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This piano was played by Sir Noel Coward on his many visits to see The Queen Mother, and Princess Margaret, an accomplished pianist, learned on this very instrument. Years later, in 1961, The Queen Mother was presented with the portrait and loved it! The Dining Room is accessed through the double doors in the library, or from the hall. The room is laden with gloomy paintings by John Piper, who had been requested to paint Windsor Castle during the war, for fear it would be damaged; the project was called ‘Recording Britain’. George VI remarked that he must have had bad weather each time he painted as the colours were dark and foreboding, but it was, in fact, Piper’s style. Two portraits by Savely Sorine sit in the Library – one of The Duchess of York, and one of Queen Elizabeth II (see it here in situ).
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The royal couple's residence has a fascinating history, and has been redecorated several times over. When tours operated, a regular guided tour cost £11.30 and included the garden plus the five rooms mentioned above. There was occasionally a more expensive (£35) Exclusive Guided Tour that only ran on select days and included a glass of champagne and also let you visit the Cornwall Room, which wasn’t part of the regular tour. Situated in the City of Westminster, Clarence House is part of a long road called The Mall, which leads to the monarch’s official London residence, Buckingham Palace. Clarence House is also close to another historical landmark, St James’ Palace.
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"The major change has been in The Dining Room which has the unusual and striking bronze coving to the ceiling," Jones said. "The other thing that always strikes you when you are inside the house is how much the garden is present—many of the rooms look out into the garden and there is a sense of it almost like an extra room to the house." Until Charles's accession to the throne in September 2022, Clarence House held the offices for Camilla and Charles's Royal Household. Although they have multiple homes in Great Britain, and Buckingham Palace is now their official residence, Clarence House is the real home base—Camilla even hosted Christmas festivities there in December 2022. After their marriage in 1947, it became the residence of Princess Elizabeth and her husband, Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. In 1953, after the death of her father King George VI (d. 6 February 1952), Princess Elizabeth acceded to the throne as Queen Elizabeth II and moved to Buckingham Palace.
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John Nash was appointed, and proposed Clarence House, which would depart from the Tudor brick style of St James’s next door, with a classical stucco mansion. At the end of your visit, don’t forget to ask a Warden to stamp your ticket to convert it into a 1-Year Pass. You can enjoy free re-admission for a year by asking us to treat your ticket purchase as a donation. In consideration of other visitors mobile phones must be switched off in Clarence House and its grounds. Photography and filming including the use of wearable devices for personal, non-commercial purposes are not permitted in Clarence House or its grounds.

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Also worth noting is this fine late 17th century red and black lacquer secretaire. To its left is this 1738 Augustine Courtauld cup and cover, with twisted serpent handles. It was later engraved with the coronet and initials of Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex. Four gilt-bronze statuettes of Bavarian rulers, by After Ludwig Schwanthaler, sit on top of the bookcases.They are part of a set of 12 statue reductions presented to Queen Victoria by Prince Albert on her birthday in 1843. The remaining statues from the set can be found in The Dining Room and Lancaster Room. The tour of Clarence House begins in the garden, where you can see the formal area added in 2004–5 in memory of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.
Clarence House is one of the less-visited of London’s palaces and royal residences and it is also one of its more authentic in the sense that it feels more like a family home than a venue for state banquets and official functions. Most years, the house opens its doors to visitors in August for tours of the ground floor, while Charles and Camilla spend the summer at their Scottish residence, Birkhall. However, in 2019, Clarence House remained closed throughout the summer for essential maintenance work and it is currently closed to visitors due to coronavirus. Queen Victoria had a large family and there were numerous close royal relations who needed housing and St. James’s Palace became the home of many of them.
Clarence House was built between 1825 and 1827 to the designs of John Nash for Prince William Henry, Duke of Clarence (later King William IV) and his wife Adelaide. With a pristine white facade, Nash created a bright, stuccoed mansion of classical proportions. But the final cost of £22,232 was more than double what he had originally estimated, the Royal Collection Trust reveal.

As the name suggests, it offers beautiful views out onto the garden, and it is home to these impressive musical instruments, a grand piano and golden harp. As Kathryn points out, the ceiling is accented by striking bronze coving, which was added by TRH The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall. Above the fireplace is another portrait of the late Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. The Queen Mother's coat of arms combined the Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom with the arms of her father, the Earl of Strathmore.
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The thing that struck me about Clarence House was its feel – it was homely. Patterned carpets and antique furniture fill the reception rooms, yet just give the feel of a well lived-in family home, denoted by the many, smiling photographs. Prince George playing with his grandfather feature heavily, as do photos of William and Harry.
Clarence House currently serves as the London residence of King Charles III and Queen Camilla.[2] It has been Charles's residence since 2003. From 1953 until 2002 it was home to Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother,[3] and before her, it was the official home of her daughter, Princess Elizabeth, the future Queen Elizabeth II.
His principal addition to the house created by Nash was a first-floor passage to connect with the State Apartments of St James’s Palace, where he would conduct his official audiences and receive guests. In the Duke of Clarence's time the Lancaster Room, the first room off the Hall, was the Equerry's Room and has served as a waiting room for visitors ever since. The large window into the garden was added by the Duchess of Kent around 1841.
Before the then-Prince-of-Wales and Camilla moved in, the former had been home to the Queen Mother, who passed away in 2002 at age 101. Charles had the house updated to his tastes in 2002, finally moving in in 2003; while the style may have altered a little, almost all of his grandmother’s furniture has been accommodated in the house. The initial £10,000 ballooned to a final cost of £22,232, as older buildings were demolished and problems revealed, but also due to Nash’s numerous changes as the building progressed. Clarence House, named after its first occupant, was completed in 1827, incorporating a corner of St James’s. Today, the two are still linked by a corridor on the first floor, being useful for larger receptions and events.
To prepare the building for Charles, Clarence House underwent extensive refurbishment and redecoration. The renovation included new colour schemes, updated textiles, and several new pieces from the Royal Collection and from King Charles' own art collection. As one of the last remaining aristocratic townhouses in London, this property is steeped in royal history. The Garden Room is also home to a number of framed family photographs from Their Royal Highnesses' personal collection, many of which sit on top of the piano.This photograph of The Duchess of Cornwall was also taken in The Garden Room. Clarence House receives many visitors throughout the year - including Kings and Queens, Presidents and Prime Ministers, religious leaders, and guests from the many charities with which Their Royal Highnesses are involved. In medieval times, King Edward III was so inspired by tales of King Arthur and the chivalry of the Knights of the Round Table that he set up his own group of honourable knights, called The Order of the Garter.
Prince Harry visits cancer-stricken King Charles at Clarence House after arriving in UK without Meghan Markle - Casper Star-Tribune
Prince Harry visits cancer-stricken King Charles at Clarence House after arriving in UK without Meghan Markle.
Posted: Tue, 06 Feb 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]
Clarence House is a British royal residence which is located on The Mall in the City of Westminster, London. The four-storey building is attached to St James’s Palace and is less than a five-minute walk from Buckingham Palace. Before the pandemic, Clarence House was open to the public during the summer months, with visitors given a guided tour around the five rooms and adjoining spaces on the ground floor. The tour of Clarence House would begin in the garden, where visitors could see the formal area added by the King in 2004 in memory of his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. Meanwhile, the morning room was originally designed as the breakfast room and, between 1949 and 1952, was used as The Duke of Edinburgh's study. It was also where Prince William and Kate Middleton, now the Prince and Princess of Wales, conducted their official engagement interview in 2010.
The couple had the house refitted; they added the fireplace in the Lancaster Room, which a gift from the people of Lancashire, who had raised money for Elizabeth and Philip’s wedding, and the room was named after the county people. They chose the fireplace featuring grapes for their sitting room, which came from a house in Dublin, Ireland. Princess Augusta, William’s sister, occupied Clarence House after his death for the next three years, until her own death in 1840. William even stayed at the house when he became King, and he had the passage on the first floor, to connect his home with St James’s, installed. Now, as a married man and heir to the throne living in a small and poorly-planned apartment, he petitioned Parliament and his brother, George IV, for improvements to be made.
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