Wowzers! George started working on this building in the late 1700's while he was the Prince of Wales. He continuously improved and upgraded the buildings until 1823 when the interior was finally finished. George became king in 1820 and ironically he only made two more visits after the interior was completed (1824 and 1827) George IV was not keen on his wife, Caroline, who was equally displeased with him. They had one child who died before George. After having the child, George and Caroline rarely ever set eyes on each other. George IV's brother William IV became King but he did not use the building as a residence and only visited to entertain there. When William IV died in 1837 his niece Victoria became the queen. Queen Victoria was not a fan of the place. It was too flashy, too small and it lacked privacy. In 1850 she sold the building to the town of Brighton and stripped the interior for decorating other royal households. Victoria believed that the town would demolish the building but they did not. Brighton started a restoration and by 1864, Victoria returned some items like chandeliers and wall hangings to the pavilion. She continued to return items through 1899. It was used as a field hospital during WW1 and it housed soldiers from India. They were catered to with a sensitivity towards food and religion as an attempt to promote loyalty to England. After WW1 it was used to house and re-train British soldiers who had lost limbs. In 1920 when a full blown restoration began, Queen Mary returned many of the original furnishings and the restoration continued.
Wallpaper of a dragon battling a snake
Dragon vs snake round 2
Lots of light and color
Young George IV a bit vain he was
The inside of the main dome is the banquet hall
A vast table was set for guests
Doorways are very elaborate
Juat a corner of the room, a huge curved wall.
So much going on with this luminaire
A giant phoenix holding up the light fixture
Ceiling close up was too much for the camera to decide where to focus
More dragons on a small out of the way light
Gold!
When directly underneath the chandelier we noticed that there were mirrored portions designed to reflect light back down
Tea anyone?
A state of the art kitchen
Kitchen birdwatching
An illustrated list of all the folks in the coronation parade
We bought a tea towel with the coronation menu, the last entry on the "Eight Removes of Fish was "the head of a great sturgeon in champagne"
Here be dragons
Stiff necks would most certainly be a side effect of visiting
the carpet was remade according to the original design and it is spectacular
A sunflower in the center
Bright rays radiating out
An amazing thing of beauty
A hippy dragon with flowers on its fins
Queen Caroline stipulated in her will that this plaque be attached to her coffin George was not amused
The dimensions of this chandelier are hard to imagine. The main bowk is 15 to 20 feet across
The music room really pops with color
It may be the time of day that the light is pours into this room
Dragon hanging on to the lamp
I believe this is a flying dachshund
The glass on the music room's chandelier is delicately painted
The main attachment point is porcelain
the secondary lights are still impressive
A big snake is painted on the wall
In exquisite detail
Pretty plain for the bed of a King
Very nice colors but some additional maintenance is required
George IV naked except for the royal star of the Garter is waking up Brighton
Lots of skylights
A huge chunk of concrete came in through the roof during the great storm of 1987
An arsonist burned the music room in 1975 closing this wing for 11 years
Bedchambers
A very modern looking grate
So many dragons
During the World War 1 the pavilion was used as a hospital where Indian soldiers were housed
Birdwatching on the wallpaper
An early privy
Paper cutouts used in the designing of the carpet in the Music Room
Part of the renovation process
Cool skylight
Everyone must leave via the gift shop
Out we go back into the streets of Brighton
