The Royal Pavilion – Brighton’s Top Celebrity

Over the last two months TV stations have been queuing up to film in the Royal Pavilion. Not surprising, given its wonderfully over-the-top, exotic and vibrant looks.

I am studying for a doctorate in Art History, and have been based at the Pavilion for more than two years now, and have also worked as a Pavilion guide for 18 months. Over the last year I have helped out on three filming days for various TV programmes, beginning with the perennially popular ‘Antiques Roadshow’, which came to Brighton in June.

It was fascinating to see how a high-profile show is produced and how much organising and filming is involved for what results in a few minutes on screen. The ‘Antiques Roadshow’ is filmed in high-definition and is presented by Fiona Bruce, so the technical equipment and number of support staff involved was impressive, but also slightly worrying. Large cameras, sound and lighting equipment and many people milling around can be a hazard to a fragile historic building and a number of staff were on duty simply to keep a watchful eye on the filming process and to protect the building.

The day’s filming finished without incident and the Pavilion looked its glamorous best in glorious June sunshine.

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The actual Roadshow took place the following day at Brighton College and in true style I turned up with a few of my own items wrapped in bubble-wrap and happily joined the long queues for evaluation. To my surprise several members of the film crew and even Fiona Bruce remembered me from the day before and told me how much they had enjoyed filming at the Pavilion. The filming resulted in not just one but two Brighton episodes, with the Pavilion featuring in the introduction to the first.

A few weeks later I was asked to appear in a couple of scenes for the ‘Antiques Road Trip’, a spin-off from the Roadshow and produced by Scottish TV for BBC2. It has just begun its second series and is shown right now on weekdays at 5.15 p.m.

I was asked to talk about a few rare and beautiful objects of my choice in the Pavilion and to discuss these in front of the cameras with presenter David Harper. Although on a smaller scale than the Roadshow it was fascinating to take part in the filming and to get a chance to talk about things I find particularly interesting.

The objects had to have a connection with George IV. My chosen items included a Pavilion cabinet sold after Queen Victoria acquired the Pavilion. It was re-discovered at an auction in the United States the 1990s, and an exotically decorated inkstand that once belonged to George IV.

I had a wonderful time and am rather proud to have had an opportunity to talk about my favourite building in England on TV. Other shows that have recently been filmed at the Pavilion are ‘Bargain Hunt’ and a programme on Queen Victoria’s time in Brighton. http://ow.ly/414bI

Alexandra Loske, guide and researcher

Personality of the Month – George, Prince Regent (1811-1820)

On the 5th February 1811,  George became the Prince Regent. To mark the 200th anniversary of the Regency Act, we take a brief look at the life of the Prince of Wales.

George IV

George, Prince of Wales, was born on 12 August 1762. He was the eldest son of George III and Queen Charlotte and grew up in a stifled and disciplined royal environment.

He was a vain and extravagant young man and soon started to rebel against his formal youth.  He devoted much of his time to racing and gambling, dining and dancing, music and theatre.

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George, at the age of 21, had started to suffer from ill-health (no doubt as a result of his extravagant lifestyle).  He was advised by his physicians to take to Brighton and benefit from the therapeutic properties of the sea.  Brighton was fast becoming  a fashionable seaside resort and with George’s arrival, together with accompanying royal entourage and London society followers, the quiet seaside town quickly grew and was soon nicknamed ‘London by the sea’.

The heady Brighton lifestyle suited George and by the mid 1780s he liked the place enough to rent a farmhouse. He had also secretly (and illegally) married the love of his life Mrs Maria Fitzherbert.

A disastrous arranged marriage in 1794 with Princess Caroline of Brunswick failed to take George’s attentions away from Mrs Fitzherbert and his lavish Brighton lifestyle. Within a year the marriage had collapsed.

During the Regency years (1811-1820) the prince’s heady extravagance at the Marine Pavilion was a constant source of gossip. He would think nothing of spending days riding, promenading and sea-dipping, and nights eating, drinking, partying and entertaining.

George began to outgrow the Marine Pavilion which many viewed as ‘noisy, hot and overfurnished’. In 1815, he hired architect John Nash to help him transform his Brighton home into the extraordinary palace that we see today.

It took eight years for George’s oriental architectural vision to be completed. As his new palace unfolded, and with financial freedom as king, George IV continued to indulge in his architectural, decorative and technological vision.

By the time George was crowned king in 1820, his indulgent lifestyle was starting to take effect on his health.  He was obese at the age of 30 and suffered frequently from gout and digestive problems.

After the interior of the Pavilion was finally completed in 1823, the king made only two further visits (in 1824 and 1827).

George IV died, aged 58, in 1830.

Object of the Month – Love Letter to the Prince of Wales, 1812

With Valentine’s Day approaching we take the chance to view a private letter between the illegally married Mrs Fitzherbert and George IV.

Letter from Mrs Fitzherbert to The Prince of Wales

Letter from Mrs Fitzherbert to Prince of Wales

To – The Prince of Wales

From – Mrs Fitzherbert

Dated – October 25^th 1812

Sir,

It is with no small degree of mortification that I find my last letter to you still unnotic’d. I cannot add any stronger arguments to what that letter contain’d. Moments of reflection must recall to yr. Royal Highness recollection that what I there repeated, I had in your own hand writing and signature. I am confident Sir my letter was perfectly respectful and written with great good feeling towards yr R.H. Do not Sir by a contemptuous silence compel me for my own justification to appeal to the opinions of impartial persons by showing them my letters to you on this occasion that they may judge whether or not I have said any thing in them to merit the treatment I have met with. I still wait your R.H. pleasure to know the cause of this delay, and when it is to

cease. I have the honour of subscribing myself yr R.H. very obd. Humble Servant.

M.F.

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For more on George IV and his relationship with Mrs Fitzherbert view Personality of the Month February 2011