The Royal Mews, Buckingham Palace (Coaches, etc)


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Australian made with British history...what a romanticised creation!

The coach is exquisite. Sure to be one of, if not the finest in the fleet!

A belated birthday gidt from Australia? And a most impressive birthday gift at that.
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I hope it will be ready in time for HM to take to Parliament in November.
 
The Queen's coaches, landaus etc.

In the Royal mews are housed the royal coaches.
We all know The State Gold Coach, used only 3 time in QEII's reign.
The Irish State Coach, used for State Opening of Parliament.
Q. Alexandra's coach, used to carry "The Crown" to Opening of Parliament.
The Scottish State Coach.
The Australian State Coach, 1988 gift.
The new Brittannia Coach, still under construction.
The Glass coach takes royal brides to their weddings.
The State Landau brings back the royal wedding couple to Buck. Palace.
The Ivory Phaeton is used for the Birthday Parade.
The Ambassadors coach aka The Semi State Coach?? brings ambassadors to present their credentials.
The Royal Messenger Coach delivers between Buck/Pal and Clarence House and has a single horse.

These are the coaches/landaus I have been able to discover.
Are there other? What are they called?
What do they look Like? photos.

What do others know about this seldom spoken of topic?
 
I think they'll user the Brittania for future royal weddings, maybe.
 
Queen Elizabeth II Vauxhall Cresta

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j104/turnmearound/B27278.jpg

Hello everyone!.......would anyone know on which one of the Queen's Estates she used to drive a Vauxhall Cresta on (the same model as in the pic, but painted Black, or possibly Claret)

I assume it's no longer used, but it is not housed in the Sandringham motor museum, I would have thought it unlikely it would have been scrapped.......any ideas?
 
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If Buckingham Palace was open to the public during the non-summer months, wouldn't this mean that there'd have to be more money put into heating it and electricity for lighting? Or are the public rooms heated whether or not the Queen is there?

Elise27 said:
Anyway back on the subject of the queen and DOE I do believe that the queen should open BP more often to the public during the year, when she is not there like in december and january and perhaps even some weekends when she is away at windsor. Its a demand that is to be expected if she is asking for all this money to fix the palace, besides its a good way for her to raise money. Then again maybe the queen has good reasons for not wanting to open the place that is her home for most days of the year more often.
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Mermaid1962 said:
If Buckingham Palace was open to the public during the non-summer months, wouldn't this mean that there'd have to be more money put into heating it and electricity for lighting? Or are the public rooms heated whether or not the Queen is there?
Click to expand...

I suspect the public rooms are cleaned and heated / air conditioned all year, irrespective of whether the Queen is there or not. Lets not forget, BP houses a vast number of offices, which are open all year.
 
muriel said:
I suspect the public rooms are cleaned and heated / air conditioned all year, irrespective of whether the Queen is there or not. Lets not forget, BP houses a vast number of offices, which are open all year.
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Let's also not forget the priceless works of art, furniture, tapestries, rugs, silk wall coverings, etc. They would all need to be maintained or "the moth and dust doth corrupt" and then no one would pay to visit a decaying ancestral pile! :eek:

It wouldn't be any picnic for office workers, their computers or the state-of-the-art security system either. :D
 
muriel said:
I suspect the public rooms are cleaned and heated / air conditioned all year, irrespective of whether the Queen is there or not. Lets not forget, BP houses a vast number of offices, which are open all year.
Click to expand...

Just because various rooms are not open to the public at that period does not mean they are not in use. There are investitures and many other events several times a week. The building is not closed down just because the public are not queuing to enter - it's closed to the public BECAUSE it is a working building and in use all year round. It has opened in recent years for the months when HM moves to Scotland for the summer.
 
Elise27 said:
......

Anyway back on the subject of the queen and DOE I do believe that the queen should open BP more often to the public during the year, when she is not there like in december and january and perhaps even some weekends when she is away at windsor. Its a demand that is to be expected if she is asking for all this money to fix the palace, besides its a good way for her to raise money. Then again maybe the queen has good reasons for not wanting to open the place that is her home for most days of the year more often.
Click to expand...

It would hugely expensive (probably self-defeatingly so) to open the Palace for a couple of days at a weekend. They don't just open the doors & let people in....There is a massive amount of work, as the "normal" carpets throughout, for instance are all meticulously covered over with durable protective replacements (still luxurious - you'd never spot it if you didn't know) furniture is re-arranged to allow the crowds access, and I'm sure there is much more that is not obvious to the eye.

You can't just hang a sign, take the money & carry on as normal...the logistics are huge in transforming the normal working palace into it's showpiece version. Plus, of course, the summer opening is always accompanied by a special exhibition of some kind, which would then occupy rooms in normal use, such as those where receptions and investitures are held - and it's those changes of exhibition which attract the repeat visits from we Brits & others with regular opportunities to visit....and take months of planning.....
 
Menarue said:
I have just read that in these times of recession the Government of Australia has given the Queen a new golden coach, I really can´t help but think she has far more coaches than she can use in the Royal Mews.
IMHO what a ridiculous present!

Gold inlaid carriage which may carry Prince William to wedding completed for the Queen - Telegraph
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Regardless of The Global Economic Downturn it is a lovely carriage, though it does somewhat resemble the Australian state coach.
 
Menarue said:
I have just read that in these times of recession the Government of Australia has given the Queen a new golden coach . . . Gold inlaid carriage which may carry Prince William to wedding completed for the Queen - Telegraph
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As the article states, it has taken more than 2 years to build and, I should imagine it took quite some time planning before that. :ermm:

This time last year no-one was even thinking about a recession, let alone a global meltdown. :nonono:

What were they supposed to do? Spend the money, have it built and then store it in a garage until the economy is on the upswing again? The news of it's existence has been in the public domain for quite a while, if I am not mistaken. :rolleyes:
 
Fantastic coach AND it has independent hydraulic suspension units, no getting seasick in this one! :ohmy: Thank you Australia. :flowers:
 
Perhaps it would have been better to just buy them a gold bicycle, no seasickness there and although it would be a ridiculous cost to make it would be much much cheaper than another gold coach.....if they were thinking of weddings it could be made for two, that was definitely good enough for Daisy.
 
The actual cost of the new carriage is unknown. It has largely been financed by its builder, Jim Frecklington of Sydney, assisted by corporate, public and visitor donations.
What is known is that the Australian Government allocated A$250,000 in May 2007 with the promise of a further A$100,000 to help with freighting the carriage (which weighs just under three tons) to London. The carriage has taken over four years to build.

The Telegraph estimate of £620,000 is equivalent to A$1.4m, US$883,000, Euro€686,000.

Mt Frecklington also built the other modern royal carriage, the Australian State Coach, in the mid 1980s. I saw this coach up close when it was on display before being shipped to London and apart from the craftmanship and exquisite detail, the overriding impression was the sheer size. These things are huge.
 
For a very detailed description of the new State Coach Britannia, take a look at this site: The State Coach Britannia
The craftmanship is absolutely breathtaking. Enjoy. :flowers:

I sincerely doubt when construction began on this beautiful coach (2005 or 2006?) that the concept of a recession was on anyone's mind.
 
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[:previous:
And very expensive. I still think it is a terrible waste of money, just look at the list of coaches the Queen already has, one among them has only been used three times during her long reign....
I really don´t think it is money well spent beautiful or not whoever is paying for it.
 
I am sure they are having a good laugh at BP/CH that Australia, the strong republican outpost, with its republican government, and almost continual talk of a referendum, is spending money on a royal carriage that we can all agree is not really required!:ROFLMAO:
 
Well I certainly agree with this. Definitely not needed. Then when the Queen visits somewhere they quite often give her jewellery.....:whistling:
I wonder if, when the cost of this coach is published, the republican movement doesn´t take on new impetus.:ohmy:
 
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I just think it was a bad decision by the government, and they are the ones who ought to be questioned over it, and not the recipient who did not ask for it.
 
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The government that gave the $250,000 in 2007 and promised the $100,000 to help with shipping has been out of power for over a year now so they can't be questioned. It was voted out of office in late 2007 and I don't remember this being an issue in that campaign so I don't think too much will be said about it now. The Prime Minister at that time lost his seat later that year so he can't be questioned by Parliament.
 
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A very bad choice of present I think but, of course, I don´t for one second think that the Queen had anything to do with it, it would have been ungracious for her to have refused it.
Well if no one can be blamed and the coach is bought etc etc. that is that. I only wish, but of course no one knew what was going to happen in the future, that the money was there to help the people who have lost so much in these criminal fires.
 
Does anyone know if and or when the State Coach will be delivered to HM?
 
:previous:

According to a report I read dated in February 2009, the coach was to be delivered within the next few weeks but I cannot any confirmation on line that it was delivered by the Spring of 2009.
 
According to this Wikipedia article the coach has been delivered and is now in the Royal Mews:

State Coach Britannia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I too can't find any reference that is has been delivered but the Telegraph does report a detailed description of the carriage.

Gold inlaid carriage which may carry Prince William to wedding completed for the Queen - Telegraph

This article is dated to May 2009 and again has a description

http://www.downau.com/publications/articles/StateCoach_CarriageDriving.pdf
 
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