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1992 Windsor Castle Fire
On 20 November 1992, a fire broke out in Windsor Castle, the largest inhabited castle in the world and one of the official residences of the British Monarch. The castle suffered extensive damage and was fully repaired within the next five years at a cost of £36.5 million, in a project led by the conservation architects Donald Insall Associates. It led to Queen Elizabeth II paying tax on her income, and to Buckingham Palace, the former monarch's other official residence, being opened to the public to help pay for the restoration work. Timeline of the fire Early stages The fire began in the Queen's Private Chapel at 11:15am when a curtain was ignited by a spotlight pressed up against it. Agents of the Royal Household were in the chapel at the time inspecting works of art. A fire alarm went off in the watch room of the castle fire brigade, manned by the Chief Fire Officer, Marshall Smith. The fire's location was shown by a light on a grid-map of the castle. Initially, the Brun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history. The original castle was built in the 11th century, after the Norman invasion of England by William the Conqueror. Since the time of Henry I (who reigned 1100–1135), it has been used by the reigning monarch and is the longest-occupied palace in Europe. The castle's lavish early 19th-century state apartments were described by early 20th century art historian Hugh Roberts as "a superb and unrivalled sequence of rooms widely regarded as the finest and most complete expression of later Georgian taste".Hugh Roberts, ''Options Report for Windsor Castle'', cited Nicolson, p. 79. Inside the castle walls is the 15th-century St George's Chapel, considered by the historian John Martin Robinson to be "one of the supreme achievements of English Perpe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Ogilvy, 13th Earl Of Airlie
David George Coke Patrick Ogilvy, 8th (or 13th) Earl of Airlie, (born 17 May 1926) is a Scottish peer. Background and education Airlie is the eldest son of David Ogilvy, 12th Earl of Airlie and Lady Alexandra Coke. His younger brother was Sir Angus Ogilvy, the husband of Princess Alexandra of Kent. He served as a page to his father at the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in Westminster Abbey on 12 May 1937. With the death of Queen Elizabeth II, , he is the last surviving participant of the Coronation of George VI and Elizabeth in 1937. Born in Westminster, David Ogilvy was educated at Eton and served in the Scots Guards during the Second World War. In 1946, he was appointed ADC to the C-in-C and High Commissioner to Austria. He remained in the army until 1950, when he left to attend the Royal Agricultural College in Cirencester, to learn more about estate management. He currently maintains two homes on the family's estate in Angus: Cortachy Castle and Airlie C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sideboard
A sideboard, also called a buffet, is an item of furniture traditionally used in the dining room for serving food, for displaying serving dishes, and for storage. It usually consists of a set of cabinets, or cupboards, and one or more drawers, all topped by a wooden surface for conveniently holding food, serving dishes, or lighting devices. The words ''sideboard'' and ''buffet'' are somewhat interchangeable, but if the item has short legs, or a base that sits directly on the floor with no legs, it is more likely to be called a ''sideboard''; if it has longer legs, it is more likely to be called a ''buffet''. The earliest versions of the sideboard familiar today made their appearance in the 18th century, but they gained most of their popularity during the 19th century, as households became prosperous enough to dedicate a room solely to dining. Sideboards were made in a range of decorative styles and were frequently ornamented with costly veneers and inlays. In later years, sid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George III And The Prince Of Wales Reviewing Troops
''George III and the Prince of Wales Reviewing Troops'' was an oil on canvas painting by William Beechey, showing George III and his sons George, Prince of Wales and Frederick, Duke of York at an imagined review in Hyde Park. George rides Adonis (his favourite horse), whilst the Prince of Wales wears the uniform of the 10th Light Dragoons, of which he was colonel. Beside Frederick is David Dundas (Quartermaster General, who had commanded manoeuvres at Windsor and Weymouth before the king) and the painting also shows Philip Goldsworthy (one of the king's equerries and aides-de-camp) and William Fawcett, the 3rd Dragoon Guards' Colonel. The painting was commissioned by George III and exhibited at the Royal Academy exhibition in 1798. The preliminary sketches do not include the Prince of Wales – though he later sat to Beechey for the work, some versions of it survive without him. The original was hanging in State Dining Room at Windsor Castle at the time of the 1992 fire an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Beechey
Sir William Beechey (12 December 175328 January 1839) was an English portraitist during the golden age of British painting. Early life Beechey was born at Burford, Oxfordshire, on 12 December 1753, the son of William Beechey, a solicitor, and his wife Hannah Read. Both parents died when he was still quite young in the early 1760s, and he and his siblings were brought up by his uncle Samuel, a solicitor who lived in nearby Chipping Norton. The uncle was determined that the young Beechey should likewise follow a career in the law, and at an appropriate age he was entered as a clerk with a conveyancer near Stow-on-the-Wold. But as ''The Monthly Mirror'' later recorded in July 1798, he was: "Early foredoomed his ncle'ssoul to cross/ And paint a picture where he should engross." Career Beechey was admitted to the Royal Academy Schools in 1772, where he is thought to have studied under Johan Zoffany. He first exhibited at the Academy in 1776. His earliest surviving portraits ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George III And The Prince Of Wales Reviewing Troops (1798)
''George III and the Prince of Wales Reviewing Troops'' was an oil on canvas painting by William Beechey, showing George III and his sons George, Prince of Wales and Frederick, Duke of York at an imagined review in Hyde Park. George rides Adonis (his favourite horse), whilst the Prince of Wales wears the uniform of the 10th Light Dragoons, of which he was colonel. Beside Frederick is David Dundas (Quartermaster General, who had commanded manoeuvres at Windsor and Weymouth before the king) and the painting also shows Philip Goldsworthy (one of the king's equerries and aides-de-camp) and William Fawcett, the 3rd Dragoon Guards' Colonel. The painting was commissioned by George III and exhibited at the Royal Academy exhibition in 1798. The preliminary sketches do not include the Prince of Wales – though he later sat to Beechey for the work, some versions of it survive without him. The original was hanging in State Dining Room at Windsor Castle at the time of the 1992 fire and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Star Chamber
The Star Chamber (Latin: ''Camera stellata'') was an English court that sat at the royal Palace of Westminster, from the late to the mid-17th century (c. 1641), and was composed of Privy Counsellors and common-law judges, to supplement the judicial activities of the common-law and equity courts in civil and criminal matters. It was originally established to ensure the fair enforcement of laws against socially and politically prominent people sufficiently powerful that ordinary courts might hesitate to convict them of their crimes. However, it became synonymous with social and political oppression through the arbitrary use and abuse of the power it wielded. In modern times, legal or administrative bodies with strict, arbitrary rulings, no "due process" rights to those accused, and secretive proceedings are sometimes metaphorically called "star chambers". Origin of the name The first reference to the "star chamber" is in 1398, as the ''Sterred chambre''; the more common form ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Willis
Henry Willis (27 April 1821 – 11 February 1901), also known as "Father" Willis, was an English organ player and builder, who is regarded as the foremost organ builder of the Victorian era. His company Henry Willis & Sons remains in business. Early life and work Willis was born in London, the son of a North London builder, and with George Cooper, later sub-organist of St Paul's Cathedral, he learned to play the organ with some help from Thomas Attwood, St Paul's organist. In 1835, Willis was articled to organ builder John Gray (later of Gray and Davison) for seven years. During this time, he invented the manual and pedal couplers which he used throughout his later career. Following his apprenticeship he worked for three years in Cheltenham, assisting an instrument maker, Wardle Evans, who specialised in free reed instruments. Willis later attributed his personal skill in reed voicing to this experience. Willis met Samuel Sebastian Wesley at Cheltenham, and this led to t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crown Estate
The Crown Estate is a collection of lands and holdings in the United Kingdom belonging to the British monarch as a corporation sole, making it "the sovereign's public estate", which is neither government property nor part of the monarch's private estate. The sovereign is not involved with the management or administration of the estate, and exercises only very limited control of its affairs. Instead, the estate's extensive portfolio is overseen by a semi-independent, incorporated public body headed by the Crown Estate Commissioners, who exercise "the powers of ownership" of the estate, although they are not "owners in their own right". The revenues from these hereditary possessions have been placed by the monarch at the disposition of His Majesty's Government in exchange for relief from the responsibility to fund the Civil Government. These revenues proceed directly to His Majesty's Treasury, for the benefit of the British nation. The Crown Estate is formally accountable to the P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Life Guards (United Kingdom)
The Life Guards (LG) is the senior regiment of the British Army and part of the Household Cavalry, along with the Blues and Royals. History The Life Guards grew from the four troops of Horse Guards (exclusively formed of gentlemen-troopers until the transformation of the last two remaining troops into Regiments of Life Guards in 1788) raised by Charles II around the time of his restoration, plus two troops of Horse Grenadier Guards (rank and file composed of commoners), which were raised some years later.White-Spunner, p. xii * The first troop was originally raised in Bruges in 1658 as ''His Majesty's Own Troop of Horse Guards''. They formed part of the contingent raised by the exiled King Charles II as his contribution to the army of King Philip IV of Spain who were fighting the French and their allies the English Commonwealth under the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell in the Franco-Spanish War and the concurrent Anglo-Spanish War. * The second troop was founded in 1659 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Combermere Barracks
Combermere Barracks, Windsor, is a British military installation from Windsor Castle. History The original barracks, known as Clewer Barracks, were designed to accommodate the Royal Horse Guards and were built at Clewer Park between 1796 and 1800. Queen Victoria ordered the replacement of the barracks after a personal visit in 1864 exposed to her its unhygienic conditions. The new barracks, which cover over , were named after Field Marshal Lord Combermere and include a riding school which was built in 1881. The barracks were renovated in 2006 and became the home of the Household Cavalry Regiment. The Household Cavalry Regiment moved from Combermere Barracks to Bulford Camp in May 2019. No. 18 Troop and the training wing remained in Windsor. The 1st Battalion, Welsh Guards will be moving in and will join London District to start their ceremonial duties. Based units The following notable units are based at Combermere Barracks. British Army Household Cavalry * Household C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Household Cavalry
The Household Cavalry (HCav) is made up of the two most senior regiments of the British Army, the Life Guards and the Blues and Royals (Royal Horse Guards and 1st Dragoons). These regiments are divided between the Household Cavalry Regiment stationed at Kiwi Barracks in Wiltshire and the ceremonial mounted unit, the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment, garrisoned at Hyde Park Barracks (Knightsbridge Barracks) in London. The Household Cavalry is part of the Household Division and is the King's official bodyguard. Although the Household Cavalry Regiment is armoured, it is not part of the Royal Armoured Corps. Life Guards and Blues and Royals The British Household Cavalry is classed as a corps in its own right, and consists of two regiments: the Life Guards and the Blues and Royals (Royal Horse Guards and 1st Dragoons). They are the senior regular regiments in the British Army, with traditions dating from 1660, and act as the King's personal bodyguard. They are guards regime ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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