Q: Mary - Dublin
I was looking at information about the Music Day at Buckingham Palace and saw a picture of Katie Melua at Buckingham Palace. Which room is she in? Is this one of the state rooms?
Katie Melua was pictured in the Ballroom at Buckingham Palace.
This enormous room, 14 metres high, 34 metres long and 18 wide, was first used for a ball on 8 May 1856. Designed from the start as a ball and concert room, it also formed the setting for grand orchestral concerts throughout the rest of Queen Victoria's reign and into the early 20th century.
Today the Ballroom is regularly used for investitures, at which recipients of honours receive their insignia from The Queen. These insignia, as well as the sword with which The Queen confers knighthoods, are displayed in the cases around the room. The Ballroom also forms the setting for the state banquets given by The Queen in honour of visiting heads of state.
Q: Margaret - Strawberry Hill
I am a regular visitor to Kew Gardens and have often wondered where the 'Royal' in Royal Botanic Gardens comes from. Can you clarify?
The Royal association dates back two-and-a-half centuries.
In 1759 Princess Augusta, widow of Frederick, Prince of Wales, and mother of the future George III, set aside acres on the estate of her home at Kew to create a botanical garden, employing William Aiton as her head gardener. Sir William Chambers, architect of Somerset House, designed for her many of the earliest of Kew's distinctive garden buildings.
On his accession to the throne, George III inherited from his grandfather the royal residence of Richmond Lodge on the Richmond Estate, and after his mother's death in 1772 the two estates were eventually united to form the greater part of today's gardens.
Under the guidance of Sir Joseph Banks, President of the Royal Society, the gardens grew in prominence as a repository for exotic plant specimens.
During the early part of the nineteenth century interest in the botanical gardens flagged. Neither George IV nor William IV lived at Kew Palace and in 1802 Princess Augusta's White House was demolished. A sundial in front of Kew Palace marks the spot. It was replaced by Kew House which was not finished and was pulled down in 1827. However, in 1840, following a Royal Commission, the gardens were handed over to the State and their extent increased to 200 acres.
The gardens were renamed the Royal Botanic Gardens and an entrance fee for the public was imposed at one penny in 1916 as a contribution to the war effort, a charge unchanged until 1980.
In 1898, Queen Victoria donated Queen Charlotte's Cottage (to commemorate her Diamond Jubilee a year earlier). The small thatched cottage had been built in the 1770s as a summerhouse for George III's consort and set among bluebell woods south of the estate. Queen Charlotte took an avid interest in the development of the gardens - the bird of paradise flower, Strelitzia reginae, brought to Kew from South Africa, was named after her. The final parcel of land added to Kew was Cambridge Cottage and its garden, donated by King Edward VII in 1904.
Although the gardens are now looked after by a Board of Trustees as a corporate body with charitable status, Royal interest in their progress continues. Members of the Royal Family have visited the gardens on various occasions over recent decades.
The gardens, including the glasshouses and museums, are open most days of the year; the library, herbarium and certain other research centres are open only to students upon application. Find out more about visiting Kew.
Q: Tom - Yorkshire
I hadn't realised that the Yeoman Warders were separate from the Queen's Bodyguards, although they both wear the same uniform. What do the Yeoman Warders do and why is their uniform so similar to the Yeomen of the Guard?
One of the oldest corps in the world still carrying out the duties for which they were created, the Yeomen Warders are responsible for guarding the Tower of London.
Ever since the building of William the Conqueror's White Tower in the eleventh century, guards have stood watch over the entrances to the Tower, and by the early sixteenth century they are mentioned in payment records as Yeomen of the Tower.
The diligence with which they performed their duties so impressed Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, when he was imprisoned there in 1549 that he swore he would secure them any wish they desired if he gained his liberty.
When freed in the following year, the Warders held him to his promise and pleaded for the right to wear the same livery as the Yeomen of the Guard. The Duke, now Edward VI's protector, was delighted to grant their wish and, ever since, each Warder has been sworn in as an Extraordinary member of the Royal Bodyguard. Their full title is Yeomen Warders of Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress the Tower of London, Members of the Yeomen of the Guard Extraordinary.
To differentiate between the two halves of the Corps, Yeomen Warders do not wear the Guard's gold-embroidered cross-belt over the left shoulder.
Q: Mark - Birmingham
Is it true that this year's Royal Ascot will not be held a Ascot at all?
Ascot Racecourse closed in September 2004 for 20 months for a redevelopment programme. Ascot's 2005 fixtures have been relocated to other racecourses. 2005 will be somewhat unique as the event is relocated to York Racecourse.
The pageantry of the Royal occasion will continue, however, with the Royal Family arriving by carriage, driving in procession down the course past the stands and on, to the Royal Box.
Visit the Ascot web site. |
