royal Mews was under the control of the Master of the Horse – a very senior position in the royal household. The Master of the Horse is no longer a hands-on role, and the Royal Mews is now run by the Crown Equerry.

What can you see today?

The Riding School

The Riding School at the Royal Mews, Buckingham Palace (2017)

 Semi-state Landau

Semi-state Landau at the Royal Mews, Buckingham Palace (2017)

Scottish State Coach

Built in 1830 for the Duke of Cambridge, it was used by his family before being sold to the 9th Earl of Albermarle. The earl converted it into a semi-state landau before giving it to Queen Mary in 1920.

Scottish State Coach at the Royal Mews, Buckingham Palace (2017)

Queen Alexandra’s Coach

Used to take the crown to the Houses of Parliament for the state opening of parliament.

Queen Alexandra's Coach at the Royal Mews, Buckingham Palace (2017)

Irish State Coach

Originally built in Dublin in 1803-4, the Irish State Coach was bought by Queen Victoria after seeing it at an exhibition in 1852.

Irish State Coach at the Royal Mews, Buckingham Palace (2017)

Australian State Coach

A gift to the Queen from the people of Australia, this coach is normally on display in the Royal Mews, but is currently part of the 2017 exhibition at Buckingham Palace, Royal Gifts, until 1 October.

Australian State Coach on display at Buckingham Palace in 2015

Glass Coach

Used by many royal brides to travel to their weddings including Lady Diana Spencer in 1981.

Glass Coach at the Royal Mews, Buckingham Palace (2017)

Glass Coach at the Royal Mews, Buckingham Palace (2017)

Diamond Jubilee State Coach

This coach is a travelling time capsule. It is full of historical artefacts including a hollow crown on its roof made from wood from HMS Victory and a digital copy of the Domesday book.

Diamond Jubilee State Coach at Royal Mews, Buckingham Palace (2017)

 The Gold State Coach

The Gold State Coach is on display in the former State Carriage House. It was commissioned by George III, and was first used by the king to travel to the House of Lords to open parliament on 25 November 1762. Despite appearances, the coach is not made of gold, but is gilded all over, with external panels painted by Giovanni Battista Cipriani.

The coach has been used for every coronation since that of George IV in 1821. There is a frieze around the walls showing William IV’s coronation procession in 1831, painted by Richard Barrett Davis (1782-1854).

Gold State Coach at the Royal Mews, Buckingham Palace (2017)

Royal car

Royal car at the Royal Mews, Buckingham Palace (2017)

The State Stables

The State Stables have a replica landau that visitors may sit in to get an idea of the suspension (or lack of it) in a royal carriage. There are also opportunities here to dress up as a footman and learn how to harness a horse. 

The State Stables at Royal Mews, Buckingham Palace (2017)

Rachel in the replica landau
in the State Stables,
Royal Mews, Buckingham Palace (2017)

The working stables

The stables house the Queen’s carriage horses including the Queen’s famous Windsor Greys and Cleveland Bays.

The stables at the Royal Mews, Buckingham Palace (2017)

The harness room at the Royal Mews, Buckingham Palace (2017)

Rachel Knowles writes clean/Christian Regency era romance and historical non-fiction. She has been sharing her research on this blog since 2011. Rachel lives in the beautiful Georgian seaside town of Weymouth, Dorset, on the south coast of England, with her husband, Andrew.

Find out more about Rachel's books and sign up for her newsletter here.

If you have enjoyed this blog and want to encourage me and help me to keep making my research freely available, please buy me a virtual cup of coffee by clicking the button below.

 

Last visited for bloggers' breakfast on 1 August 2017
All photographs © Regencyhistory.net

Maria Merian's Butterflies - 2016 exhibition at the Queen's Gallery

I recently visited the Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, London, for a curator-led tour of the new exhibitions: Scottish Artists 1750-1900: From Caledonia to the Continent and Maria Merian’s Butterflies. This post is about the second exhibition: Maria Merian’s Butterflies.

You can read my blog about the Scottish Artists exhibition here. 

The amazing Maria Merian (1647-1717)

I confess that I wasn’t at all sure that I would be interested in Maria Merian’s work. After all, she was born around 100 years too early for me and died just three years into the reign of George I. However, I knew that the pictures on display had all been acquired by George III and so I had my Georgian connection. I prefer paintings of people and places rather than plants and animals, but I have to admit that Merian’s work is stunning.

Frangipani Plant with Red Cracker Butterfly by Maria Merian (1702-3)

Maria Sibylla Merian was born in Germany but later settled in the Netherlands. Encouraged by her step-father, Jacob Marrel, she became a skilled artist, specialising in painting plants and insects. But Merian was not just an artist. She had an enquiring, scientific mind and wanted to know more about the insects she was painting. Metamorphosis was little understood at the time and she bred insects so that she could observe their lifecycles and documented what she saw in meticulously accurate paintings.

In 1699, Merian travelled to Suriname in South America with her daughter Dorothea so that she could study insects in their natural habitat, selling her own paintings in order to finance the voyage. She had hoped to stay for five years but was forced to return to the Netherlands in 1701 due to ill health. She published the results of her observations in Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium (The Metamorphosis of the Insects of Suriname) in 1705, in Latin and Dutch, and it became an important source for Georgian scientists.

Branch of Banana with Bullseye Moth by Maria Merian (1702-3)

The book was full of prints of her incredibly detailed life-size paintings, illustrating the different stages of the lifecycles of various caterpillars. Some copies were in black and white; others she hand-coloured with utmost accuracy. 

Grape Vine with Gaudy Sphinx Moth by Maria Merian (1702-3)

She financed her self-publishing venture by producing luxury prints of her paintings. There are only two sets known to be in existence – Hans Sloane’s set which is now in the British Museum and the set in the Royal Collection. These were acquired by George III some time before 1810 when they appear in a royal inventory. Many of these prints were on display in the exhibition.

Ripe Pineapple with Dido Longwing Butterfly by Maria Merian (1702-3)

The copy of Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium on display was acquired by William IV for the royal library. The curator explained how this copy was particularly exclusive because it was a counterproof version. As I understand it, this means that a print was made from the plate and then this print was immediately used to make another print. The result was a faint but exact copy of the original, without print marks, which would then be finished by hand. This made it a very expensive luxury product.

Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium by Maria Merian (1705)

As well as insects, Merian painted watercolours of frogs, showing their lifecycles, and a few other creatures such as the Cayman crocodile.

One treat that I almost missed was in the Millar Learning Room, which you can find to the left of the entrance stairs. There was a touchscreen showing a picture of a branch with several different caterpillars on it from Merian’s watercolours. Touching one of these caterpillars started a short animation of the lifecycle of that caterpillar, using Merian’s illustrations. My husband took a short video of one of these animations.

Maria Merian’s Butterflies is on at the Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, London, alongside Scottish Artists 1750-1900, until Sunday 9 October 2016.

Scottish Artists 1750-1900 - 2016 exhibition at the Queen's Gallery

Last Friday, I was delighted to visit the Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, London, for a bloggers’ breakfast and curator-led tour of the new exhibitions—Scottish Artists 1750-1900: From Caledonia to the Continent and Maria Merian’s Butterflies. In this post, I will look at the first of these exhibitions—Scottish Artists.

You can read about Maria Merian’s Butterflies here.

The best collection of Scottish Art outside of Scotland

The Scottish Artists exhibition is a sumptuous display of Scottish art from the Georgian and Victorian periods. But what constitutes Scottish art? I wasn’t sure whether to expect pictures of Scotland or works of art by Scottish artists. The exhibition curator was quick to explain that the exhibition was of works of art by artists born in Scotland, wherever they subsequently worked.

The first room was dominated by the work of two major Scottish artists of the Georgian period: Allan Ramsay and Sir David Wilkie.

First main exhibition room in the Queen's Gallery

Ramsay’s portraits

Allan Ramsay (1713-1784) was born in Edinburgh and was patronised by George III, having been introduced to him by fellow Scotsman, Lord Bute. He was commissioned to paint the state portrait of George III in his coronation robes—a picture with which I am very familiar. Part of the reason for this is no doubt that there are a lot of copies of this portrait around. It was reproduced more than 150 times by Ramsay for members of the royal family, courtiers and the like. The curator assured us that it was the prime version of the state portrait which was on display.

George III by Alllan Ramsay (1761-2)

Detail from George III by Alllan Ramsay (1761-2)

Alongside the state portrait of George III was a picture of his wife, Queen Charlotte, in a less formal setting, with the toddling George IV by her side and his younger brother Frederick, Duke of York, balanced on her lap. The young George, Prince of Wales, aged about two, could be mistaken for a girl as he is wearing a long dress. This is because at this time, boys wore dresses or ‘coats’ until the age of around four to seven when they were breeched, that is, put into trousers for the first time. I love the way that George is pictured with one hand on his hip and a bow in the other.

Queen Charlotte with her two eldest sons
by Allan Ramsay (c1764-9)

Close-up of Queen Charlotte
from Queen Charlotte with her two eldest sons
by Allan Ramsay (c1764-9)

Close-up of George IV from  
Queen Charlotte with her two eldest sons
by Allan Ramsay (c1764-9)

On an adjacent wall were three more Ramsay portraits including a charming one of William IV as a small boy before he was breeched playing a drum bearing his father’s royal cipher.

William IV as a two-year-old
- Prince William, later Duke of Clarence
by Allan Ramsay (c1767)

Royal commissions for Wilkie

Born in Fife, Sir David Wilkie (1785-1841) rose to even greater fame than Ramsay had done. George IV appointed Wilkie as His Majesty’s Painter and Limner in Scotland in 1823 and then Principal Painter in Ordinary to the King in 1830, before knighting him in 1836.

Two of Wilkie’s early royal commissions were on display—Blind-Man’s Buff and its companion piece, The Penny Wedding—together with a number of later works that he had painted on the continent.

Blind-Man's Buff by Sir David Wilkie (1812)
Royal Collection Trust © HM Queen Elizabeth II 2016

The Penny Wedding by Sir David Wilkie (1818)
Royal Collection Trust © HM Queen Elizabeth II 2016

My favourite Wilkie piece was undoubtedly The Entrance of George IV to Holyroodhouse. The painting depicts George IV’s arrival at Holyroodhouse Palace on 15 August 1822 during his tour of Scotland—a significant visit as he was the first reigning monarch to travel north of the border for almost two hundred years. This picture reminded me that George IV did occasionally get things right as his Scottish tour was a great success!

The Entrance of George IV to Holyroodhouse
 by Sir David Wilkie (1822-30)

Detail from The Entrance of George IV to Holyroodhouse
 by Sir David Wilkie (1822-30)

The young Queen Victoria

The second large display room was dominated by the works of Scottish artists patronised by Queen Victoria. These included paintings by David Roberts (1796-1864), James Giles (1801-1870), Sir Francis Grant (1803-1878) and William Dyce (1806-1864), as well as some by her favourite artist, John Phillip (1817-1867), such as The Dying Contrabandista.

A View of Balmoral by James Giles (1848)

Detail from Queen Victoria Riding Out by Sir Francis Grant (1839-40)

The Dying Contrabandista by John Phillip (1858)

Ruins of the Abbey of Holyrood
by David Roberts (1823)

As usual, I was looking at the exhibition from a Georgian point of view and was glad to spot a few earlier pieces in the room, including Ruins of the Abbey of Holyrood (above), painted by David Roberts in 1823, and a wonderfully detailed painting of Georgian Edinburgh—View of the High Street Edinburgh and the Lawn Market (below)—painted by Alexander Nasmyth (1758-1840) in 1824.

View of the High Street Edinburgh and the Lawn Market
by Alexander Nasmyth (1824)

Detail from View of the High Street Edinburgh and the Lawn Market
by Alexander Nasmyth (1824)

There were also several paintings by Wilkie. I loved his painting of Queen Adelaide with Princess Victoria and Members of Her Family showing the 11-year-old Queen Victoria’s first court appearance at St James’ Palace on 24 February 1831.

Queen Adelaide with Princess Victoria  and 
Members of her Family
by Sir David Wilkie (c1831-2)

A later Wilkie showed another momentous occasion in Queen Victoria’s life—The First Council of Queen Victoria on 20 June 1837, shortly after becoming Queen. Unfortunately, Queen Victoria did not like the picture and Wilkie fell out of royal favour.

The First Council of Queen Victoria
by Sir David Wilkie (1838)

A study for the Queen's head for The First Council of Queen Victoria
- the first known portrait of Queen Victoria as reigning monarch
 by Sir David Wilkie (1837)

Georgian princesses in miniature

Amongst the Victorian miniatures in one of the side rooms, I spied a couple of Georgian princesses: Princess Elizabeth and Princess Sophia. They were both painted in 1807 by Andrew Robertson (1777-1845) who was Miniature Painter to the princesses’ brother, Augustus, Duke of Sussex.

Princess Elizabeth by Andrew Robertson (1807)

Princess Sophia by Andrew Robertson (1807)

Tables, marbles and an amazing clock

The main exhibition rooms also had several items of furniture and sculpture on display. These included a pair of pier tables and a writing table supplied to the Palace of Holyroodhouse in 1796; a marble bust of Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, 7th son of George III; and the most incredible pedestal clock.

One of a pair of pier tables made by Young, Trotter and
Hamilton for the Palace of Holyroodhouse (1796)

Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge,
by Lawrence Macdonald (1846)

Second main exhibition room at the Queen's Gallery
showing John Smith's clock

The clock was made by John Smith of Fife c1800-1808 and was exhibited by him in London in 1808. It was both an automaton and a musical clock with a choice of 16 tunes to play and two sets of figures—the higher one of the royal family and the lower one of members of the royal household—who would promenade across one face of the clock every three hours.

Pedestal clock by John Smith (1800-08)

Close-up of the automaton dial of
pedestal clock by John Smith (1800-08)

Close-up of figures waiting to enter the
automaton dial of the pedestal clock
by John Smith (1800-08)

Close-up of the automaton dial of
pedestal clock by John Smith (1800-08)

Don’t forget to pick up a media guide for the exhibition if you are visiting. By selecting the section on the clock it is possible to see the clock in full operation with its music playing and its figures processing around the clock.

Scottish Artists 1750-1900: From Caledonia to the Continent is on at the Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, London, alongside Maria Merian’s Butterflies, until Sunday 9 October 2016.