August 1-9, 2019
This carefully curated tour explores the interaction between British monarchs and the architects, painters, sculptors, and artisans who helped them create a world suited to the monarchy. In addition to visits to virtually all the palaces within the broad region of London, we visit numerous places not normally available to the public within the royal precinct--the State Rooms of Buckingham Palace, the Palace Garden, Clarence House--the home of Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall, Queen's Chapel, and other notable houses lining St. James's Park. Day trips include a visit to Windsor Great Park's royal retreat Frogmore House, capped off with a private evening tour of Windsor Castle; a Thames river trip to Greenwich and a day at the magnificent Hampton Court Palace. Chapels, tombs, memorials and gardens enrich our grasp of how monarchy has shaped the London we know.
TOUR SUMMARY
Location – London, England
Dates – August 1-9, 2019
Tour Size – 20
LODGING & MEALS
Excellent Club Accommodations
All Breakfasts, Two Dinners, and Three Lunches Included
PRICING PER PERSON
$4595 for double occupancy
$800 single supplement
Highlights
Focused on London’s ‘royal precinct,’ Art and Architecture of Royal London explores the many ways in which the monarchy over many centuries has created the London we know. With visits to five royal palaces that have housed the British monarch since the medieval period as well as other buildings and monuments with connections to the monarchy—seaside retreat, chapels, tombs, and gardens—we will have an exceptional look at royal patronage over the centuries.
FOCUS on three architects of special significance to British monarchs: Inigo Jones, in the early 17th c, Sir Christopher Wren, in the latter 17th c, and John Nash in the latter 18th and early 19th c.
DAYTRIP to Windsor: Capped by a private evening tour of Windsor Castle, the day will include tours of royal retreat Frogmore House and the Savill Garden in Windsor Great Park.
THAMES RIVER CRUISE to Greenwich, home of Wren's Royal Observatory and Royal Naval Hospital, and Inigo Jones's Queen's House (1619-27).
A TRIP WEST for a private tour of Henry VIII’s Hampton Court Palace, greatly enlarged 150 years later by Sir Christopher Wren for William and Mary upon their accession in the 1689 Glorious Revolution.
A tour of Kensington Palace, developed first for William III and Mary II by Wren, and now home to William and Kate, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
LUNCH IN THE 1704 ORANGERY Pavilion at Kensington Palace, developed for Queen Anne by architect Nicholas Hawksmoor.
PRIVATE GALLERY TALK, “Some Royal Introductions,” at the National Portrait Gallery
PLUS GUIDED TOURS of
• the Banqueting House, Whitehall, the only remaining fabric of Whitehall Palace, designed by Inigo Jones (ca. 1619-22), who introduced Palladian-informed classicism to the existing Tudor palace.
• The Palace of Westminster, aka the Houses of Parliament, including Westminster Hall, the medieval remnant of Westminster Palace, plus Afternoon Tea.
• Westminster Abbey and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Gallery (opened in June 2018).
ONLY IN AUGUST: a tour of the State Rooms and Garden of Buckingham Palace, the London home of Her Majesty the Queen.
Accommodation
Participants in the Art and Architecture of Royal London tour will be guests at No. 4 St. James’s Square, the former townhouse of the 2nd Viscount and Vicountess Astor (known to Americans, especially, as Virginia-born Nancy Langhorne Astor, the first woman to hold a seat in the British Parliament). Now the Naval and Military Club, informally known as “In and Out,” No. 4 St. James’s Square is located in the St. James’s section of Westminster, two minutes’ walk from Piccadilly Circus and 10 minutes from London’s West End theatres. A continental breakfast is provided, and cooked breakfasts are available as a private charge.
The tour will include all breakfasts, two dinners, three lunches, and one tea. The In and Out Club's dining, bar, and fitness facilities will be available at one’s own expense.