Once the home of the late Queen Mother, Clarence House in the centre of London has been the urban home of King Charles for more than two decades.
When in the capital the King and Queen Camilla stay at the house just a stone’s throw from Buckingham Palace, which has been undergoing extensive renovations.
Situated on The Mall, with its gardens overlooked by nearby St James’s Palace, Clarence House was built in 1825-27 by the architect John Nash.
It was originally intended as a residence for Prince William Henry, the Duke of Clarence, who later became King William IV, and has since been inhabited by many senior royals.
Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother famously lived there from 1953, when her daughter became Queen, until her death in 2002 at the age of 101.
It was Charles’s grandmother who got him into gardening and she was able to shape the mansion’s grounds into the exquisite gardens they are today.
Royal gardening author George Plumptre told OK!: “It’s a lovely little walled urban sanctuary. The gardens are quite shady because there are enormous plane trees running along them, but what makes it nice is that it stretches from the front of Clarence House along the front of the adjacent St James’s Palace.”
The house is currently closed to visitors, however when it is open tourists can enjoy admiring five opulent reception rooms on the ground floor, where many royal engagements are held.
According to the Royal Collection Trust Charles and Camilla did not change too much when they moved in, as the layout and decoration are “much as they were in The Queen Mother’s time, with important works from Her Majesty’s collection of art in their original positions”.
The Lancaster Room, the first room off the hallway, had been used as a waiting room for visitors, while the Morning Room was used as a breakfast room with a lovely view over the garden.
The Queen Mother had her more intimate dinners in the library, but for entertaining larger groups of guests she would use the Garden Room, which was created from the merge of Princess Margaret’s old rooms in 1960.
Princess Margaret initially lived with her mother in Clarence House until her marriage to Antony Armstrong-Jones, with Elizabeth and Prince Philip also living there for a time after they married in 1947.
Since Charles inherited the house he has preserved its style and character, as well as introducing organic gardening methods and planting a new garden in memory of the Queen Mother.
It is hoped Clarence House will be able to reopen in the summertime once works at the Palace are complete and the King and Queen can relocate there.
