Photograph of a poster in Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery

Guyanese-British artist Hew Locke created ‘Foreign Exchange’ for the Birmingham 2022 Festival. He reimagined the sculpture of Queen Victoria in the city centre, surrounding the bronze statue with a boat containing five smaller Queen Victorias. Each wears a helmet and carries a medal relating to an important colonial battle. Hew Locke described the statue ‘leading a battalion of other statues to represent the home nation throughout the Empire’. After the Festival he generously donated the five smaller Queen Victorias to the city.*

*Information from a signboard next to the Victorias

THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION WAS IN full swing when “The Queen,” the early steam locomotive that transported Queen Victoria between Windsor and London, was constructed. In fact, Victoria was the first British monarch to travel by rail, making her maiden voyage on June 13, 1842.

During her long reign, from 1837 to 1901, Victoria traveled by train dozens of times. This was quite adventurous for the queen, considering train travel was relatively new and dangerous at the time. Many deaths and injuries were reported from the tracks in 1842 alone.

Today a full-size replica of a Great Western Railway class steam locomotive No. 3041, is permanently parked at Windsor & Eton Central Railway Station. Named “The Queen,” black engine is adorned with the regal flourishes and features seen on the original machine, including the Royal Coat of Arms and the loco’s name inscribed along the side.

The recreation of Queen Victoria’s Royal Train was displayed in the late 1980s and early ’90s in an exhibition called Royalty and Railways (renamed Royalty and Empire) at the Windsor Royal Shopping complex in the newly restored railway station. It was too expensive to remove the locomotive after the exhibit closed, however, so there it remains today.

Victoria Pleasure Gardens were created by public subscription to celebrate the diamond jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897. These gardens were popular with the elegant Edwardians and in 1910 Walkers of Tewkesbury installed a band-stand which was in regular use until the 1950s. In 2007 a combination of severe flooding and reduced funding devastated the gardens. What we see now is the result of collaboration between local councils and a volunteer group, ‘The Friends of Victoria Pleasure Gardens’.

The main features of the gardens include the old wall of the Abbey Grounds, The Abbey Malthouse, now used as private dwellings and the The Mill Avon.  The Mill Avon is a spur of the River Avon, cut by medieval monks to power their flour mill. The mill seen today is the 18th century replacement and currently privately-owned flats.

After the flooding in 2007 new flowerbeds were formed in 2008. Brightly coloured annuals are planted in early June and permanent plants are chosen to withstand the annual winter floods and provide food an shelter for insects.

The arches at the entrances were financed from public donations and erected in 2012 to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II*

*Information from a signboard in the gardens

The first day of the bank holiday commemorating the Platinum Jubilee of the reign of Queen Elizabeth II saw us visiting Boscobel House. Boscobel House is famous as a hiding place for King Charles II when fleeing for his life after his defeat in the Civil War. He spent a night in one of priest holes in the hunting lodge.

King Charles II also spent a day hiding in a nearby Oak tree as Cromwell’s soldiers searched for him below. A descendant of the oak tree can be seen nearby in a place that would once have been covered in oak woodland. The vision of English Heritage is to repopulate the area with oak trees to reconnect the site with its heritage.

Within the house garden another Royal Connection can be found; a plaque beneath an oak tree commemorating the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria.

This tree seedling from the Royal Oak in the adjacent field was planted by Augustus Bishop of Lichfield as a memorial of the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria.

The parent tree by sheltering King Charles II preserved the Royal Line from extinction.

The daughter tree commemorates the unexpectedly long reign (about 200 years later) of his illustrious successor.

English Heritage are developing the site so there is more to explore than there was previously. We were time constrained so it was not possibly to venture on the walk to the nearby White Ladies Priory.

The Sunken Garden was laid out during the reign of Edward VII and opened in May 1909 on ground formerly occupied by forcing-houses and potting sheds.  It was intended to demonstrate the formal type of garden that had existed at kensington before it was landscaped in the 18th Century, and was modelled on the “Tudor Garden’ at Hampton Court.  The three lead fountains were formerly cisterns at the palace.

The official guidebook to the palace opens with the following words:

Welcome to Kensington Palace, once a favoured home of some of Britain’s most famous kings and queens and the setting for many great events and dramas in royal history.

Originally a private country house, the building was acquired by William III and Mary II in 1689 and was adapted for royal residence by Sir Christopher Wren.  For the next 70 years the palace was at the centre of the life and government of the kingdom and played host to the courts of William and Mary, Queen Anne, George I and George II.  In the 19th century Kensington was the birthplace and home of Princess Victoria (later Queen Victoria).  Parts of the palace remain a private residence for members of the Royal Family;  the State Apartments and Royal Ceremonial dress collection are open to the public

Over the years there have been many additions and alterations to the palace structure. During the 19th century the state apartments were neglected and fell into disrepair. By the end of the century the building had become dilapidated with the brickwork decaying and the woodwork infested with dry rot. Queen Victoria’s love for the palace that she had grown up in saved the day. In 1897, Parliament was persuaded to pay for the restoration of the State Apartments on condition that they should be opened to the public. After the State Apartments had been restored to their former glory they were opened to the public on Queen Victoria’s 80th birthday, 24th May 1899.*

The photo below shows the East Front of the palace with a large statue of Queen Victoria in the foreground. The statue:-

was sculpted by her fourth daughter Princess Louise and shows the Queen at the time of her accession. It was commissioned by the residents of Kensington to commemorate her Golden Jubilee in 1887 and erected in it’s present location in 1893, in a ceremony attended by the Queen herself.

*From the official guidebook.