Palaces

This Week in London -The Banqueting Hall reopened; new loans at The National Gallery; and, 40 years of the Freud Museum London…

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Rubens’ famous painting on the ceiling of the Banqueting House. PICTURE: Serg Bataev/Unsplash

• The Banqueting House in Whitehall has reopened following a major project upgrading the building facilities with a new display on the history of the lost Palace of Whitehall. Visitors to the building will learn about the lost palace – of which the Banqueting House is one of the last surviving parts – and see the house’s magnificent ceiling painted by Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens. Included is the chance to recline underneath the ceiling on cushioned benches and in bean bags and access specially created digital content to enrich your experience. This weekend BBC Radio presenter Georgia Martin and sound engineer Rob Winter will bring their Classical DJ project to the house, featuring a soundtrack inspired by the drama of the Stuart court and the Rubens ceiling. Admission charge applies. Runs until 20th September. For more, see www.hrp.org.uk.

• Catch a glimpse of the arts scenes of Barcelona, Berlin and Paris at the beginning of the 20th century via three new loans on show at The National Gallery. Joining a collection of works by Paul Cezanne, Edgar Degas and George Bellows in the gallery’s Room 45 is American artist Marsden Hartley’s abstract work – Painting No 50 (1914–15), as well as Pablo Picasso’s Portrait of Germaine (1902) – the only Blue Period work by Picasso currently on display in a London museum. Meanwhile, Monet’s Waterlilies (1905) completes a group of four of the artist’s ‘Water-Lily’ works on display in Room 46. Admission is free. For more, see nationalgallery.org.uk.

• The 40th anniversary of Freud Museum London is being marked with a new display. Opening next Wednesday, the display features items from Sigmund Freud’s collection of antiquities as well as family treasures. Runs from next Wednesday until 14th February. Admission charge applies. For more, see https://www.freud.org.uk/

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10 of London’s notable fountains – 6. The fountains of St James’s Park…

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These fountains in St James’s Park are well-known landmarks located in the middle of the lake.

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London Explained – The Royal Standard flying above Buckingham Palace…

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You may have seen the Royal Standard flying above Buckingham Palace. What does it signify?

The Royal Standard flying above Buckingham Palace. PICTURE: David Adams

Typically the Royal Standard is flown over a royal residence only when the monarch is physically present and in residence.

But a refurbishment of Buckingham Palace has meant King Charles III and Queen Camilla have been living in Clarence House while in London and, as a result, the Royal Standard flying over both the palace and Clarence House.

The King has announced, meanwhile, that while Buckingham Palace will remain the primary venue for ceremonial and official functions, he and the Queen intend to continue to reside at Clarence House even after the completion of the renovation project next year.

Which means that the current situation will continue including flying the Royal Standard above both properties when the King is in London, and flying the Union Jack from the top of the palace flagpole when he’s not.

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Interestingly, until 1997, the Royal Standard was the only flag to ever fly above Buckingham Palace (and never at half-mast for there is always a monarch on the throne – although, there was an error following the death of King Edward VII in 1910 when it apparently did so for several hours before being was corrected).

Following public outcry after the death of Princess Diana, Queen Elizabeth II ordered the Union Jack to be flown at half-mast over the palace during her funeral.

And it has since flown at half-mast on numerous occasions, including for the death of former PM Margaret Thatcher and members of the royal family including the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret as well as on other occasions of national mourning such as the terrorist bombings in London in 2005.

This Week in London – Diana memorial playground reopens; ‘Does my head look big in this?’ and an appeal for Dunwich Heath…

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• The world-famous Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Playground in Kensington Gardens reopened to the public this week after a £3 million renewal project. The Peter Pan-inspired playground, which was reopened on Wednesday, the National Day of Play, first opened in 2000 to commemorate the princess who had lived at nearby Kensington Palace. The free to enter playground features a brand new 17-by-12-metre galleon moored on a sandy beach, a “treehouse of dreams”, brand new water play area and a redesigned area for younger children featuring timber houses, play ships and a large sandpit. For more, head to https://www.royalparks.org.uk/visit/parks/kensington-gardens

• On Now: Does my head look BIG in this? The art of portrait caricature. This exhibition at the Cartoon Museum in Bloomsbury charts the art of portrait caricature from its origins in Renaissance Italy through its “golden age” of 18th century England to its use in the present day. Admission charge applies. Runs to 1st November. For more, see https://www.cartoonmuseum.org/whats-on-exhibitions/does-my-head-look-big-in-this-the-art-of-portrait-caricature.

• Further afield: The National Trust has launched a public appeal to restore Dunwich Heath in Suffolk after a wildfire decimated the heathland and wiped out the habitat of some of the country’s rarest species. “We are looking at total devastation of a beloved and important landscape,” said the Trust’s Director-General Hilary McGrady. “We’ve lost precious habitats, wildlife, trees, and a place where people have made memories over generations. It’s heartbreaking. But together we can and will restore Dunwich, and crucially, make it more resilient and better adapted for the climate we’re facing now, and the climate we’ll be facing in future.” The heath and the neighboring RSPB Minsmere reserve is an especially important area for birds such as nightjars, skylarks and the very rare Dartford warbler, as well as adders, lizards and slow-worms, and butterflies including the rare silver-studded blue. To help with the appeal, head to nationaltrust.org.uk/dunwich-heath-appeal.

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10 of London’s notable fountains – 5. The Great Fountain Garden, Hampton Court Palace…

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Described by Historic Royal Palaces as one of Hampton Court Palace’s “crowning glories”, the Great Fountain Garden at Hampton Court Palace was created to represent the height of Baroque fashion as exemplified at the Palace of Versailles in France.

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This Week in London – Newly discovered Tudor ring on show; Swiss art at the National Gallery; and, the story of electric travel in London…

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• A newly discovered gold signet ring bearing the signet of Queen Elizabeth I has gone on display this week at Hampton Court Palace. The ring was discovered by a metal detectorist at the site of a former royal hunting ground at Ampthill, Bedfordshire, and was purchased by Historic Royal Palaces under the terms of the Treasure Act 1996. Dated to the 1570s, it features an engraving of a phoenix rising from the flames. The phoenix emblem was first associated with Queen Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII, following the publication of a poem in 1575 by Ulpian Fulwell in which she is eulogised as being like a phoenix, with her daughter Elizabeth rising from the ashes as “a worthy Queen”. It was around this time that Queen Elizabeth I adopted the phoenix emblem for herself to honour her late mother. The emblem subsequently became associated with Anne Boleyn and courtiers had it incorporated in their clothing, jewels and paintings to show loyalty to the queen. It’s thought the ring may have been lost by a courtier or supporter of the Queen. Also on display at Hampton Court is the ‘Boleyn ring’ which, found close to the home of Anne Boleyn’s cousin, is engraved with a bull’s head and arrayed with sunbeams and stars of white enamel and features religious decoration of icons of the Virgin and Child and St Catherine of Alexandria. It has been speculated it belonged to Anne’s father or brother. On display in the Tudor World exhibition in the Wolsey Rooms at Hampton Court Palace and included in palace admission. For more, see https://www.hrp.org.uk/hampton-court-palace/.

Angelica Kauffmann, Achilles discovered among the Daughters of Lycomedes (1787–8), Oil on canvas, 103.2 x 130.8 cm, The National Gallery, London. A gift from the Barrett Collection, 2026/NG6710 PICTURE: © The National Gallery, London

• Eighteenth century Swiss artist Angelica Kauffmann’s first history painting in oils – Achilles discovered among the Daughters of Lycomedes – has been gifted to the National Gallery. The painting is one of three by Swiss artists gifted to the gallery by Dallas-based collectors Richard and Luba Barrett. The other two include Portrait of Louis Montchal by Ferdinand Hodler (1853–1918) and a landscape – Gallery Four Large Trees – by Alexandre Calame (1810–64). Kaufmann’s painting – the first of hers to enter the National Gallery’s current collection – was produced in 1787 to 1778 at the height of her success in Europe. An unusually large and fully worked preparatory picture, it was created for a final painting commissioned by Catherine the Great that is now at the Scientific-Research Museum of the Academy of Arts of Russia in St Petersburg. Kauffmann’s work can be seen in Room 37, Hodler’s in Room 44 and Calame’s in Room 39. For more, see www.nationalgallery.org.uk

• The story of electric travel is being told at the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden from next Tuesday. Electric Pioneers features a programme of events for families to explore the story of how electricity has shaped transport in London. Activities include the chance to design your own traffic light, meet costumed characters in the museum’s galleries and discover how electricity is made. Runs until 2nd September. Admission charges apply. For more see ltmuseum.co.uk/whats-on/summer-holidays-electric-pioneers.

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This Week in London – Buckingham Palace’s Picture Gallery redisplayed; ‘Henry VIII’s Joust’ at Hampton Court Palace; and, Paul Sarrut’s images of World War I…

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The Picture Gallery at Buckingham Palace has undergone a once-in-a-generation redisplay and opens to the public as part of the palace’s summer opening today. PICTURE: © Royal Collection Enterprises Limited 2026/Royal Collection Trust – Ben Fitzpatrick

• Some 120 masterpieces from the Royal Collection – including paintings by Rubens, Caravaggio and Zoffany – have gone on display in Buckingham Palace’s Picture Gallery in a major transformation of the storied room. The new presentation, which almost doubles the number of works on show, comes as the palace’s State Rooms open to visitors for summer. Highlights of the redisplay, which took some 875 hours to complete, include Johan Zoffany’s The Tribuna of Uffizi which depicts the famed Florentine gallery with works by Holbein, Rubens and Raphael all identifiable, as well as George Stubbs’ A Rough Dog, believed to show King George IV’s pet dog, Thomas Gainsborough’s portrait of Johann Christian Fischer, not believed to have been hung in the gallery display before. Other new works include The Letter by Vermeer contemporary Gerard ter Borch, and Caravaggio’s The Calling for Saints Peter and Andrew while five paintings by Rembrandt have now been hung together and seven works by Rubens have been reunited. The gallery was created during the John Nash-designed redevelopment of what had been Buckingham House into Buckingham Palace and while King George IV died before its completion, the first arrangement was hung by the time Queen Victoria acceded to the throne in 1837. Open until 27th September. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.rct.uk.

• See jousting amid the drama of the Tudor court at Hampton Court Palace over the next two weekends. ‘Henry VIII’s joust’ will take visitors back to 1526 when they can watch knights clash on horseback while tensions build as it’s discovered Anne Boleyn has not been formally invited to the event. The family friendly event, which is taking place over the weekends of 11th and 12th July and 18th and 19th July, is included in general admission to the palace. For more, see https://www.hrp.org.uk/hampton-court-palace/.

• The first ever UK exhibition dedicated to the work of World War I French liaison officer and interpreter Paul Sarrut has opened at the National Army Museum in Chelsea. Drawn on the Western Front: Paul Sarrut and the Indian Army features more than 50 drawings and works on paper exploring the experiences of some of the more than a million Indian men who volunteered to serve in the British Indian Army during the war. The display features Sarrut’s famous image of Sepoy Harnam Singh as well as also uniforms, photographs, archives and medals. The latter include Victoria Crosses awarded to Frank de Pass, the first Jewish recipient, and Khudadad Khan, the first Muslim and first soldier from the Indian subcontinent to receive the award. Free to enter. Runs until 27th February, 2027. For more, see https://www.nam.ac.uk.

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This Week in London – Sir Lawrence Olivier honoured with a Blue Plaque; Anne Boleyn at the Tower; and the Elfin Oak restored…

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• Sir Lawrence Olivier, one of the finest actors of the 20th century, has been honoured with an English Heritage Blue Plaque at his childhood home in Pimlico. The plaque, which was unveiled by Sir Ian McKellen, has ben placed on 22 Lupus Street where Olivier lived from ages six to 11 and where he first began taking steps toward the acting career that would make him famous, creating a makeshift stage and performing songs, dances and dramatic sketches for hours at a time. Olivier, whose father served as curate at nearby St Saviour’s Church, attended All Saints School in St Margaret’s Street during this time and it was there that actress Ellen Terry saw his talent and declared that even at the age of 10, he was already a great actor. Olivier would, of course, go on to be a star of the stage before becoming a Hollywood icon and, later, the first director of the National Theatre of Great Britain. For more, see www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/blue-plaques/.

PICTURE: Juhi Sewchurran/Unsplash

• The Tower of London is preparing for the coronation of Anne Boleyn, second wife of King Henry VIII, in the 1530s. Pop-up performances are taking place at the Tower until 14th August which put visitors right in the thick of the action. Anne herself will be seen at the Tower from 25th July when visitors will have the chance to ask her a question and take a selfie with her. Admission charges apply. For more, see www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/

• The famous Elfin Oak in Kensington Gardens has been given something of a facelift with 97 of the figurines which adorn the tree being restored. The Elfin Oak was first unveiled in 1930. A mature oak, brought from Richmond Park, children’s book illustrator Ivor Innes had carved miniature figurines around the natural features the tree. As well as restoring the figures, the recent project also included work to improve visibility of the tree through the protective fencing. For more, see www.royalparks.org.uk/visit/parks/kensington-gardens.

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LondonLife – Trooping the Colour…

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The annual King’s Birthday Parade, also known as Trooping the Colour, was held on Saturday in central London. The event saw 1,500 soldiers and hundreds of horses from the Household Division carry out complex drill manoeuvres to a programme of music and concluded with a 41 Gun Salute in Green Park, a 62 Gun Salute at Tower of London, and a flypast of military aircraft over Buckingham Palace.

Coldstream Guards musicians preparing for Trooping the Colour at Wellington Barracks. PICTURE: Cpl Jamie Ayling/UK MOD © Crown copyright 2026
March past of The Household Cavalry Regiment on the parade ground. PICTURE: Cpl Christian P Delice/UK MOD © Crown copyright 2026
King Charles III salutes the Regimental Colour during Trooping the Colour. PICTURE: SSgt Donald C Todd/UK MOD © Crown copyright 2026
Some of the over 300 musicians from the Massed Bands marching down the Mall towards Buckingham Palce for the march past. PICTURE: Sergeant Anil Gurung/UK MOD © Crown copyright 2026
The Royal Family wave to the crowds from the Buckingham Palace balcony after Trooping the Colour. PICTURE: SSgt Donald C Todd/UK MOD © Crown copyright 2026
Nine Hawk jets from the Red Arrows making smoke on route to His Majesty the King’s Birthday flypast over Buckingham Palace. PICTURE: AS1 Emily Muir/UK MOD © Crown copyright 2026

This Week in London – Lost music venues; the Iraq war remembered; and, ‘Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style’ extended…

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• Lost UK music venues are recalled in a new exhibition opening at the V&A in South Kensington on Saturday. Lost Music Venues features more than 100 objects celebrating 50 lost venues and includes gig posters, membership cards, club photography, band merch, and subculture fashions which have been gathered together following a call to the public. Highlights include handwritten Oasis lyrics, a Blur set list, Mark Webber’s briefcase from his stint as Pulp’s tour manager, the exterior sign from the Astoria London, Joan Baez’s note of support for Rainbow Theatre, a poster for an early Banksy exhibition held at The Arches, a bespoke club outfit designed by Vivienne Westwood, and flyers from Plastic People. Free to visit, the display can be seen until 30th October, 2027. For more, see vam.ac.uk.

• Marking the 15th anniversary of the end of the war in Iraq, a Warrior Infantry Fighting Vehicle will go on display outside the National Army Museum from next Tuesday to Sunday, 14th June. The vehicle has been recently decommissioned after more than 40 years of Army service and was present during operations in Iraq in 2004. It was almost certainly the vehicle in which then-Private Johnson Beharry earned the Victoria Cross for two separate acts of bravery under sustained enemy attack. Now Warrant Officer Class 1, Beharry became the first living British soldier in 35 years to be awarded the Victoria Cross for his heroic actions in saving the lives of his comrades during ambushes in Iraq. In the first, after his platoon commander was wounded in an attack on 1st May, 2004, Beharry took control of a Warrior Infantry Fighting Vehicle and, despite being severely injured, he led his patrol to safety under heavy machine-gun fire from the enemy. In the second incident on 11th June, 2004, Beharry, who sustained a severe head injury when a rocket-propelled grenade detonated just six inches from his head, still managed to drive his vehicle out of danger and saved the lives of those around him before losing consciousness. Beharry’s Victoria Cross will be among the first medals from Lord Ashcroft’s collection of Victoria Crosses and George Crosses to go on display inside the museum from 2nd June. His Iraq Medal and Kosovo Medal will also be on display. For more, see https://www.nam.ac.uk/.

• Buckingham Palace have announced the landmark centenary exhibition at the King’s Gallery marking the centenary of the late Queen’s birth – Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style – will be extended by six months due to popular demand. The exhibition, which will now close on 18th April next year, is the largest exhibition of Queen Elizabeth II’s fashion ever staged featuring more than 300 items drawn from her personal fashion archive. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.rct.uk/queenelizabeth. 

A Moment in London’s History…London Zoo is founded…

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PICTURE: Richard Cook/Unsplash

The origins of the modern ZSL London Zoo go back 200 years to the founding of the London Zoological Society by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles on 29th April, 1826.

While the idea of a zoo had been debated for some years, it was the death of Chunee the bull elephant at Cross’s Menagerie in the Exeter Exchange on the Strand that is said to have been the catalyst for immediate action.

Chunee, who’d been kept in an enclosure at the menagerie for six years, had been put down by a firing squad of soldiers after, having become aggressive during musth (a natural condition in adult male elephants which sees them experience a massive surge of testosterone and is often characterised by erratic behaviour), had injured one of his keepers and killed another. The soldiers, acting on the wishes of the menagerie’s proprietor Edward Cross, had fired 152 musketballs into the elephant but still had to finish him off with a harpoon.

Such was the outrage at this tragic event, that Raffles, famous for having established a trading post at Singapore, moved to to found the society.

Sir Thomas obtained land for the zoo in Regent’s Park before his death on 5th July that year (his birthday) but it was his successor, Whig politician Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne, who oversaw the construction of the zoo’s first animal houses drawing on the services of architect Decimus Burton.

The zoo opened to fellows of the society on 27th April, 1828, permitting them to study the animals. It was granted a Royal Charter by King George IV in 1829. In 1831, animals held in the Tower of London’s menagerie were transferred to the zoo.

It wasn’t until 1847 that it opened to the public in a plan aimed at raising funds for its upkeep.

Initial animals at the zoo included monkeys, bears, kangaroos and zebras – naturalist Charles Darwin was among those who visited in the early years and was fascinated by an ape named Jenny.

While it wasn’t the first zoo in the world (but was the world’s first scientific zoo), it was later responsible for numerous world firsts with the first reptile house opening in 1849, the first public aquarium in 1853 and the first insect house in 1881. In 1850, Obaysch, the first hippo in Europe since Roman times, came to live at the zoo.

Others among the more famous animals housed at the zoo were the African elephant Jumbo who arrived in 1865, the Black bear Winnie who was part of the inspiration for Winnie-the-Pooh, and Guy the Gorilla who arrived in 1947.

Larger animals were moved out to Whipsnade Zoo, the world’s first open-air zoo, in Bedfordshire in 1931.

This Week in London – Queen Elizabeth II’s fashion archive on show; London Transport Museum Depot’s open days; and, wartime London in art…

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Janet Sutherland, the royal christening robe, 1841. © Royal Collection Enterprises Limited 2026 | Royal Collection Trust.

• A christening robe, first worn by Queen Victoria’s eldest child, Princess Victoria, at her christening in 1841, and subsequently by 61 other royal babies including Queen Elizabeth II, is one of the stars of a new exhibition opening at The King’s Gallery in Buckingham Palace tomorrow. Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style features around 200 items from Queen Elizabeth II’s fashion archive – the largest exhibition of her clothing ever staged. Other highlights include a Norman Hartnell apple-green gown worn by the Queen a state banquet given for President Eisenhower at the British Embassy in Washington, DC, in 1957; a crinoline-skirted blue gown and matching bolero jacket worn by the late Queen for her sister Princess Margaret’s wedding in 1960; and, perhaps more surprisingly, a clear plastic raincoat made by Hardy Amies in the 1960s. The latter is just one example of late Queen’s private, off-duty wardrobe which is also included in the show. Other examples include a Harris tweed jacket and Balmoral Tartan skirt, designed by Norman Hartnell and worn in the 1950 and a green coat made by Angela Kelly. The exhibition runs until 18th October. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.rct.uk.

• Celebrate 120 years of the Bakerloo and Piccadilly Lines and 70 years of the Routemaster bus at a London Transport Museum Depot open day. The first to be held this year, the four open days at the Acton Town facility, will allow visitors to discover the more than 320,000 objects not on display at the museum’s Covent Garden site including the chance to climb aboard historic train stock dating from 1927 and 1938, get a close-up look at the pioneering RM1 and RM2 buses, and explore everything from rare signalling equipment to models, maps, station architecture and posters. A programme of talks is also taking place across the weekend along with activities for kids, heritage demonstrations, displays and stalls. The days run from today – 9th April – through to Sunday (12th April). Admission charges apply. For more, see www.ltmuseum.co.uk/whats-on/depot-open-days/icons-london.

• On Now: Beauty and Destruction: Wartime London in Art. This free exhibition at IWM London tells the story of London during World War II and features more than 45 paintings and drawings as well as photographs, films, objects and oral histories. Works include some by well-known artists such as Eliot Hodgkin, Graham
Sutherland, Henry Carr, Evelyn Dunbar, Duncan Grant and Edward Ardizzone as well as lesser known figures, many of whom were employed by the War Artists’ Advisory Committee. The works are presented under four themes -Travel, Thames, Street and Shelter – and highlights include Frances MacDonald’s Sketch for ‘London Docks’ (1944), John Edgar Platt’s Wartime traffic on the River Thames (1942) and fireman artist Leonard Rosoman’s The Houses of Parliament on Fire, May 1941 (1941) – which captures the last night of the Blitz. Other works in the display are Duncan Grant’s painting of that iconic symbol of wartime resistance, St Paul’s Cathedral, Henry Carr’s St Clement Dane’s Church on Fire after being Bombed (1941), Evelyn Gibbs’ WVS Clothing Exchange (1943) and Evelyn Dunbar’s Convalescent Nurses Making Camouflage Nets (1941). The display can be seen until 1st November. For more, see www.iwm.org.uk/events/beauty-and-destruction-wartime-london-in-art.

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LondonLife – Passing parade…

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Outside Buckingham Palace. PICTURE: Shawn/Unsplash

This Week in London – Lucian Freud’s etching plates and prints; The Jolly Postman at the Postal Museum; and, Beano at the Tower…

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• Newly acquired etching plates and prints of Lucian Freud’s go on display for the first time in a new exhibition at The National Portrait Gallery. Lucian Freud: Drawing into Painting, the UK’s first museum exhibition to focus on the artist’s works on paper, features rarely-seen drawings and preparatory studies alongside iconic paintings and is said to offer “unprecedented insight” into Freud’s creative process and working methods. The display features some 170 drawings, etchings and paintings and includes a look at the childhood drawings, sketchbooks, letters and unfinished paintings as well as a number of drawings and etchings that have a relationship with specific paintings. Runs until 4th May. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.npg.org.uk.

• An interactive exhibition celebrating 40 years of the much-loved children’s book The Jolly Postman opens at the Postal Museum on Saturday. Visitors are invited to follow Janet and Allan Ahlberg character on his postal rounds, from the Three Bears’ cottage, to Cinderella at the palace, and the Wicked Witch’s gingerbread bungalow with magical surprises at every stop and a treasure trove of original artwork, much of which is on display for the first time. The display shows how the Ahlbergs drew inspiration from the everyday magic of the post arriving through the letterbox to create their classic book. Admission charge applies (includes a ride on Mail Rail, and access to all the museum’s exhibitions, including The Jolly Postman for one year after the date of first visit). Runs until January 2027. For more, see www.postalmuseum.org/event/the-jolly-postman/.

• Beano arrives at the Tower of London for the February half-term with a twisting outdoor trail. With pieces of the Beano crews’ go-cart scattered across history, visitors are charged with helping track them down, repair the tangled timeline and transport Dennis and his pals back to Beanotown. Beano Mischief at the Tower of London runs from 14th until 22nd February. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/whats-on/beano-mischief-at-the-tower-of-london/.

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This Week in London – Christmas at Hampton Court; Caravaggio’s Victorious Cupid; and, Romani art, culture and heritage…

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PICTURE: paulafrench/iStockphoto

• Christmas has come to Hampton Court Palace with the one-time home of King Henry VIII decorated with traditional decorations and hosting a range of Christmas-related activities. Musicians located throughout the palace are playing a mixture of classical tunes and familiar Christmas melodies while in the Wine Cellar “intriguing history” of Christmas is being brought to life in story-telling sessions. The culinary Christmas traditions of the Tudors, meanwhile, are on display in the historic kitchens with, between 20th December and 4th January, the Historic Kitchens team recreating recipes from the Tudor court. The Magic Garden is hosting a special playful outdoor adventure for younger ones between 17th December and 4th January. The Hampton Court Palace Ice Rink has also returned (until 4th January) and there’s a Christmas market being held in the Great Fountain Garden on 5th to 7th December and again on 12th to 14th December. The Festive Fayre will feature more than 100 independent exhibitors offering artisan food and drink, unique gifts and stocking fillers while there will be live music on the East Front bandstand and horse and cart rides in the grounds. Admission charge applies. For more on Christmas activties at the palace head to www.hrp.org.uk/hampton-court-palace/whats-on/christmas-festivities/.

• Caravaggio’s Victorious Cupid – never-before seen in public in the UK – is at the centre of a new exhibition which has opened at the Wallace Collection. The sculpture is presented with two Roman sculptures that along with the Caravaggio were all once part of the portfolio of Marchese Vincenzo Giustiniani (1564–1637), one of the most celebrated collectors of his day. The life-sized Cupid was once displayed along with works by the likes of Raphael, Titian and Giorgione in his grand palazzo located near the Pantheon in Rome along with an extensive gallery of classical sculpture. Caravaggio’s Cupid, which is free to enter, can be seen in the Exhibition Galleries until 12th April. For more, see www.wallacecollection.org/whats-on/exhibitions-displays/caravaggios-cupid/.

• A new display honouring the livelihoods, creativity and craft of Romani communities and their contribution to British society has opened at the London Museum Docklands. By Appointment Only: Romani art, culture and heritage centres on three works, Sugar Coated (2025) by Corrina Eastwood, Tap Your Heels Together Three Times (2025) by Delaine Le Bas and What Makes a Home? (2025) by Dan Turner. There’s also timeline by John-Henry Phillips which illustrates the history of Romani communities from 500-1000 up to 2022. This is displayed along with the Historic England film Searching for Romani Gypsy Heritage with John Henry Phillips (2024) and an oral history piece both of which contextualise the timeline. The exhibition in the Reflections Room is free. For more, see www.londonmuseum.org.uk/whats-on/by-appointment-only/.

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This Week in London – Wes Anderson’s archive explored; Edwin Austin Abbey at The National Gallery; and, Christmas at the Tower…

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• The first retrospective of the work of film-maker Wes Anderson has opened at the Design Museum in South Kensington. Wes Anderson: The Archives draws on the director’s own archives to chart the evolution of his films from early experiments in the 1990s and collaborations to an exploration of the design stories behind films such as The Royal Tenenbaums, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Fantastic Mr Fox and Isle of Dogs. The display features more than 700 objects including original storyboards, polaroids, sketches, paintings, handwritten notebooks, puppets, miniature models and costumes. Highlights include a candy-pink model of the Grand Budapest Hotel, vending machines from Asteroid City, a FENDI fur coat worn by Gwyneth Paltrow as Margot Tenenbaum in The Royal Tenenbaums, stop motion puppets used to depict the fantastical sea creatures in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and Mr Fox wearing his signature corduroy suit and show dog Nutmeg alongside miniature sets. There’s also a screening of Bottle Rocket, Anderson’s first short film, created in 1993. Runs until 26th July. Admission charge applies. For more, see https://designmuseum.org/exhibitions/wes-anderson-the-archives.

Edwin Austin Abbey, ‘Study for The Hours in the Pennsylvania State Capitol’ (about 1909–11), oil on canvas, 381 × 381 cm Yale University Art Gallery, Edwin Austin Abbey Memorial Collection. PICTURE: Courtesy of Yale University Art Gallery

• A design for the ceiling of the House of Representatives in the Pennsylvania State Capitol in the US has gone on show at The National Gallery as part of a new exhibition dedicated to its creator Edwin Austin Abbey (1852-1911). The 12-feet diameter half-scale design for The Hours, newly conserved by the Yale University Art Gallery, depicts 24 female figures representing the 24 hours of the day. The display, Edwin Austin Abbey: By the Dawn’s Early Light, also features six preparatory drawings for his work, The Apotheosis of Pennsylvania, a vast wall mural featuring representations of 16th and 17th century English explorer Sir Walter Raleigh and American frontiersman Daniel Boone behind the Speaker’s dais. Abbey, who lived and worked in the UK, displayed the first of his Harrisburg murals at the University of London in 1908 prior to shipping them to the US – guests included King Edward VII and Queen Alexandria. The free display can be seen in the HJ Hyams Room (Room 1) until 15th February. For more, see www.nationalgallery.org.uk/exhibitions/edwin-austin-abbey-by-the-dawn-s-early-light

• The Tower of London is being transformed into a “magical storybook world” to mark Christmas this year. A Storybook Christmas at the Tower of London features royal romances, legendary figures and treasured traditions which include animals who once lived in the Tower’s royal menagerie, the famous tower ravens, the chance to step onto a regal throne for a family portrait and find storybook backdrops among Christmas trees and wreaths, and an opportunity to explore the story of the Tower’s Royal Observatory where the first Royal Astronomer was appointed in 1675. The “storybook Christmas” opens on Sunday and runs until 4th January. Included in general admission. For more, see www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/.

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Treasures of London – The Exeter Salt…

by exploringlondon

Part of the Crown Jewels held in the Tower of London, the Exeter Salt (or more formally the Salt of State) is, as the name suggests, a salt cellar but one which is exquisitely designed in the shape of a castle.

PICTURE: Firebrace/Wikipedia (licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0)

Standing 1.5 foot tall, the salt was made by Johann Hass of Hamburg, in what is now Germany, in about 1630. It is was made of silver gilt and mounted with some 73 gems including almandine garnets, turquoises, sapphires, emeralds, rubies, amethysts. It is thought the gems were not part of the original construction and may have been added at the time King Charles II’s coronation.

The design features a fantasy castle with turrets at each corner and a round tower topped by a dome and crown in the centre and comes complete with details such as cannons and decorative shields. It appears to stand on a base of rock which is supported by dragons at each corner.

It has a central compartment under the main tower as well as compartment under each turret. There are also a series of drawers used for pepper and other spices (the numbers suggesting it was made as a spice box).

The salt was purchased by Richard Bradshaw, representative of the then-Cromwellian government, in Hamburg in 1657 with the intention that it and other gifts be presented to the Russian court which had broken ties with Britain after the death of King Charles I.

But Bradshaw only made it as far as Riga in what is now Latvia (sadly many of his party dying of plague on the journey). He spent eight months waiting to cross into Russia to no avail. Bradshaw eventually returned to London via Hamburg, taking with him the gifts.

He is understood to have sold the gifts when back in London to try and recoup some of the losses he had experienced on his attempt to reach Russia.

The council of the city of Exeter acquired the salt in 1660, using the royal goldsmith, Sir Robert Vyner, as an intermediary, and paying a staggering £700 (and giving it a new name). The city, which had been a Parliamentary stronghold during the civil war, then presented it to King Charles II for his coronation.

It now forms part of the Crown Jewels and is held in the Tower of London’s Jewel House.

WHERE: The Jewel House, The Tower of London (nearest Tube Station is Tower Hill); WHEN: 9am to 4:30pm Tuesday to Saturday; opens 10am Sundays and Mondays (last entry at 3pm); COST: £35.80 adults; £28.50 concession; £17.90 children (free for Historic Royal Palaces members and £1 tickets are available for those in receipt of certain means-tested financial benefits); WEBSITE: www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/crown-jewels/

This Week in London – Kew’s Christmas light trail returns; ‘Time’ at the Old Royal Naval College; and, a royal Christmas shop…

by exploringlondon
A scene from last year’s light show. PICTURE: James Carter-Johnson/iStockphoto

• Kew Garden’s famous light trail opens tomorrow and this year the three kilometres features eight new world premiere installations, interactive dance floors with giant headphones and, for the first time, the illumination of the Great Pagada. Christmas at Kew will also feature seasonal staples such as illuminated trees, a festive funfair and the ever-popular Christmas Cathedral. Among the new installations are Creative Culture’s Christmas Orchestra featuring festive music coordinated with lights and In Bloom, an installation by Netherlands’ multidisciplinary artist Wilhelmsusvlug said to evoke “delicate petals dancing through the air”. There will be a newly created projection at the Palm House while the Palm House Pond will feature a light display of 100 lillies and the trail concludes with a music and light show at the Temperate House. Runs until 4th January. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.kew.org/christmas.

• Time, a sound and light show by Luxmuralis, has transformed the Old Royal Naval College after dark with an “unforgettable journey through history and science”. Visitors start in the Painted Hall where they’s see Peter Walker’s Connection & Identity illuminated after which they’ll move through the Ripley Tunnel, Queen Mary Undercroft and chapel before heading outside across the colonnades and into the courtyard. Runs until 22nd November. Admission charge applies. For more, see https://ornc.org/whats-on/time-by-luxmuralis/.

• The Royal Shop in the Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace has been transformed into a Christmas pop-up shop for the first time. The Royal Mews Christmas Shop, which opens tomorrow, features a range of official royal gifts as well as food and drink from the Royal Collection Trust, a department of the Royal Household. Among the new offerings this year are mini 20cl bottles of gins infused with botanicals hand-picked from the grounds of royal residences including Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle as well as a Property of the Royal Kitchen range of kitchen accessories, which takes its inspiration from the Great Kitchen at Windsor Castle, and wine accessories including crystal wine glasses, delicately etched with a pattern of knotted vines and grape leaves inspired by the Grand Punch Bowl, a majestic wine cistern in the Royal Collection known to have been used by Queen Victoria. To visit the shop online, head to www.royalcollectionshop.co.uk.

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Bonfire Night – Five places in London featured in the events of the Gunpowder Plot…

by exploringlondon

It’s 5th November and that means Bonfire Night, the annual event featuring bonfires, effigies of Guy Fawkes (and others), and fireworks displays in commemoration of the November, 1605, foiling of a conspiracy to kill King James I (and many others) by blowing up the House of Lords (you can read more about it in earlier posts here and here).

Looking across Old Palace Yard outside the Houses of Parliament to the southern end of Westminster Hall. PICTURE: David Adams

Here’s five places of significance to the story of the plot:

1. The Houses of Parliament: It was in the undercroft beneath the House of Lords that Guy Fawkes was found with 36 barrels of gunpowder. The cellar is now gone – having been destroyed when the Houses of Parliament burned down in 1834.

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This Week in London – Turner’s ‘The Battle of Trafalgar’ returns to public display; Halloween at Hampton; Diwali at Greenwich; and, NYE tickets…

by exploringlondon
The Queen’s House, Greenwich. PICTURE: Frank Chou/Unsplash

• Artist JMW Turner’s only royal commission has returned to public display in Greenwich to mark the 250th anniversary of the artist’s birth. The more than three metre-wide painting (Turner’s largest completed work), The Battle of Trafalgar, went on display on Tuesday – 220 years to the day since the battle it depicts – at the Queen’s House. The 1824 painting, which was commissioned by King George IV, commemorates the victory of the British Royal Navy over a combined French and Spanish fleet off Cape Trafalgar on 21st October, 1805. First displayed at St James’s Palace, it was transferred to the Naval Gallery at Greenwich Hospital in 1829. It was removed from public display in March last year to protect it during a works project at the National Maritime Museum and has now found a new home at the Queen’s House. Admission is free. For more, see www.rmg.co.uk/queens-house.

• The ghosts of King Henry VIII and Oliver Cromwell are among those which can be encountered at Hampton Court Palace from Friday as it marks Halloween. Immersive Halloween-inspired installations with unearth the stories of some of the palace’s former residents while outside there’s a Haunted Garden complete with skeletal horse and carriage. Halloween season at the palace runs until 2nd November and is included in general admission. For more, see www.hrp.org.uk/hampton-court-palace/whats-on/halloween-at-hampton-court-palace/.

• Diwali, the annual Hindu celebration, comes to the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich this Saturday with the ‘Illuminate’ festival. The free festival, which runs from 11am to 5pm and is curated by Mehala Ford – founder of South Asian art collective COMMONGROUND&, includes performances, creative workshops including traditional Rangoli art and Henna art, storytelling sessions including a puppet show telling the epic story of Ramayana, and a lantern parade around Greenwich Park. There ares also talks and Diwali-inspired food. For more, see www.rmg.co.uk/whats-on/national-maritime-museum/diwali.

• Tickets to London’s New Year’s Eve celebrations have gone on sale. The 12 minute show celebrating the new year will kicks off with the familiar sounds of Big Ben’s chimes, before thousands of fireworks and hundreds of lights help to illuminate the night sky around the London Eye all set to a wide-ranging soundtrack. Around 100,000 Londoners and visitors are expected to attend. Ticket prices are between £20 and £35 for Londoners and £40 and £55 for visitors. For more, see www.london.gov.uk/nye.

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