Our favourite way to make our vast London seem more manageable is to imagine her as a series of villages. The royal village is the quarter known as St James’s, whose ‘boundaries’ can be found at Haymarket to the east, Green Park to the west, St James’s Park in the south and Piccadilly in the north.
For visitors it is in this part of town that royal history and pageantry can be seen to come alive in a 21st-century context. For lifelong Londoners such as your current correspondent, it can be easy to take it all for granted: there goes another parade – I hope it passes so I don’t miss the no. 38 bus to Clapton Pond.
One of the great privileges of my work with London Walks, however, is seeing the pageantry through new eyes all the time: the eyes of London Walkers, citizens, denizens and visitors alike. For many of the people on my walking tours, the clip-clop of hooves and the rattle of carriages, the pomp and parp of brass bands and the flashing blue roar of motorbike outriders is not merely the background soundtrack of everyday life – it’s the springboard for a thousand queries. Sometimes baffled, sometimes with an amused eyebrow raised, sometimes satirical (thanks largely to our dear Aussie friends!) Yet others query with an impressed reverence: ‘What are they wearing?’ ‘Why are they stamping up and down from there to there?’
Similarly, the scale and grandeur of the architecture tells us that we’re not in Kansas – nor, indeed, Kensal Green – any more. Again, the surroundings cease to become mere scenery as the questions mount up: ‘Do people actually live in that house?’ ‘Can I buy a flag like that for my house back home?’ ‘Is the Queen at home?’
The senior royal palace. The original. The oldest palace in London still inhabited by the Royal Family (originally built between 1531 and 1536). Call it what you will, St James’s Palace is still a big diplomatic deal even in the 21st Century – not least because (if you are reading this overseas) your ambassador to the UK is not the UK ambassador, but the Ambassador to the Court of St James.
The history of St James’s Palace stretches back to its days as a hunting lodge in the reign of King Henry VIII and the fingerprints of our most celebrated royals can be found here.
King Charles I, having come second in the English Civil War (a silver medal really is worthless in this context) spent his last night on earth at St James’s Palace in 1649 before making the short walk through to Whitehall where the axeman waiteth’d to reduce his height by about a foot or so – an adjustment that the King could ill afford, given that he was only 5 feet 3 inches tall to start with.
Legend has it that his faithful little dog trotted along with him every step of the way. His little dog trotted home alone.
Ernest Crofts paints a dignified king in his famous work of art ‘King Charles I on His Way to Execution’ (1883), in which the King walks tall (ahem) on this bitter January day towards his fate. Charles had taken the precaution of wrapping up warm to better resist the cold and not appear to be shivering with fear at his grisly destiny.
Charles II and his brother James II were both born at St James’s Palace and Queen Victoria married Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha here in 1840. Anne Boleyn stayed here the night after her coronation. When dealing with the history of St James’s Palace we really are dabbling in the Hollywood end of our story.
As discussed in the Kensington and West London chapters, red brick may not be the most regal of building materials (indeed Daniel Defoe once described St James’s Palace as ‘low and mean’), but then show is not the business here at St James’s: business is the business here. St James’s remains the official residence of the monarch. The official offices of Princes William and Harry are located at St James’s Palace (although Harry’s official res is Clarence House, more of that anon). The State Apartments are often used for important state visits of overseas dignitaries. The Royal Collection Department operates out of St James’s too – they are the people in charge of opening the royal palaces to the public.
That taxis still careen through between Pall Mall and The Mall, passing the eastern side of the palace, creates a similar feeling to the Roman spectacle of traffic raging around the Coliseum. The march of progress, powerful as it is, must break step and change direction to get around the truly great historical locations.
From the north, viewing the palace from Pall Mall, the gatehouse that stands today is a survivor of King Henry VIII’s original palace (with the addition of Georgian windows and 19th-century clock). Resembling some red-brick rook from a vast chess set, with its octagonal towers either side of the pointed-arch gate, it calls to mind the Tower of London. And the architectural statement, I’m sure, is exactly the same: don’t mess. Although a dwarf structure by today’s standards, in the 1530s such a building would have cowed insurrectionist blood from a mile away. Having said that, the gatehouse retains a Tudor elegance that the brutish Tower of some 500 years earlier can only dream of. Red-uniformed sentries, adding a further delight for the snap-happy visitor, often guard the gatehouse.
As a tour guide, one of the most common questions I am asked about the guards is this: are they real soldiers? The answer is a solemn ‘yes’. Were one to attempt to gain entry to the palaces or get too close to HM, one would soon discover just how real these soldiers are.
A YouTube video of a Scots Guard exacting physical revenge on a tourist who decided to send up the guardsman’s march has clocked up more than a million hits – and a shocked reaction from visitors the world over. This shock was matched by the general British reaction that came down on the side of the harassed guard. The soldier was reprimanded for his conduct.
The second most popular question about the guards is which regiments do they belong to and how can you tell the difference if they all wear red tunics. Well, here’s your handy cut-out-and-keep guide.
Regiment name |
Plume in bearskin hat |
Arrangement of buttons |
Collar badge |
Shoulder badge |
Grenadier Guards |
White |
Single-spaced |
Grenade |
Royal crest |
Coldstream Guards |
Red |
In twos |
Garter star |
Rose |
Scots Guards |
No plume |
In threes |
Thistle star |
Thistle |
Irish Guards |
Blue |
In fours |
Shamrock |
St Patrick star |
Welsh Guards |
Green and white |
In fives |
Leek |
Leek |
When this writer was growing up, Clarence House was synonymous with one member of the Royal Family and one member only: the Queen Mother. As her official residence from 1953 until her death in 2002 at the age of 101, it was regularly the focus for TV news bulletins reporting on the landmark birthdays of this remarkable royal. Diana Spencer spent what she anticipated would be her last night as a single woman here – presumably the best counsellor for the experience ahead, that of Queen, was seen to be a woman who had not expected to take up the position herself yet had not only succeeded in but revelled in the role.
At the time of writing, Clarence House has become a byword for a different royal. When the news media report that Clarence House has issued a statement on, say, modern architecture in London, then they mean that His Royal Highness Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, has something on his mind that he wishes to share.
The original structure was the work of John Nash, but the stuccoed, four-storey palace that can be seen today has been extensively remodelled, particularly in the post-war era. Viewing the palace from The Mall, the three feathers of the Prince of Wales can be clearly seen adorning the building despite the surrounding wall.
The new Duke and Duchess of Cambridge made their short hop to Clarence House after their buffet wedding reception with 650 guests, hosted by HM The Queen, with the Duke driving his father’s convertible Aston Martin. The car had been a 21st birthday present to the Prince of Wales from the Queen.
Like some immense red carpet – the brick-like hue of the road covering enhances the effect – The Mall is the great processional route that leads to Buckingham Palace.
And we love a parade here in Britain.
This love of spectacle can be indulged in London’s most, well, spectacular office block, which serves as the entrance way to The Mall. Admiralty Arch (4) curves around the eastern end of The Mall, houses the Cabinet Office (since 2000, although plans are afoot at the time of writing to sell it off for £75 million) and was commissioned by King Edward VII to commemorate his mother – the inscription reads: ‘In the tenth year of King Edward VII, to Queen Victoria, from most grateful citizens, 1910’. King Edward, alas, did not live to see its opening. We the public only see the opening of the central of the three gates on state occasions, but traffic rumbles through the adjacent arches all week.
Victoria bookends The Mall, with the lavish Victoria Memorial (5) at the other end of the route, just in front of Buckingham Palace. The architect that links the two is Aston Webb, designer of both Admiralty Arch and the vast plinth upon which Victoria’s statue (by Sir Thomas Brock) sits – although plinth seems insubstantial a word for something made out of 2,300 tons of white marble.
This early 20th-century version of The Mall follows the line of the original route laid out from the 1660s. It takes its name (as does Pall Mall) from the game paille-maille, a cousin of croquet, which was popular at the court of King Charles II. The road that is modern-day Pall Mall is situated on the spot where the game was once played.
FOUR OF A KIND: FOUR QUEENS AND A KING KICKER ALONG THE MALL
Queen Victoria
The Victoria Memorial is the dot at the bottom of the great exclamation mark that is The Mall. Impressive on a smaller scale than the Albert Memorial, it is adorned with nautical references alluding to Britain’s naval might (Britannia rules the waves and all that). Queen Victoria is kept company by four allegorical figures: the angels of Justice (looking to Green Park), Truth (her face turned Westminster-ward: think on, parliamentarians) and Charity (looking towards Buck Pal). The winged figure on top in gold is, of course, Victory.
Victoria herself watches the parades approaching from along The Mall. She may not look it, but I’m sure she is mightily amused by the pageant of British history unfolding.
Queen Alexandra
The Alexandra Monument is often overshadowed by Sir Alfred Gilbert’s most famous London work – he also designed the figure we shall forever refer to as Eros at Piccadilly Circus. But his tribute to the wife of King Edward VII is no less impressive.
Working in bronze on a red granite plinth, Gilbert gives us not a likeness of the late Queen, but an allegorical monarch, all-embracing, serene, benign, her cloak flowing around her subjects – represented by a child and two mournful attendants. The words ‘Faith, Hope, Love’ are listed as the Queen’s virtues. The whole is topped off with the great Christian metaphor of light built into the structure with two street lamps in each upper corner.
Mary of Teck
The Queen who saw two of her sons and a granddaughter become monarch in her lifetime, and who was betrothed to not one but two Heirs Apparent, Queen Mary took up residence in Marlborough House in 1936. Her tribute in bronze can be found on the wall to The Mall side of this Christophers – plural, father and son – Wren structure.
The epically named Victoria Mary Augusta Louise Olga Pauline Claudine Agnes was born at Kensington Palace in 1867 and was first betrothed to the Duke of Clarence, eldest son of Edward VII. The Duke, however, died in the flu pandemic of 1891–1892, and in 1893 ‘May’, as she was known, became engaged to the Duke of York (later King George V). Their marriage was a long and happy one and King George is said to have never taken a mistress. Like father unlike eldest son.
Queen Elizabeth
It always strikes me as a little sad that we only get around to casting bronze and shaping granite after a person is dead. Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, with her eye for the theatrical (see the chapters on Westminster and East London), would have been, I’m convinced, particularly fond of her commemoration on The Mall.
Elizabeth II unveiled the statue, by Philip Jackson, in February 2009 with the following words from HRH The Prince of Wales:
‘All of us gathered here today will, I know, miss my darling grandmother’s vitality, her interest in the lives of others, her unbounded courage and determination... her calm in the face of all adversity, her steadfast belief in the British people and, above all, her irresistible, irrepressible sense of mischievous humour.’
Cast in bronze at the base of the statue are depictions of the scenes from World War Two described in Chapter 6.
King George VI (6)
The statue of King George VI – standing lovingly at the shoulder of the Queen Mother today – was moved to its current position in 2009. From 1955 it had occupied the spot now taken by the Queen Mum. In the words of Prince Charles in February 2009:
‘At long last my grandparents are reunited in this joint symbol, which in particular reminds us of all they stood for and meant to so many during the darkest days this country has ever faced.’
With the release of the Oscar-winning movie The King’s Speech in 2010, the pair gained wider recognition as a couple at last. Until this point, King George VI had been rather upstaged in the imaginations of our scriptwriting community by the fireworks of his elder brother King Edward VIII. It is perhaps appropriate that it was a film that allowed a new generation to appraise the life of our ‘accidental’ king: George and Elizabeth were avid movie fans. They had a cinema installed at Balmoral and instituted the Royal Command Film Performance. The first one took place at the Empire Cinema, Leicester Square, in 1946 with a screening of A Matter of Life and Death, a film by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger and starring David Niven.
The statue is the work of William McMillan.
When we British indulge our love of understatement by referring to the monarch’s primary residence as Buck ’ouse, our joke is closer to the truth than perhaps we think. From 1705 Buckingham House was the townhouse of the Duke of Buckingham – the current palace is built around that townhouse and has emerged in stages since the 19th Century.
Let’s begin with the numbers: 775 rooms including… 19 state rooms, 52 royal and guest bedrooms, 188 staff bedrooms, 92 offices and 78 bathrooms. A double-glazing salesman’s dream, a window cleaner’s nightmare.
The palace remains a focal point for many a visit to London, and could also be described as A Very British Building Project – given that it was late and over budget. The cost of John Nash’s original ambitious designs ran out of control and he was removed from the project in 1829, to be replaced by Edward Blore.
Queen Victoria became the first monarch to take up residence there in 1837 – and her infamous description of the building as ‘my London slum’ is perhaps down to the reining in of Nash’s spirallingly ambitious plans. The chimneys smoked excessively and ventilation was poor in the extreme. So much so that when gas lighting was proposed there was a genuine concern that its installation would result in Guy Fawkes’s seditious ambitions finally being brought to pass.
The ‘front’ of the palace as we know it today (actually the east wing) was originally designed by Blore and finally remodelled in 1913 by (that man again) Aston Webb. Thus the evolution of the most famous royal palace has been almost as labyrinthine as the dynastic tale of the residents themselves.
As we view the palace from the Victoria Memorial, the most famous piece of the white Portland stone façade must surely be the balcony…
■ Queen Victoria started the tradition of royal appearances on the balcony to celebrate the opening of the Great Exhibition in 1851.
■ King George VI began the tradition of the RAF fly-past at the culmination of the Trooping of the Colour. The Royal Family watch the fly-past from the balcony.
■ The newly wed Duke and Duchess of York took centre stage on the balcony on 23 July 1986 – and treated the crowds below to a pantomime spectacle, teasing the well-wishers over the much anticipated ‘First Royal Kiss on the Balcony’.
■ The ‘First Royal Kiss on the Balcony’ has only been a ‘tradition’ since 1981 – it was established by the Prince and Princess of Wales, Charles and Diana.
■ In 2011, with the cameras of the world looking on, a bashful Prince William could be seen to mouth the words ‘Shall we kiss?’ to his new bride, who duly obliged. They both must have approved of the kiss, because a second one was attempted soon after. Although opinion in some quarters was that the kiss was too short. Some people are never happy!
■ Winston Churchill joined King George VI, Queen Elizabeth, Princess Elizabeth (in the uniform of the Auxiliary Territorial Service) and Princess Margaret on 14 May 1945 to acknowledge the crowds at the end of the war in Europe.
■ The ceremonial fly-past on Coronation Day, Saturday 2 June 1953, was almost cancelled due to bad weather. The young Prince Charles and Princess Anne were in attendance, as was the Queen Mother – although she did not attend the coronation at Westminster Abbey.
■ First monarch to live at Buckingham Palace was Queen Victoria.
■ First monarch to die at Buckingham Palace was King Edward VII.
■ King Edward VII was also the first monarch to be born at Buckingham Palace. (William IV was born at the palace’s predecessor, Buckingham House.)
■ First electric lights at the palace –1883 in the ballroom.
■ First man to be received at the palace in a lounge suit – Labour Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald in 1924.
■ The palace was first opened to the public in 1993 and within a week of booking opening, all group tours were booked for three years in advance.
■ First café opened at Buckingham Palace in July 2010, selling refreshments to the 400,000 or so visitors that come through the palace every August and September. (The 2011 figures reached 600,000, thanks to the exhibition of the Duchess of Cambridge’s wedding dress.)
■ First jazz concert at the palace – by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band – took place as a Royal Command Performance in 1919 at the behest of King George V.
■ First garden parties at the palace were held in the 1860s by Queen Victoria.
■ First person to smoke a marijuana joint in Buckingham Palace was… well, it wasn’t John Lennon. Nor was it any of the other Beatles. The persistent myth that The Beatles smoked dope at Buckingham Palace remains exactly that: a myth. Paul McCartney (now Sir Paul, of course) has speculated that, as all four Beatles were nervous when being presented with their MBE medals in 1965, they may well have had a cigarette in one of the 78 palace loos to calm the nerves. And with the passage of time (and, dare I say it, the number of subsequent joints smoked) the cigarette becomes a reefer and a legend is born.
These days when the Queen is in residence at Buckingham Palace, the Royal Standard flies. This flag is divided into quarters: the three lions passant guardant of England in the upper hoist and lower fly, the harp of Ireland in the lower hoist and the lion rampant of Scotland in the upper fly.
When flown in Scotland, the Royal Standard has lions rampant in the quarters occupied by the lions passant guardant when the flag is flown in England and vice versa.
SOME HERALDIC JARGON
Hoist: the left-hand side of the flag, the bit attached to the pole.
Fly: the right-hand side of the flag, the bit furthest from the pole.
Passant guardant: an heraldic ‘attitude’, meaning striding from right to left facing directly outward (i.e. towards the viewer).
Rampant: up on hind legs, forepaws raised, head facing to the left of the flag.
Motto: from the Italian word for ‘pledge’, it is the heraldic mission statement of the coat of arms. ‘Ich Dien’ (German for ‘I serve’); the Queen’s crest has both ‘Dieu et mon droit’ (‘God and My Right’) and ‘Honi soit qui mal y pense’ (‘Shame to him who evil thinks’ – the motto of the Order of the Garter).
Supporter: figures on either side of a shield seeming to hold it up. The Queen’s supporters are a lion and a unicorn.
Escutcheon: a shield.
Field: the background of a shield.
Lozenge: diamond shape on a field.
Charges: any emblems placed on the field.
So… With the three lions passant guardant in the upper hoist and lower fly, the lion rampant in the upper fly and the harp in the lower hoist, the Royal Standard flies above Buckingham Palace when the monarch is in residence.
When the Queen is away from Buckingham Palace, the Union Flag is flown in her absence. In the event of a great tragedy, the Union Flag can fly at half-mast – as was the case on 9/11 for instance.
TEN UNORTHODOX PALACE VISITORS
Brian May
Buckingham Palace has seen enough exoticism in its history to render even the most outlandish and famous visitor merely commonplace. But it remains a fairly comment-worthy occasion when a legendary rock guitarist stands on top of one’s house (this goes for any house, of course), strutting his plank-spanking stuff. But such was the spectacle in 2002 at the celebrations for Her Majesty’s Golden Jubilee. I still think he might have worn a tie for the occasion, but the event was jolly good fun nonetheless.
Michael Fagan
Known forever as the Buckingham Palace Intruder, Fagan gained access to the Queen’s bedroom, chatted to Her Majesty for a full 10 minutes, sitting on her bed, before asking for a fag. HM, cool as a cucumber, summoned a footman who then restrained the uninvited guest until the police arrived. Not only was Mr Fagan tieless (he wore a T-shirt) but he was also barefoot. Which is also a sartorial no-no in the presence of royalty.
Gordon Brown, John Major*, James Callaghan, Harold Macmillan* and Sir Alec Douglas-Home
Five prime ministers who have gone to the palace for weekly audiences with the Queen despite not having secured the settled will of the people via an election. All five wore ties.
(*The two asterisked PMs went on to secure a mandate at the ballot box having succeeded to the premiership by becoming leader of the Conservative Party.)
Three campers
In 1981 three German tourists pitched camp in the grounds of Buckingham Palace believing it to be Hyde Park. Can be forgiven for not wearing ties as this would be absurd when camping, even in the grounds of Buckingham Palace.
FIVE INTERIOR ‘STUNT DOUBLES’ FOR BUCKINGHAM PALACE
Nobody, but nobody, films inside Buckingham Palace. The following buildings have become movie stars passing themselves off as the palace…
The King’s Speech (2010)
Oscar-winning royal biopic has Lancaster House playing the part of Buckingham Palace. Now part of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, it was once within the environs of St James’s Palace.
Help! (1965)
The Beatles second cinematic romp sees Cliveden House stand in for Buckingham Palace. Cliveden House was once the estate of Frederick Prince of Wales, father of George III, son of George II, but never king. You can get to Cliveden (it’s in nearby Berkshire) by train from Paddington; the journey takes about half an hour.
The Queen (2006)
Brocket Hall in Welwyn Garden City is the less celebrated star of this picture, standing in for Buck Pal. (There are trains to Welwyn Garden City from King’s Cross.)
Young Victoria (2009)
Lancaster House again playing ‘my London slum’ (see here). As a by the by, Ham House down Richmond way is the stand-in for Kensington Palace.
King Ralph (1991)
Hollywood hokum with the unusual combo of John Goodman and Peter O’Toole making the whole thing more endearing than it should be. Upon the death of the entire Royal Family, uncouth Yank John Goodman (Ralph) becomes king. You can imagine the rest. Apsley House (Hyde Park Corner tube) is one of the stand-ins for the palace.
FIVE CAMEO EXTERIORS IN THE MOVIES
With the correct permits and permissions, Buckingham Palace can be featured from the outside on screen. The following are good examples…
Die Another Day (2002)
Toby Stephens as megalomaniac villain Gustav Graves does as megalomaniac villains are wont to do and announces his plan for world domination in front of Buckingham Palace.
101 Dalmatians (1996)
The Victoria Memorial can be clearly seen in the background of the chase sequence in the live action version of 101 Dalmatians that results in Joely Richardson and Jeff Daniels… oh, hang on, I don’t want to spoil the plot if you haven’t seen it.
The Prisoner (1967)
Not a movie per se, but the cult 1960s TV series did feature Patrick McGoohan speeding along The Mall in the famous opening credits.
National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007)
Nicolas Cage action-adventure flick – in which Lancaster House also features, this time as itself!
Mamma Mia! (2008)
The quintessential Englishness of Colin Firth’s character is established by him roaring through Admiralty Arch in a sports car heading towards Buckingham Palace – both in the movie and career-wise with The King’s Speech just a short way off.
(I am indebted to my London Walks colleague the movie expert Richard Burnip, or Richard IV as we call him, for help with the above lists.)
I often think that the rest of the world must look in on us here in London with our fondness for pageantry and mutter to themselves: ‘What on earth are they up to now?’
But for every ceremony and parade, there is usually a good reason behind the whole affair. One assumes that the point here is visibility: don’t mess with the monarch, she (or he) is heavily guarded.
Boiled down to its bare bones, Changing the Guard is simply one group of fellas heading off to work while another group of fellas pass them on the way home. Only most of us don’t get a big brass band following us as we clock on and off.
While you watch the band it is worth checking out the various attitudes of your fellow spectators. Gentlemen of a certain age stand that little bit straighter at the stirring oompah of the musicians; visitors laugh and smile; a thousand digital cameras click synthetically as the red uniforms are captured as proof for the folks back home: ‘Look! They really do march up and down dressed up in costume!’
Times vary depending on the time of year, so do check at www.changing-the-guard.com for confirmation of seasonal schedules.
BUCKINGHAM PALACE IN NUMBERS
■ 800 – number of staff working at the palace. Two of them are horological conservators responsible for winding up the clocks.
■ 350 – number of clocks at the palace (see above).
■ 40,000 – number of light bulbs.
■ 1,514 doors (and 760 windows).
■ 40 – acreage of the gardens (featuring a helicopter landing area, a lake and a tennis court).
■ 600 – number of guests the Buckingham Palace kitchen is capable of serving at one sitting.
■ 9 – number of direct hits taken by the palace from Luftwaffe bombs during World War Two.
■ 3 – number of garden parties per year.
■ 27,000 – roughly the number of cups of tea served at a garden party.
■ One – word the Queen uses when referring to herself in the first person singular.
A NICE SIT DOWN AND A CUP OF TEA
It will come as no surprise, I’m sure, that there are many private members’ clubs right in the heart of Royal London. If you are familiar with a member of, say, the Athenaeum or the Reform Club, my advice is to sweet-talk them into getting you in so that you may peruse this book in a balloon-back armchair with a bone china cup of Earl Grey to hand.
Coming up a blank on that front? Yes, me too. But there are still tea-related thrills aplenty to be had here in St James’s…
On the main drag
The Garden Café
West Terrace, Buckingham Palace, SW1A 1AA. Tube: St James’s Park
Not just ‘on the main drag’ – actually inside Buckingham Palace. Okay, the monarch isn’t just going to let you drop in for a cuppa and a bit of a gossip about constitutional affairs. The Garden Café is open when the state rooms are open to the public – usually in the months of August and September, but check with the palace before visiting (www.royalcollection.org.uk). Teas, coffees, cakes and sandwiches, ideal for your own small-scale garden party. Last admission is 6.15pm at the time of writing.
Something a little stronger, perhaps?
Two Chairmen
39 Dartmouth Street, SW1H 9BP. Tube: St James’s Park
Friendly pub, a little off the beaten track, but still popular with Westminster professional types at close of play – your journey to the pub from St James’s station will take you past a statue of Queen Anne and some exquisitely preserved architecture from the period of her reign.
Sssshhh. It’s a secret
Duke’s Hotel
St James’s Place, SW1A 1NY. Tube: St James’s Park
Tucked away discreetly (very St James’s) is one of London’s most exclusive hotels. Offers a wide range of upmarket dining and drinking options including the Cognac and Cigar Garden. It was at Duke’s where Diana, Princess of Wales heard the news of the finalisation of her divorce.