Windsor… no photographs please
Monday 22 October, 2018
They weren’t changing guard at Buckingham Palace today, because the Queen was at Windsor. We know this not just because of the flag above the castle, but because we saw the gin delivery van go through the gates. It used to be a B-double when the Queen Mum was alive, but give Her Maj time…
Good to see that Dad’s favourite Scotch blenders are still in business.
It’s a strange thing about the British, who are excellent at the heritage game: the absolute experts at it are the Royal Family. While I would have to say that the Royal Household have enormous expertise in leveraging their properties to pay for the upkeep and repairs, and can sell tatty souvenirs to naive continentals where others would have been too embarrassed to try, the properties themselves are brilliantly managed and the “team members” (you can just see the Comptroller of the Royal Household calling them team members, can’t you?) are polite, helpful and look sensational with their cloaks and things in the chilly autumn air. But their secret instructions? “Go out and about your sovereign’s business, and relieve the sons and daughters of Brussels of their cash and credit cards, just in case the hard Brexit is harder than Mrs May thinks.” Honi soit qui mal y pense. Roughy translated, I don’t think I ever saw a bad penny… Have a stuffed corgi and picture of Eugenie.
It’s a great shame, however, that they don’t allow photographs indoors, because the State Apartments and St George’s Hall are really something else, and the Chapel is a gem. There’s a considerable amount of public spirit in displaying an important personal art collection in a museum setting – just about every historical picture used on a history book or biography was on display. Next time I teach Richard III to Year 7, I can skite over and over, I’ve see that painting! It’s not often that you wander into someone’s dressing room and see TWO Rembrandt self-portraits.
The armoury displays were quite jaw-dropping and there was a lovely display of Royal Field Marshall’s batons – the last properly earned one was the grand old Duke of York! The porcelain collection was worth spending time on – it’s one of those funny things, but ceramics seem to be a very good way of gaining insight into a culture and an age.
Outside the sun shone and I wondered if this was an ominous sign that the British weather was determined to use up the annual allocation of sunshine before next week?
It done become quite pointless trying to describe all the things in the Chapel without photos; suffice it to say that it was much more church than tourist trap. The various chapels, especially that of George VI, Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret were restrained and dignified. One might not have said the same of Prince Albert’s final resting place! But, as always, the delight lay in the comical juxtapositions: a nice example of which is the aerial beside the old clock. Well, I suppose even the guard room is entitled to a feed of Match of the Day!
In the evening we were lucky enough to catch up with Brendan and Laura for a drink or three – nice to do some family things after all our wandering. We were so impressed by these two and how well they have done over here. And, Brendan Smith, you will have to become bilingual before Kieran’s wedding next year or they’ll think you are a migrant!
