The royal apartments are reached by an imposing vestibule. The first room, the Queen’s guard chamber, contains a grand array of warlike implements, and glittering weapons, and its walls are rich in paintings.
The Queen’s presence chamber contains the rarest furniture and hangings, with an array of artistic works by the most celebrated masters.
The ball-room is hung with tapestry, representing the twelve months of the year, and upon its ceiling is pictured Charles II, giving freedom to England. There is here an immense table of solid silver.
In the Queen’s bed-chamber is the State bed, said to have cost $70,000, designed for Queen Charlotte. The Queen’s dressing-room, hung with British tapestry, contains the closet in which is deposited the banner of France. The same closet contains the tea-equipage of Queen Anne.
An elegant saloon is called the “Room of Beauties,” and contains fourteen portraits of ladies who were “most fair” in the court of Charles II. Their lovely faces and rich apparel, quaint and oddly fashioned, make the most delightful and instructive study.
The audience chamber contains the throne and is enriched with historical paintings of events in the reign of Henry III. Another guard chamber contains an immense collection of warlike instruments, fancifully arranged, and also the flag sent by the Duke of Wellington in commemoration of the battle of Waterloo.
St. George’s Hall, which is one hundred and eight feet long, is set apart for the illustrious “Order of the Garter.” It is superbly decorated with allegorical paintings. The chapel is a fine specimen of the florid Gothic. The roof is elliptical and is composed of stone; the whole ceiling is ornamented with emblazoned arms of many sovereigns and knights of the Garter. The stalls of the sovereigns and knights exhibit a profusion of rare carving. The chapel is the burial place of many royal and illustrious persons; Edward IV, Henry IV, Henry VIII and Charles I having been interred here.
THE LITTLE PRINCES.
Among the sad episodes in the illustrated history of English sovereigns, not one is more pathetic or impressive than the story of the two little Princes, sons of Edward IV. This King had an ambitious and unscrupulous brother, called Richard, Duke of Gloucester.