Queen's House (56 page)

When Heads of Commonwealth countries come to Britain The
Queen does not host their meetings in Buckingham Palace, but she does receive them individually there, and she is available to be consulted. She receives them at banquets at Buckingham Palace and offers them hospitality.

She does not attend their meetings in London: these are now organized by the Commonwealth Secretariat, a body set up in 1965 by the Heads of Governments, to co-ordinate the work of the various departments within the Commonwealth. The Heads of Government meet biannually in different countries in turn.

The Queen preserves the distinction between being Queen of Great Britain, with her headquarters in Buckingham Palace, and Head of the Commonwealth, which has its offices and holds its meetings in Marlborough House – Queen Mary's old home. To mark her separate roles, The Queen flies a different personal standard when acting as Head of the Commonwealth – the initial E within a chaplet of roses.

In the year after her Coronation she began regular visits with Prince Philip to Commonwealth countries, particularly to Africa, India, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, which have continued throughout her reign. In the winter of 1953–4 they spent five months in Australia, New Zealand and the Far East. In 1962, when she opened the new Commonwealth Institute in Holland Park, London, she could justly claim, ‘I suppose that between us my husband and I have seen more of the Commonwealth than almost any people alive.'
¹³

Throughout the following years The Queen was to develop an exceptional understanding of Commonwealth leaders because she saw them at work in their own countries. In spite of his efforts, her father, King George VI, could never achieve this, because he usually met them in the formal and unreal setting of Buckingham Palace. So when Commonwealth Prime Ministers come to England The Queen can receive them at the Palace as old friends. That friendship has survived growing republicanism in Australia and Canada. Changes in the constitutions of both countries have been made amicably mainly because of The Queen's skill at defusing tension.

She takes great pains to be well briefed. She has known many of the leaders for many years. Sonny Ramphal, who was Secretary General of
the Commonwealth Heads of Government, has the greatest respect for her knowledge and understanding of Commonwealth leaders.

As Sonny Ramphal explained, ‘She grew up with them, understood them and related to them … Even at the times when the British Government was at odds with many of these leaders, she was able to understand their point of view without taking sides, and managed to convey to them that she did.'
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It was with the greatest pleasure that The Queen welcomed President Nelson Mandela of South Africa on a state visit in July 1996. She had visited South Africa the previous year and had been much moved by the warmth of her welcome. It had been in Africa that she had made her speech of dedication on her twenty-first birthday. In welcoming South Africa back into the Commonwealth she was lighting a beacon of hope in a changing world.

The Palace: Host to the World

Once a year The Queen holds a grand evening reception at Buckingham Palace, to which 1,000 members of the diplomatic corps from 130 countries are invited, together with 350 British guests and the Prime Minister, members of the Cabinet and other public figures. The guests are courteously, but firmly, marshalled through the State Rooms by elegant gentlemen ushers; on the left stand the diplomats and their wives, and on the right, the British contingent. At last comes the resplendent royal party, jewels and decorations glittering under the chandeliers. The Queen stops to talk to foreign diplomats and their wives as she progresses slowly through the rooms. Members of the royal family follow behind and divide their attentions between the ambassadors and diplomats, and political figures. When the royal progress reaches the last State Room, the guests proceed to the supper rooms; there is dancing in the ballroom until the band plays ‘God Save The Queen'.

Unlike Queen Victoria's balls, which sometimes went on till four in
the morning, this party usually ends at midnight. Seasoned guests wear comfortable shoes to these occasions, for there are prolonged periods when they ‘only stand and wait'. The Queen herself is tireless, having long ago mastered the royal art of standing, feet apart, the body's weight evenly distributed. The present writer remembers one distinguished lady standing in blissful ease: she had forgotten to change her shoes and was wearing her bedroom slippers under her elegant gown.

Although foreign diplomats are still officially accredited to the Court of St James, it is to Buckingham Palace that a new ambassador is invited to present his credentials to The Queen, as soon as possible after his arrival. Then the Marshal of the Diplomatic Corps, who is usually a retired officer, is driven in a state landau, drawn by a pair of bay horses, to collect the new ambassador from his residence. Driven by a coachman in full state livery and followed by his suite in other state landaus, the ambassador's coach clatters through the courtyard of Buckingham Palace to halt at the red-carpeted stairs to the Grand Hall, where he is greeted by the Vice-Marshal and the Permanent Under-Secretary of State from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and the Lady-in-Waiting if the ambassador's wife is present. The party is led up the steps to the Bow Room overlooking the gardens. The Queen receives the ambassador in the 1844 Room next door; he is ushered in by the Marshal and an equerry, who then withdraw. The ambassador presents his credentials and then introduces his suite as they enter one by one. His wife is presented by the Marshal afterwards. At the end of the audience the ambassador signs The Queen's visitors' book and withdraws.

All such ceremonies are conducted with military precision. The procedure is explained to the ambassador in exact detail by the equerry and nothing is left to chance.

Similarly members of the public who are honoured at investitures are instructed exactly so that the ceremony runs like clockwork. There are twenty investitures a year, of which the Prince of Wales undertakes six. The Queen holds six in February, two in July, and six between October and December.

The recipients, who may bring three guests, are received in the Grand
Hall and guided to the Ballroom by four gentlemen ushers. The guests are seated and those who are to be honoured are taken separately to be instructed. Meanwhile a selection of light music is played by an orchestra from the Household Division. Occasionally the music is selected with particular reference to the recipient.

At this ceremony members of a Gurkha regiment are on duty – two escort The Queen as she enters the Ballroom and two stand behind her with five Yeomen of the Guard. The Lord Chamberlain, standing to the right of The Queen, announces the name and achievements of the recipient. The Queen takes the medal from a cushion held by the Master of the Household or his representative. Those receiving knighthoods kneel on a stool and are dubbed with the investiture sword.

The apparent ease with which these traditional ceremonies are conducted never fails to impress and delight even the most cynical. Much of the credit for this goes to the Comptroller, the Lord Chamberlain's office.

Even grander than the diplomatic receptions are the state banquets, held in the Palace Ballroom on the first evening of the visit of a head of state.

The long tables, arranged in a horseshoe, are set out with the gold plate, glass and porcelain from the Royal Collection. The distinguished guests – Prime Minister, Cabinet ministers, diplomats, politicians, archbishops and others – take their places. Then the royal family, led by The Queen and the head of state, Prince Philip and the consort, progress to the top of the horseshoe. Before them the Lord Chamberlain and the Lord Steward walk backwards, according to the old tradition.

At the beginning of the meal The Queen reads her formal speech of welcome. She is too experienced, and too cautious, to attempt off-the-cuff remarks, although she has been known to inform her guests that she does not normally dine in such state. The visiting head replies, outlining his government's long links with Britain.

Then the tinkle of silver on porcelain dies away as, in startling contrast, the distant wail of bagpipes heralds the entrance of twelve enormous
Highlanders, kilts swinging, bagpipes skirling. They march twice around the tables. ‘Terrifying!' a foreign diplomat exclaimed to the present writer on one occasion. ‘Not even in the war have I seen anything so barbaric.'
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This breeze from the Scottish moors shakes the chandeliers, and is a reminder that The Queen is descended, through her mother, from the ancient kings of Scotland. Like George III, George IV and Queen Victoria, she is also proud of her ancestry, which goes back beyond the Hanoverians to the sister of Charles II and the Stuarts.

The Queen also hosts working dinners at the Palace. For example, a large dinner party was given for the G7* Summit in the State Dining Room. It was followed by a firework and laser display in the courtyard, watched by guests through the Green Drawing Room windows. On this occasion James Galway played the flute: did he remember the Gainsborough portrait of George Ill's miraculous flautist, Johann Christian Fischer, who so enchanted Fanny Burney?

On such occasions it is impossible for The Queen to talk at any length with any of her visitors. But in 1956, encouraged by Prince Philip, she began a series of small luncheon parties to which a cross-section of people, distinguished in their various professions or trades, are invited and with whom The Queen is able to talk freely and informally. Such luncheons are usually limited to eight guests and are held sometimes in the Bow Room overlooking the gardens, but more usually in the neighbouring smaller 1844 Room.

Besides the thousands of distinguished men and women who come annually as guests or to receive their medals at the Palace, almost 30,000 members of a wide cross-section of the public are The Queen's guests at the three garden parties held in July each year, where bishops, ambassadors and foreign potentates mingle with mayors, midwives and voluntary workers. The invitations, or rather commands, are sent out from the Lord Chamberlain's office. In the past, morning dress or uniform was
de rigueur
for men, while ladies wore afternoon or national dress – with hats. In recent years there are fewer top hats and now the
invitation even indicates that hats need not be worn, to the disappointment of ladies who enjoy this once-in-a-lifetime extravagance. Guests, in all their finery, begin queuing outside the Palace gates before they are opened at 3.00 p.m.

The royal garden parties were started by Queen Victoria in 1868 – and were a rare opportunity for the public to see her in the years after the death of Prince Albert. There were receptions in the gardens during the reign of Edward VII and even during the First and Second World Wars. King Edward VIII, as has been seen, was bored by them. However, they became a regular feature in the time of King George VI. Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, who has inherited a love of gardens from her mother, the Countess of Strathmore, was responsible for clearing the soot-blackened Victorian shrubberies and initiating the spectacular 175-yard-long herbaceous border, which, in its full high-summer beauty, is much admired. She is also proud that, during her time as consort, a shoot of an original mulberry tree was planted and has become established.

The Queen takes a great interest in the Buckingham Palace Gardens and in 1961 she planted a curved avenue of Indian horse chestnut trees. There is a characteristic memento from the reign of George IV – the massive Waterloo vase that stands on the lawn. The piece of Carrara marble was presented to King George IV when Prince Regent by the Duke of Tuscany in gratitude for British aid in the Napoleonic Wars. It was carved by Richard Westmacott.

In 1958, when The Queen discontinued the tradition, started by Queen Victoria, of the presentation of débutantes, an additional garden party was added to the original two. Unlike King Edward VIII, The Queen has never cut short the party because of the weather, even when, as happened in July 1996, a thunderbolt struck a tree and injured some guests. In 1997, the year of their Golden Wedding anniversary, The Queen and Prince Philip invited to a special garden party couples from all over Britain who, like them, in this year celebrated fifty years of marriage.

Guests arrive at the main gates, cross the gravelled courtyard, enter the Grand Hall and ascend the steps to the Bow Room. Here they can
admire the porcelain Chelsea service in glass-fronted cupboards, sent as a present by Queen Charlotte to her brother the Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. As they move through the open doors, they can pause on the broad terrace and look down over the camomile lawns to the sweeping curves of the four-acre lake. Queen Charlotte would have seen not a lake but a formal tree-lined canal, laid out in the French manner for the Duke of Buckingham. In the reign of King George IV, William Townsend Aiton of Kew Gardens, encouraged by Nash, had remodelled the garden, hollowing out a romantic serpentine lake. The spoil from the excavation was used to make the mound which still exists at the end of the garden. The summer house that Prince Albert had built for Queen Victoria was demolished between the wars.

Guests may pause on the terrace, look down to the north-east and imagine, beyond the herbaceous border, Pepys and Evelyn in the time of Charles II, strolling through the mulberry gardens to feast on mulberry tarts. They may look up and admire the grace of Nash's garden frontage, the delicate carvings in Coade stone above the windows and the elegant urns on the terrace.

Times and fashions have changed, but during Queen Elizabeth II's reign the ritual remains the same as in Queen Victoria's day. The Queen, Prince Philip and members of the royal family emerge on the terrace at exactly 4.00 p.m. and progress through a lane of guests to the tea tent reserved for the privileged at the end of the lawn. Two military bands take it in turn to play while guests take tea or stroll through the grounds and admire the herbaceous border.