Secret London: Why you should visit Banqueting House this weekend

A new guide to London's hidden highlights
High society: Ornate ceilings at Banqueting House
Miles Willis Photography/Historic Royal Palaces
Luke Abrahams8 November 2017

In an attempt to take you all out of your comfort zones, our new Secret London series uncovers little-known locations in the city and beyond.

This week, we explore Banqueting House, a somewhat forgotten royal palace plonked in the middle of the political powerhouse that is Whitehall.

A secret palace in the middle of the city?

Say hello to the Banqueting House: a glorious and scandalously overlooked 400-year-old gem buried deep in between Trafalgar Square and Westminster. Imposing and elegant in scale, the place really is quite the architectural marvel. Built originally to host royal masques, dramas and masquerades, the house is the only surviving part of Henry VIII's Whitehall Palace and was the first building in the entire country to be completed in the neoclassical style.

Once a key venue in the very important world of British and international politics, today it's mostly used to greet heads of state and ambassadors, including Barack Obama and Nelson Mandela.

Glorious and wonderful it all sounds. But alas, like most things in London, the place has a dark past, too. Back in 1649, the room's elaborately gilded ceilings, chandeliers and artistic masterpieces were the last things Charles I saw before he was executed on a scaffold adjacent to the mini palace – grim and a little sad, but historically fascinating nonetheless.

Sounds like an amazing history lesson. Tell us more.

Begun in 1619, the grand old London house was designed by Inigo Jones, an east London lad who is basically credited with starting the classical architectural boom we see in London and the country today.

Classical in concept, Jones's house introduced England to an Italianate Renaissance style that challenged the free and pretty Jacobean architecture that was all the rage back then. If you're a little lost, just imagine huge Corinthian columns – the kind you see in Italy and Greece.

Interestingly, the Banqueting House you see today isn't the original. It's actually the third that's stood on the site. The first, built by King James I was destroyed after a group of workmen decided to dispose of a load of fireworks inside the building after their New Year festivities. The second one also burnt down but in far less dramatic fashion. And funnily enough, the one you see now almost met the same fate but Sir Christopher Wren managed to save it from the Great Fire of 1666 after he blew up an adjacent building to shield Jones's masterpiece from the flames. So legend says, anyway.

OK, I'm already sold, but any other reasons I should go?

The exceptional art. Just look at it:

Above the polished wooden floors you'll see nine hung artistic masterpieces, all by master Flemish painter Peter Pauls Rubens. Amazingly, they are the only Rubens works in the world you can still see hanging in their original location. Charles I paid £3,000 (millions in today's money) to have the ceiling commissioned to honour his late father, James I.

The three main canvases depict The Union of the Crowns, The Apotheosis of James I and The Peaceful Reign of James I. The others feature countless angels, mythical beings, angels, gods, goddesses and figures from the old testament celebrating the king and his house. In a nutshell, it's all very pretty.

Thankfully, the mammoth paintings survived the wrath of Cromwell during the revolution. House curators say the former Lord Protector couldn't be bothered to destroy them or sell them off, so he just left them up there. Thank goodness for that.

Banqueting House, Whitehall, SW1A 2ER. For more information on opening times and to book tickets visit Historic Royal Palaces

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