Saturday 10 October

Now since Covid restrictions allowed the movement of people, I definitely went a bit too hard in the museum aspect. However, these two were the last of the day, my feet hurt, and my mind was very happy for history.

The Queen’s Mews, and the Queen’s gallery are right next to each other on the left side (looking at it) of Buckingham Palace. Both can be connected to the same ticket (we STAN a student discount), and your tickets last a year when they can get validated.

The Queen’s Mews, aka the Horse and Carriage center for the Queen, is less a museum, and more a recent historical example of the continuing monarchy. With horses, golden coronation carriages, and small open topped hearses for promenades, the fact that these objects are still used, in my view makes it less of a museum, but being able to personally see up close the continuation of traditions. The Queen is known for having and breeding racehorses, and horses meant to carry the 7 tonne carriages, and although there was only one when I went, it was still impressive.

Now the Queen’s Gallery, I’m half minded about. The museum itself is temporary exhibitions, based off of a specific topic chosen by the curator. When I went it was focusing on art from the era of King George IV- not the most interesting to me. However, the next exhibition in 2021 was based off the Portrait Gallery in Buckingham, which I wish I had gone to.

“And baby, you should see me in a Crown” – Moriarty. All rights reserved, 2020.

The majority of this exhibit personally was not as interesting- I’ve never been a fan of the pretend portraiture to make rich people of the 18th and 19th century look better than they did, but I did see some of the most intricate metal objects that I have ever seen. And as a conservator who needs to look for degradation in the tiniest cracks, I don’t envy the person who cleaned these.

Ivory and gold chalice (?). To be honest it looks like Neptune is holding up the globe with Jupiter on top.. No way Poseidon would agree to that. All rights reserved, 2020.

Recommendation: 7/10. A nice place to go, two-in-one ticket possibility, and near a bunch of other site seeing places in Westminster. Small enough to get around quickly if you’re on a short trip, and are a slight monarchist. Happy museuming!