2/19 Wednesday
How do all three of this go together? Well, because we did them on the same day.
We started our day by walking thru Green Park to view Buckingham Palace. The palace is just a 10 minute walk from our hotel, and while it was a pretty walk, it would be beautiful in the summertime. We took a few pictures of the Palace. It was flying King Charles’ royal standard rather than the Union Jack, which indicates that he is in town (we didn’t see him though). We then walked to Clarence House where the queen mother use to live, then Charles and William and Harry after he split with Diana, and currently the king and queen make it their home rather than Buckingham palace. We were told there are many reasons, but a main one is that the palace is going through a 10 year modernization to be finished in 2027. The palace originally began construction in 1703 and was completed in 1837, the year Queen Victoria moved in, making it the official London residence for the monarch.
I waited patiently at the gate, but was never granted access!
Above is Clarence House and below 3 pictures are St James Palace where Henry VIII lived. From the balcony in the courtyard of St James palace is where they heralded the kingship of Charles III, current king of England. This is where they announce (herald) all monarchs at the beginning of their reign.
From there we walked through St James park, through a section of mounted guards and horses near 10 Downing Street. These are a part of the Household Cavalry, one of the British Army's oldest regiments. We walked past the guarded street entrance to 10 Downing Street , when the British Prime Minister lives , and headed on towards Westminster Abbey. It is crazy how close all of these things are together. All within a 30 minute walk!
Above are plaques that were in the walks in both St James and Green Parks, both commemorating and marking the pathway. Below were pictures from walking thru St James Park. It was very picturesque.
Below are a couple pictures of the Household Calvary. I have seen some videos on line where people try to get pictures with the horse by touching them and they have been bitten or hit by the guard. I didn’t see that, but while we were there a lady put her tiny toddler down next to the horse and ran back to take a picture. Luckily when the baby ran, she ran towards her mother and not the horse.
Next stop…. Westminster Abbey which was originally built in 959, but the current church was started by the Edward the confessor around 1042/1052 and it was finished in 1066. He died immediately after it was finished and became the saint of the church. It was rebuilt in 1250 in French gothic by King Henry III. He began rebuilding Westminster Abbey in 1245 to create a Gothic shrine to honor his predecessor, Edward the Confessor. The rebuilding was intended to make the abbey a match for other great European churches. Henry III also wanted to build a church to crown kings and queens and bury them. While over 3500 people are buried on the site, they usually don’t bury here any more , but sometimes they do. Steven Hawkings was the most recent to be interred here in 2018. It is the largest church in country ( not including cathedrals). Newer graves of kings and queens are at Windsor. We were given a 2.5 hour tour with lots of info and shown lots of burial sites. I will try to hit the highlights as I show the pictures.
One of the highlights is the coronation chair. While the coronation ceremony goes back to 973 , it was in 1296 for the coronation of Edward I. It has been used in every coronation of English and British monarchs since.
Below is a portrait of Richard II. This is the first portrait done of a king of England while they were alive, so this is the first portrait they can be sure actually looks like the monarch. It hangs near the coronation chair.
Below is tomb of unknown soldier especially dedicated to the soldiers lost at the battle of the Sommes.
Above is the resting place of Sir Isaac Newton and below is just next to him and the most recent burial of Stephen Hawkings. The Abbey graves were set up in areas, and they, as well as Charles Darwin, were in the scientist area.
Coronations take place between the quire and the alter. The current King Charles wore his grandfather’s coronation robe.
Above is the grave of Edward the Confessor and below is King Henry III.
The daughters of Henry VIII are buried on top of each other and have the same memorial. I thought it was odd since they didn’t get on in life.
This is the resting place of the bones of who they think are the 2 young princes (really a king and a prince) that disappeared after being imprisoned in the Tower of London, autumn of 1843. They were in line for the throne, but were usurped by their uncle Richard III.
This Abbey celebrates the “Order of the Bath” ( an order of chivalry established by King George I in 1725), and the seat above is for the prince of wales and below for the monarch. Since they haven’t had a ceremony since Queen Elizabeth died, her standard is still flying. That will change after summer of 2025.
The next section of burial sites was for artists and poets.
After all the tombs, it was nice to go through the cloisters and then head on out for our next adventure.
Lastly we headed to the Churchill war rooms which were below ground near the prime minister’s residence. When the World War II was over, they left them as is. I speculate that maybe they thought they would have need of them in the future. Hundreds of people worked, sheltered and sometimes slept.
More tomorrow……we head to the artist side of town.
Seeing those tombs of famous people throughout the ages was very cool. Also very strange that two important queens were buried in the same spot, while all the kings got their own. What about their brother? Hmmm.
ReplyDeleteI went to the War Rooms once and thought it was really interesting. I remember towards the end there was a TV showing the funeral procession of Winston Churchill, and the streets were just packed. Made an impression on me.
ReplyDelete