CHAPTER XII BUCKINGHAM PALACE

Buckingham Palace, the London residence of the monarch, is the most familiar of all the royal palaces to the general British public, in so far as everyone, sooner or later, migrates to London. Unfortunately the spectator sees only a somewhat depressing and stereotyped building, lacking the majestic proportions of Windsor and the stately beauty of Hampton Court, representing, indeed, the very lowest ebb of English architecture. Yet, in spite of its uninspiring exterior, it is full of interest, for present-day life throbs within its walls, the nation's history is bound up with it, and it pulsates with memories of the Queen who won the hearts of her people as a young girl and kept them all through her long and honoured life. As a palace, its life-story is just beginning; three sovereigns only, excluding our present King, have lived within it.

Buckingham Palace, from the Lake in
St. James's Park.

In the days of James I. the site of the palace was occupied by a plantation of mulberry-trees, a royal investment, the King believing that the cultivation of silkworms would be lucrative both for himself and the nation. In this he was disappointed, but the Mulberry Gardens remained as a place of amusement for the [pg 64] public until 1675. Both Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn mention visiting the gardens, to which the fashion of the Restoration resorted to eat mulberry tarts.

When the Mulberry Gardens were first instituted, a keeper had been appointed by the King, and the office continued long after the work had become a sinecure. The keeper's official residence became known as Goring House, when Lord Goring purchased it in 1632. On the death of Lord Goring, Henry Bennet, Lord Arlington, bought the mansion, and later on succeeded in adding to his property the famous gardens, when they were closed to the public. According to John Evelyn, Lord Arlington filled his house with the most rich and handsome furniture, all of which perished in a disastrous fire which broke out in 1674. The house was rebuilt, receiving the new name of Arlington House, and was afterwards sold to John Sheffield, Duke of Buckinghamshire.

Not content with the building of the former owner, the Duke pulled down Arlington House and erected the immediate predecessor of the present palace, calling it after himself—Buckingham House. It was apparently a dignified-looking mansion, much admired in its time, having a flat roof adorned with statues, and large gilded letters making Rus in Urbe.

Soon after he came to the Throne, George III. bought Buckingham House from the Duke of Buckinghamshire's successor, and some years later altered it to suit his convenience, at the same time spoiling the general outline of the building. But King George and Queen Charlotte liked the house where most of their children were born, and carried on there the same placid domestic [pg 65] life that they led at Windsor and at Kew. The children were brought up most severely, the Queen even carrying out the whipping herself, but the success of the system was not obvious, considering the later life of the young Princes. Though King George's simplicity is much laughed at, the nation owes something to his foresight and intelligence, in collecting a large library in his London house. For many years he spent ￡2,000 a year upon books, until he amassed the splendid collection now known as the King's library in the British Museum, George IV. having presented it to the nation. It was in this library that Dr. Johnson had his famous interview with the King, whom he described as the finest gentleman he had ever seen. Dr. Johnson was a friend of the royal librarian who informed the King of the presence of the great lexicographer, whom King George wished to see. The conversation, as related by Boswell, seems to have been about books and libraries, and Johnson's own literary work, upon which the King complimented him.

George IV. never lived in the palace, for on his accession he ordered the old house to be razed and a new palace built. But as he was at the same time rebuilding Windsor Castle, he did not venture to ask Parliament for more money than necessary repairs, and told Nash, his architect, to build upon the old lines. This Nash proceeded to do without any models or drawings, with the result that he himself was surprised with the effect when the building was finished. So great was the universal scorn for the outspreading wings of the palace, that they were taken down at once. A cynical verse expressed the public's opinion of the architect:

[pg 66]

"Augustus at Rome was for building renown'd,

For of marble he left what of brick he had found;

But is not our Nash, too, a very great master?

He finds us all brick and he leaves us all plaster."

The gateway to the palace was designed from Constantine's Arch in Rome, and was intended to carry an equestrian statue of George IV. upon the top. This gateway, the Marble Arch, now stands at the Oxford Street entrance to Hyde Park, having been moved there in 1851.

After the builders had left the much-criticized palace, it was left empty and bare, until Queen Victoria came to the Throne, when the girl-Queen soon made the lifeless palace full of animation and happiness. All through her long reign Buckingham Palace is intimately associated with her, from her Coronation Day, that June morning when all London welcomed her with enthusiasm, down to the Diamond Jubilee, when the aged Queen could say, "From my heart I thank my beloved people." It was from the palace that she set out on a cheerless February morning to her wedding in Westminster Abbey, and a great part of her happy married life was spent there, when in company with her beloved husband she held a brilliant Court. Two fancy dress balls were held, one where all the noblest and most distinguished in England came arrayed in the dress of the Plantagenets, and the other where all appeared in Georgian costumes.

The marriage of the Princess Royal to the Crown Prince of Germany took place from Buckingham Palace. Though a highly approved love-match, it caused considerable grief to the royal household, the Queen finding it extremely difficult to part with her eldest [pg 67] daughter. The Queen wrote of it as "the second most eventful day" in her life, and after the young pair had set off for their new home in Germany, she said, "My tears began to flow afresh frequently, and I could not go near Vicky's corridor."

The public will not soon forget the momentous events associated with the palace during the last reign; the serious illness of King Edward, on the eve of his Coronation, postponing the great ceremony for which many distinguished visitors had already arrived, and then after a short but brilliant reign, the sudden death of the popular monarch, throwing all the country into mourning. Almost before anyone knew that the King was seriously ill, for he had only just come back from Biarritz, the bulletin, announcing that "His Majesty breathed his last" within the palace, was read by the sorrowing crowds.