Strange Story of Buckingham Palace - Hardcover

Strange History of Buckingham Palace: Patterns of People.

Hardcover with dust jacket. Zustand: Sehr gut. 211 p.,: Ill., Maps. Lediglich der Schutzumschlag ist minimal berieben. Sost aber ein sehr gutes und sauberes Exemplar/ Only the dust jacket is minimally rubbed. Otherwise a very good and clean copy. - Buckingham Palace is one of the most familiar buildings in the world, but who knows the real tales hidden behind its ceremonial gates? Who was the witch that once lived in the royal courtyard? How could courtesans once have plied their trade in front of the present royal windows? How dared a Prime Minister call the Palace a monstrous insult to the nation? Neither conventional history nor guide, this vivid and entertaining book is the first detailed exploration of the ordinary and sometimes extraordinary people who owned or lived on the land now occupied by the Palace, and of the royal occupants who later inhabited it. Extensively illustrated, it reveals how Buckingham Palace came to be the place it is today, from a time when it probably formed the escape route from a Roman battle nearly two thousand years ago to the establishment of the first gentleman's house there in the seventeenth century, and on into a chequered royal history. The first of several female owners was a Saxon queen whose strong personality and lust for power vied with that of her husband's courtiers; and the monks of St James's who once also owned part of the site were condemned by their superiors for scandalous relations with 'virgins' meant to be in their care. Even James I's ambitious plans to found an English silk industry in what are now the palace gardens were soon subject to covert takeover bids which converted his mulberry garden into a pleasure park for assignations and feasting which defied the killjoy spies of a Puritan republic. Others who once lived in and around the palace grounds include a witch who threw the medieval government into disarray before being burned at the stake, fraudulent monks who smuggled out jewels from the treasury, a money-lender's heiress, a crocodile and vintners who built a civil war fort in the garden. Americans have been confused here too. James Buchanan, later US President, had to compromise while ambassador to avoid being mistaken for a butler, and Eleanor Roosevelt escaped from the bitter palace cold and awful food as soon as good manners allowed. Only an intricate series of outstandingly dishonest land deals preserved this famous site from piecemeal development, and present-day visitors will be both charmed by the ghosts who inhabit the palace's modern formality and revolted to read about Queen Victoria's dinner, which for years was served up with generous helpings of sewage. The building may seem familiar but nobody who reads this book will ever look at it in quite the same way again: the ribald byways of its history will add a new relish to a visitor's tour, and anyone who has ever strolled round this area of London will be fascinated too. Fully sourced and referenced, and with a varied array of contemporary illustrations, The Strange History of Buckingham Palace will also appeal to architectural and social historians, those interested in London's history, and to all intrigued by the dramatic story of the home of the Kings and Queens of England. PATRICIA WRIGHT is a novelist and historian. She trained as a chartered surveyor and land agent, but later, having requalified, turned to teaching history and economics, which she subsequently gave up to become a full-time writer. She has produced seventeen works of fiction and non-fiction, some of which have been translated into several languages, and contributes to journals such as History Today. She is also a County Councillor. Jacket illustrations: Above, GHL79742 Buckingham Palace, engraved by Bachelier, pub. 1854 (litho) by Thomas Hosmer, Shepherd (1792-1864) (after), Guildhall Library, Corporation of London/Bridgeman Art Library, London; below, detail from Chronicle of Constance, Hulton Deutsch Collection. CONTENT: Prologue: 1838 List of Colour Plates A Frontier of Empire Queen with Handbag The Conqueror and his Plutocrat Fashion and Forgery Burglary Triumph out of Disaster The Witch of Eye Royal Return Entry of the Speculators Anne Hawker of Heytesbury Corruption A Court of Rogues 'A Rascally Whoring Sort of Place' Marriage Market The First Grandee Buckingham A New Palace Come to Town' Royal Purchase The Queen's House A Monstrous Insult to the Nation 'Everything Most Filthy and Offensive' The Hard Road to Reform Modern Times Appendix: Opening Dates and Times for the Royal Palaces. ISBN 9780905778372 Sprache: Englisch Gewicht in Gramm: 298. Artikel-Nr. 1224482

Verkäufer kontaktieren