#prestigeinsight | JULY 2019 PRESTIGE 149
“Despite its unfinished state, the young queen was
delighted with her new palace. Shortly after she moved in,
Victoria recalled in her daily dairies how much she liked
Buckingham Palace’s ‘high, pleasant and cheerful’ interiors
and the large garden, which her dog, Dash, was particularly
taken by,” says Lucy Peter, Assistant Curator of Paintings
at the Royal Collection Trust.
Following her wedding in 1840, the queen’s private
apartments on the north side of the palace were remodelled
to accommodate the Prince Consort, Prince Albert of
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Victoria and Albert each had
private sitting and dressing rooms while the queen’s suite
also had a room for her dresser and an audience room
for conducting state business.
But as early as 1845, Victoria felt that the palace was
becoming too small to accommodate her rapidly growing
family, and plans were drawn up to alter and expand the
palace to the form we know today, with a new East Wing
enclosing what had previously been a U-shaped courtyard
and sporting what would become the outward face of the
modern British monarchy: the central balcony.
Queen Victoria was young, energetic and ambitious.
She was also an accomplished musician, singer and dancer
whose passions would help shape the palace and its rooms.
An enormous new ballroom was added, along with a new
kitchen that would help cater for the large number of guests
the royal couple would regularly entertain. One of the large
events held in the magnificent ballroom was the Stuart Ball
of 1851 – the evening gown worn by the queen will be one of
the highlights on display as part of the Queen Victoria’s Palace
exhibition. Designed by artist Eugene Lami, the dramatic
grey silk moiré costume is trimmed with gold lace while the
underskirt is made of gold and silver brocade.
Peter notes that Prince Albert played an important role
in the remodelling of the palace, pointing out that a number
of the drawings in an album of Sir James Pennethorne’s
plans for the improvement of the palace have been annotated
“Approved Albert” in the top right-hand corner. “Similarly,
during the final phases of building the east front, we know
that Albert worked closely with the Queen’s Clerk of Works
Queen Victoria was young, energetic and ambitious. She was
also an accomplished musician, singer and dancer whose passions
would help shape the palace and its rooms
This page: Queen Victoria
photographed for her
Diamond Jubilee in 1897
Opposite page: A watercolour by
Eugene Lami, depicting guests
ascending the Grand Staircase
at Buckingham Palace during the
State Ball in July 1848