A Three Dog Problem

S. J. BENNETT’S GUIDE TO BUCKINGHAM PALACE September 2021

Welcome to the world of ‘the gilded office block on a roundabout’. When it came to the second book in the series, I knew I had to set it in the Queen’s most iconic residence. I walk past the Palace quite often on my way to work in the London Library. I’ve had a job interview there (more of that later) and I’ve been to medal ceremonies and on tours around the state rooms. I thought I knew it pretty well – but I had so much to discover.

Did you know, for example, that Buckingham Palace has only been the official residence of kings and queens since 1837? Before that, they were based at St James’s Palace next door, and foreign ambassadors are still appointed to ‘the Court of St James’. King George III bought the original ‘Buckingham House’ from the impoverished Duke of Buckingham in 1761 to house his wife and children. It was a more simple, red brick mansion then, standing in an old mulberry orchard, and became known as the Queen’s House. It would have had a country feel, set away from the hustle and bustle of Whitehall. So, basically, almost the opposite of what we see today.

British kings and queens don’t need to live there. For each one, it’s a choice. It’s had a chequered career and I honestly wonder how long it will be a royal home for. It’s huge and hard to maintain (more of that later, too) and not homely at all. But it is good for entertaining, and over the course of a normal year – remember those? – the Queen and her family personally entertain over fifty thousand people in the Palace and gardens, while another half-million visit the state rooms while she’s away.

The king who first fell in love with it was George IV, who had been a dashing, extravagant Prince Regent. He got his favourite architect, Nash, to blow the budget, creating wings that gave it a U shape, adding a grand entryway that later became Marble Arch, and giving the interior the gilded Regency bling effect that we know it for today.

William IV hated it so much he wanted to give it to Parliament when their buildings at Westminster burned down in 1834, as the result of burning tally sticks in the stoves under the old House of Lords. (Did you know this? I did not.) However, Parliament turned him down and Victoria and Albert became big fans – even though at the time the Palace wasn’t big enough for their ever-expanding family and they had to close off the courtyard with a new building to create extra space. The façade that we see was not originally part of it at all.

Today, the Palace has over 770 rooms, of which the Queen privately uses about seven. The others include a florist (all that entertaining), a post office, and somewhere housing an ATM machine. It’s like a little village surrounded by high walls and railings. Underneath, the River Tyburn flows from North London down towards the Thames. There are rumours of tunnels, which I’ve incorporated in the book, and even a secret personal Tube line for emergencies – which I personally don’t believe.

What fascinated me when I came to do my research is that in 2016, when the story takes place, the Prime Minister was set to approve a programme of works to stop bits of the Palace from falling down. Unlike George IV, the Queen is famously frugal, and there was wiring that hadn’t been replaced since the 1950s. The ceiling above the State Dining Room was considered so dangerous the room couldn’t be used. Buckets under leaks were not unknown. It needed everything from new lifts to safe electrics – and that’s what it’s been getting during lockdown, when it was unexpectedly free of royals and visitors. The whole project was huge, and I couldn’t resist the temptation to build it into the plot.

There are many parts of the Palace that I’ve made up, but where I can be accurate in my description, I have been. I still remember walking across that famous forecourt many years ago to my job interview for the role that Rozie has in the books. I was interviewed in the room I have given to Sir Simon, and I remember the blast curtains at the windows and the solid antique furniture. And also, that everyone I met that day was unexpectedly kind and unstuffy, and that I came away really wanting to work with them. Obviously it wasn’t entirely mutual as I didn’t get the job!

One part I haven’t made up at all is the gardens, where the Queen takes the corgi and dorgis for a walk to consider the ‘three-dog problem’. In that chapter, the Queen takes the route that I took myself when I visited for research, a few months before lockdown, thank goodness, past the kissing plane trees, the rose garden and the tennis court, the recycling section (even Buckingham Palace has to worry about the bins) and the lovely lake – which Prince Albert once fell into while ice skating on it, and had to be rescued by Queen Victoria.

The forty acres of grounds are full of unusual trees that have been chosen by or given to the royal family over the years. Fun fact: those near the edge of the lawn have to be pruned so that a six-foot man in a top hat won’t risk having it knocked off by a branch at a garden party. The Queen is such a fan of trees and their positive effect on the environment that she has made planting more of them a highlight of her Platinum Jubilee celebrations in 2022.

That initiative is called The Queen’s Green Canopy and you can join in. Go to https://queensgreencanopy.org/ and you’ll get instructions for individuals or groups on how to plant a healthy tree and add it to a map, creating a legacy for future generations. There will also be a network of seventy ancient woodlands across the United Kingdom, to celebrate seventy years of her reign. One of the reasons I enjoy writing about my royal subject is that she is mindful of the past, but always thinking ahead. The Queen’s Green Canopy captures that.

In book three of the series, I’ll be writing more about the Queen and the countryside, but that’s for another day. Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy her London adventures and her musings in that forty-acre garden, with murder on her mind and the dogs at her heels.

I get some of my research ideas and updates on what’s happening at the royal residences from the Royal Collection Trust. I recommend their website, www.rct.uk, if you want to explore some more. They have everything from 360-degree views of some of the rooms to the royal recipe for scones. You can access some of the links from my website too: www.sjbennettbooks.com.