0:00:02 > 0:00:04MUSIC: "The Water Music" by George Frideric Handel
0:00:09 > 0:00:12Today it seems that the Royal Family
0:00:12 > 0:00:15are being constantly watched by the entire world.
0:00:15 > 0:00:19No detail of their lives is too tiny to be fascinating.
0:00:19 > 0:00:21But nothing has excited a greater frenzy
0:00:21 > 0:00:24than the prospect of a new heir to the throne.
0:00:24 > 0:00:26But despite all the public interest
0:00:26 > 0:00:30and the constant scrutiny and surveillance by the Press,
0:00:30 > 0:00:32when a new member of the Royal Family is born,
0:00:32 > 0:00:35the details are kept pretty intensely private
0:00:35 > 0:00:38and that's been the way for more than a hundred years.
0:00:42 > 0:00:46This obsession that we've got with royal birth is nothing new
0:00:46 > 0:00:50and, in fact, it used to be even more extreme in the past
0:00:50 > 0:00:54and the royal bed was a public place.
0:00:54 > 0:00:55It was like a little stage
0:00:55 > 0:01:00where the future of the monarchy and the nation was played out.
0:01:01 > 0:01:02In this programme
0:01:02 > 0:01:05I'm going to get in to bed with Kings and Queens from history,
0:01:05 > 0:01:08examine their fabulous beds,
0:01:08 > 0:01:13and uncover the secrets of the royal bedchamber.
0:01:14 > 0:01:19And that's because I believe the rise and the fall of the magnificent royal bed
0:01:19 > 0:01:23reflects the rise and the fall in the power of the monarchy itself.
0:01:33 > 0:01:37Buckingham Palace may throw open its doors to the public each summer
0:01:37 > 0:01:42but the royal bedrooms are completely off-limits to inquisitive visitors.
0:01:42 > 0:01:46There's no way of knowing whether they like their mattresses hard or soft,
0:01:46 > 0:01:51prefer futons or florals or divans or four-posters.
0:01:51 > 0:01:53Thank you, ladies, you are dismissed.
0:01:55 > 0:01:59But we do know much more about royal beds of the past.
0:02:03 > 0:02:06Now, you know the story of the Princess And The Pea -
0:02:06 > 0:02:10it is only a fairy story, but it stems from the actual historical fact
0:02:10 > 0:02:14that royal beds are supposed to be incredibly sumptuous,
0:02:14 > 0:02:19and the idea that a truly royal person will be able to tell if they're not.
0:02:19 > 0:02:22The Prince in the story wants to get married,
0:02:22 > 0:02:26but he's had trouble tracking down a proper Princess.
0:02:26 > 0:02:30One day, a lovely girl comes to the castle and he quite likes her,
0:02:30 > 0:02:33but he needs to know if she is royal, so he sets a test.
0:02:33 > 0:02:35He invites her to sleep the night in one of his beds
0:02:35 > 0:02:40that he's made up with 20 different mattresses.
0:02:40 > 0:02:45The next morning he says, "How did you sleep, was it comfortable, was it soft enough for you?"
0:02:45 > 0:02:50And she says, "No, I had a terrible night, there was something hard and lumpy in the bed."
0:02:50 > 0:02:53And he's delighted, she's passed the test.
0:02:53 > 0:02:59She was royal, she was able to detect the pea that he'd hidden underneath all the mattresses
0:02:59 > 0:03:02and so they got married.
0:03:02 > 0:03:06Now, I was hoping to discover that I too am a proper Princess,
0:03:06 > 0:03:10even though there are only four mattresses in this bed, though, instead of twenty,
0:03:10 > 0:03:13I couldn't feel that pea at all.
0:03:15 > 0:03:18The fairy tale of the Princess And The Pea
0:03:18 > 0:03:22was popularised by Hans Christian Andersen in the 1800s,
0:03:22 > 0:03:26but the story has its origins in the 12th century.
0:03:26 > 0:03:29And it's in medieval times that we get our first insight
0:03:29 > 0:03:33into the importance and grandeur of the royal bed.
0:03:33 > 0:03:36Geoffrey Chaucer of the Canterbury Tales
0:03:36 > 0:03:41has a lot to say on the subject of the beds of the medieval rich and famous.
0:03:41 > 0:03:45In another poem called the Book Of The Duchess,
0:03:45 > 0:03:47he describes 14th-century luxury -
0:03:47 > 0:03:55"A feather-bed arrayed with gold, and right well clad in fine black satin from over the seas."
0:03:55 > 0:04:00Now, surprisingly, Chaucer actually knew what he was talking about here.
0:04:00 > 0:04:02He had a very technical knowledge of beds.
0:04:02 > 0:04:05That's because, as well as being a poet,
0:04:05 > 0:04:08he had a whole string of different jobs in the royal household,
0:04:08 > 0:04:12and one of these was Yeoman Valet to the King's Chamber.
0:04:12 > 0:04:17And in this job his duties included helping to make the King's own bed.
0:04:20 > 0:04:23Despite Chaucer's wonderfully vivid description,
0:04:23 > 0:04:25it's hard to know exactly what a medieval bed was like
0:04:25 > 0:04:29because, on the whole, they don't survive from this period.
0:04:29 > 0:04:32At the Tower of London, though, my curator colleagues
0:04:32 > 0:04:36have cunningly used a few scanty clues to reconstruct the bed
0:04:36 > 0:04:42of one medieval monarch, Edward I, who reigned from 1272 to 1307.
0:04:42 > 0:04:45And finding the right room was the place to start.
0:04:45 > 0:04:51So the reason why we interpreted this as a bedchamber is
0:04:51 > 0:04:53because of this little room over here.
0:04:53 > 0:04:56And if you look in to the corner, you can see a piscina,
0:04:56 > 0:04:59and this is where the Communion vessels were washed,
0:04:59 > 0:05:03and so this is really a little chapel or oratory.
0:05:03 > 0:05:06And the King would have wanted to have a private chapel off his bedchamber?
0:05:06 > 0:05:08Exactly. It's a sign really of high status.
0:05:08 > 0:05:13Only the very wealthy could really afford a private space for worship
0:05:13 > 0:05:17and it would have been visible, it would have been seen from the King's bed.
0:05:17 > 0:05:22Now this bed, to our eyes, it looks a bit sort of gaudy and strange.
0:05:22 > 0:05:24How do you know that this is what it looked like?
0:05:24 > 0:05:27Well, we don't know exactly what a 13th-century royal bed looked like,
0:05:27 > 0:05:30so we based it on a variety of different sources,
0:05:30 > 0:05:33a combination of building accounts, wardrobe accounts.
0:05:33 > 0:05:36If we look at this rather peculiar picture here...
0:05:36 > 0:05:38This is a sex scene.
0:05:38 > 0:05:40Is that a nun?
0:05:40 > 0:05:43Well, it's the mother of Merlin. Merlin is in the process of being conceived.
0:05:43 > 0:05:46- Who's that then? - Well, that's a demon.
0:05:46 > 0:05:49I love the way he's gritting his teeth and saying I must do my duty here.
0:05:49 > 0:05:51She looks quite happy, doesn't she?
0:05:51 > 0:05:54But anyway, moving on and casting our eyes on to the bed furniture, Lucy,
0:05:54 > 0:05:56is the structure of the bed,
0:05:56 > 0:05:58the boring detail of the structure of the bed.
0:05:58 > 0:06:01This is what our bed is based on, so we've got the posts in the corner
0:06:01 > 0:06:03and we've got this convenient opening here
0:06:03 > 0:06:06to allow the King to get easily on to the bed, because it's quite high.
0:06:06 > 0:06:08It's like a like playpen for him with a fence all around.
0:06:08 > 0:06:11Exactly. It would have been very comfortable, I think.
0:06:11 > 0:06:14How did you choose this lovely rich red colour?
0:06:14 > 0:06:19This is based on the wardrobe accounts of Margaret of France on Edward's children.
0:06:19 > 0:06:21What about that white fur, is that an accurate detail?
0:06:21 > 0:06:28The Royal Family had coverlets and quilts with fur on the underside to keep them nice and warm
0:06:28 > 0:06:31and often these were miniver or squirrel fur.
0:06:31 > 0:06:34And the most expensive form of fur you could have really was ver,
0:06:34 > 0:06:38which was made from the bellies of northern red squirrels.
0:06:38 > 0:06:41- White bellies of the squirrels?- Yes. - That's so sumptuous.- Yes.
0:06:41 > 0:06:44Now you mentioned the accounts of the Queen
0:06:44 > 0:06:48and the accounts of the King, were they not sleeping in the same bed?
0:06:48 > 0:06:52No. They tended to come together for conjugal relations,
0:06:52 > 0:06:57but most of the time they had their own household and they had their own bedchambers.
0:06:57 > 0:07:00And we know about this, particularly in this early period,
0:07:00 > 0:07:05from an account from Henry III's reign in 1238 at Woodstock Palace,
0:07:05 > 0:07:10and Henry survived an assassination attempt on him
0:07:10 > 0:07:13because he was in bed with the Queen in her apartment
0:07:13 > 0:07:17whilst the assassin came to his apartment and, of course, he wasn't there.
0:07:17 > 0:07:18He was saved by sex.
0:07:18 > 0:07:21Indeed. Good old Henry.
0:07:25 > 0:07:30You may have wondered why when you see pictures of medieval people in bed
0:07:30 > 0:07:33they often look like they're sleeping sitting up.
0:07:33 > 0:07:38This could be something to do with art showing the sitter's face more clearly, or iconography.
0:07:38 > 0:07:43I don't believe that kings actually wore their crowns in bed.
0:07:43 > 0:07:45But there's another explanation for it.
0:07:45 > 0:07:49Early beds, until the 17th century, were often strung with ropes
0:07:49 > 0:07:53so the mattress was sitting on a construction a bit like a hammock.
0:07:53 > 0:07:55You can't lie flat in that,
0:07:55 > 0:07:57you're forced to adopt the position of a banana.
0:08:00 > 0:08:02And this bed is demountable.
0:08:02 > 0:08:08It comes apart, and the accounts for medieval beds often include big leather bags to pack them in to,
0:08:08 > 0:08:12and the King would take it with him when he travelled to a new castle.
0:08:12 > 0:08:15Sleeping in this was a bit like camping.
0:08:18 > 0:08:23The King's portable beds reflected the mobile lifestyle of medieval monarchs.
0:08:23 > 0:08:25Kings were constantly on the move.
0:08:25 > 0:08:28Their beds travelled with them from castle to castle
0:08:28 > 0:08:33and setting up the royal bedchambers each time was a huge operation.
0:08:33 > 0:08:37The King even had a massive warehouse where his bedroom furnishings were stored
0:08:37 > 0:08:40ready to be dispatched wherever he needed them.
0:08:43 > 0:08:47The names of churches in the City of London often give us clues
0:08:47 > 0:08:49to things that aren't there any more
0:08:49 > 0:08:55and St Andrew by the Wardrobe used to stand next door to the King's Wardrobe.
0:08:55 > 0:08:57Here it is on the map.
0:08:57 > 0:09:00And the Wardrobe wasn't a big piece of furniture,
0:09:00 > 0:09:05it was this vast complex of buildings here.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08It's called the Wardrop. It was a big storage facility.
0:09:08 > 0:09:13The people who worked here were called the warders of the robes
0:09:13 > 0:09:16and it was their job to look after the King's gowns
0:09:16 > 0:09:21and his clothes, but also his soft furnishings, including his bedding.
0:09:21 > 0:09:23Now inventories talk about the King's bolsters
0:09:23 > 0:09:26and his fustian pillows.
0:09:26 > 0:09:29All this stuff used to be kept in the Tower of London,
0:09:29 > 0:09:34but in 1361 Edward III brought it here to the new facility
0:09:34 > 0:09:41and there it stayed until 1666 when it got burnt down in the Great Fire.
0:09:41 > 0:09:43After the fire the site was redeveloped
0:09:43 > 0:09:49and it turned out that it was big enough to take thirty normal people's houses.
0:09:49 > 0:09:52The medieval royal bedchamber was hugely important,
0:09:52 > 0:09:55but then it wasn't just a place for the monarch to sleep,
0:09:55 > 0:09:59it was also where he conducted the day-to-day business of being King,
0:09:59 > 0:10:03holding meetings with his courtiers, the most trusted of them -
0:10:03 > 0:10:07the Lord Chamberlain - was literally the Lord of his Bedchamber,
0:10:07 > 0:10:12and he needed to travel around his realm to show himself to his people,
0:10:12 > 0:10:17maintaining order and discouraging rebellion simply by his presence.
0:10:17 > 0:10:20If you look at the last seven medieval kings,
0:10:20 > 0:10:23and by that I mean the seven running up to Henry VIII,
0:10:23 > 0:10:28no less than four of them seized the throne by violence.
0:10:28 > 0:10:31That means they weren't inheriting it from their fathers,
0:10:31 > 0:10:33as the result of activity in the royal bedroom.
0:10:33 > 0:10:38At this period, the battlefield is still a better means of gaining power.
0:10:40 > 0:10:44When Henry Tudor ended the Wars of the Roses with his victory in 1485,
0:10:44 > 0:10:48he finally bought stability to the monarchy and the country.
0:10:49 > 0:10:54His Tudor successors would no longer constantly have to pack up their beds
0:10:54 > 0:10:57and go campaigning to protect their realm against usurpers.
0:10:59 > 0:11:02By the time we get to the reign of Henry VIII,
0:11:02 > 0:11:04the royal lifestyle has settled down a bit.
0:11:04 > 0:11:07He is still travelling from palace to palace,
0:11:07 > 0:11:11but each one now has a dedicated specialised bedchamber.
0:11:11 > 0:11:15Unfortunately, I can't show you Henry's bedchamber here at Hampton Court,
0:11:15 > 0:11:18because it was knocked down and rebuilt in the 18th century,
0:11:18 > 0:11:21but here's a glimpse into what it might have been like.
0:11:21 > 0:11:23It's a very sumptuous interior.
0:11:23 > 0:11:26Here's the King sitting and reading a book,
0:11:26 > 0:11:32and here we've got a very heavy, ornate, fixed, non-transportable four-poster bed.
0:11:33 > 0:11:37Considering that Henry had 60 palaces to choose from,
0:11:37 > 0:11:40it's a shame that none of his Tudor bedrooms survived,
0:11:40 > 0:11:43although we can look elsewhere to get a glimpse of
0:11:43 > 0:11:45the sort of bed he would have slept in.
0:11:45 > 0:11:46During the summer months,
0:11:46 > 0:11:50Tudor monarchs were just as mobile as their medieval predecessors,
0:11:50 > 0:11:54partly for fun and partly to save money by sponging off other people.
0:11:54 > 0:11:59Maintaining their palaces and the vast retinue of staff and courtiers within
0:11:59 > 0:12:00was hugely expensive,
0:12:00 > 0:12:05so Henry would bed-hop from one courtier's house to another to alleviate the cost.
0:12:05 > 0:12:08This is Hever Castle in Kent,
0:12:08 > 0:12:11in the Tudor period home to the famous Boleyn family.
0:12:11 > 0:12:15We know that Henry visited Hever and if he stayed over,
0:12:15 > 0:12:17Thomas Boleyn, the head of the house,
0:12:17 > 0:12:20would have had to give up his bed for his monarch.
0:12:20 > 0:12:23This bed is a typical Tudor affair, solid oak
0:12:23 > 0:12:27and decorated all over with intricate carvings.
0:12:27 > 0:12:30Tudor monarchs could now enjoy a more peaceful night's sleep
0:12:30 > 0:12:32than their medieval predecessors,
0:12:32 > 0:12:35but there were still some disruptions.
0:12:35 > 0:12:39Even royal bed furnishings were often infested with fleas.
0:12:39 > 0:12:41Henry VIII took a little piece of fur to bed with him
0:12:41 > 0:12:44so that the bugs would jump on to that
0:12:44 > 0:12:46rather than suck his own blue blood.
0:12:47 > 0:12:49Henry didn't feel the need to shut himself
0:12:49 > 0:12:51away in a castle for safety,
0:12:51 > 0:12:55but even when he was visiting his courtiers in their houses,
0:12:55 > 0:12:59he was still quite paranoid about security.
0:12:59 > 0:13:02Before he arrived, he'd send ahead his locksmiths
0:13:02 > 0:13:06to install these special portable locks on to the doors,
0:13:06 > 0:13:10that way Henry could be sure that only his trusted servants had the key.
0:13:10 > 0:13:14This is one of Henry's locks, it's really beautiful,
0:13:14 > 0:13:18and it's got a lovely lever with a funny little Tudor face on it.
0:13:20 > 0:13:23And the security measures didn't stop here.
0:13:23 > 0:13:25Before Henry got into his bed at night,
0:13:25 > 0:13:28his servants rolled across it to check that assassins
0:13:28 > 0:13:31hadn't concealed a dagger in the straw mattress.
0:13:33 > 0:13:35As the Tudor period progressed,
0:13:35 > 0:13:39the future and stability of the monarchy was beginning to shift away
0:13:39 > 0:13:41from the battlefield into the royal bedroom,
0:13:41 > 0:13:46because it was here that the long-term success of the dynasty would be decided.
0:13:47 > 0:13:50Now, at first, the Tudors could be said to have
0:13:50 > 0:13:53quite a tenuous grasp on the Crown, couldn't they?
0:13:53 > 0:13:55Henry VII, he seized it from Richard III.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58How does he go about building up a stable dynasty?
0:13:58 > 0:14:00The best way of doing that was to make a good marriage
0:14:00 > 0:14:04and then, of course, to have an heir, which is exactly what Henry did.
0:14:04 > 0:14:08He married soon after his accession and within a very short time
0:14:08 > 0:14:11he managed to have an heir, Prince Arthur.
0:14:11 > 0:14:14So marriage and the birth of children, they're central,
0:14:14 > 0:14:16matters of the bedroom are central?
0:14:16 > 0:14:20Really, we can consider the bed as our kind of theatre or stage
0:14:20 > 0:14:23upon which all the key events are going to play out.
0:14:23 > 0:14:28When you read accounts of the wedding of Prince Arthur
0:14:28 > 0:14:32and Catherine, the Spanish Princess, it's almost voyeuristic, the detail.
0:14:32 > 0:14:33We get to see them going to bed together.
0:14:33 > 0:14:36You can just imagine sort of Catherine looking at Arthur
0:14:36 > 0:14:38and Arthur looking at Catherine and thinking...
0:14:38 > 0:14:41- We're for it. We've got to do this now.- We've got to get busy.
0:14:41 > 0:14:43So a massive expectation.
0:14:43 > 0:14:46And, of course, although everybody withdraws,
0:14:46 > 0:14:49you could imagine all the kind of whisperings outside the door,
0:14:49 > 0:14:51exactly, to know what was going on.
0:14:51 > 0:14:56And so, of course, when the couple emerged in the morning, there was great expectation.
0:14:56 > 0:15:01What had happened that wedding night becomes hugely important,
0:15:01 > 0:15:04because, within just less than a year, Arthur dies,
0:15:04 > 0:15:06Catherine of Aragon is left a widow.
0:15:06 > 0:15:09She's too important a figure to remain unmarried.
0:15:09 > 0:15:13She is the daughter of Spain, and so what happens?
0:15:13 > 0:15:16She marries Henry VIII, brother to Prince Arthur.
0:15:16 > 0:15:19The marriage is happy for a while,
0:15:19 > 0:15:24then when no male heir emerges, Henry decides that he wants an annulment,
0:15:24 > 0:15:26his attention has wandered to Anne Boleyn.
0:15:26 > 0:15:30And the key issue in order to get that annulment
0:15:30 > 0:15:37becomes events 30 years before, way back in the bedchamber of Arthur and Catherine of Aragon.
0:15:37 > 0:15:40The controversy is, when Henry wants his divorce from Catherine,
0:15:40 > 0:15:45he needs to prove that Arthur and Catherine did consummate their marriage
0:15:45 > 0:15:48and she needs to prove that they didn't.
0:15:48 > 0:15:50Yes. I mean he turns to the text of Leviticus,
0:15:50 > 0:15:54where it says that a man shouldn't lie with his brother's widow,
0:15:54 > 0:15:58and suddenly says, "Aha! This is evidence that I should never have married anyway."
0:15:58 > 0:16:02And so any of those people that were around at the time
0:16:02 > 0:16:05were called upon to describe what had happened.
0:16:05 > 0:16:10One of those sources describes how the morning after the wedding,
0:16:10 > 0:16:11the morning after the night before,
0:16:11 > 0:16:14when Prince Arthur emerges from the bedchamber,
0:16:14 > 0:16:17he brags to one of the grooms of the chamber,
0:16:17 > 0:16:18"Bring me a drink, for I am thirsty,
0:16:18 > 0:16:22"because I have spent the night in the midst of Spain, which is a hot region."
0:16:22 > 0:16:25He could have just been showing off, in my opinion.
0:16:25 > 0:16:27Bawdy adolescence, perhaps, but who's to say?
0:16:27 > 0:16:30Catherine remains absolutely committed to the line
0:16:30 > 0:16:33that she never had sex with Prince Arthur,
0:16:33 > 0:16:39therefore it's absolutely fine and above board for her to have married his brother, Henry VIII.
0:16:39 > 0:16:42So it's like a little keyhole detail, isn't it, it's such an intimate thing,
0:16:42 > 0:16:45and yet, it's a matter of international diplomacy?
0:16:45 > 0:16:49Exactly. The marriage bed which we sort of see as a private space
0:16:49 > 0:16:53is the stage, the sort of great public arena through which
0:16:53 > 0:16:57these key issues of the Tudor monarchy are played out really.
0:16:58 > 0:17:02Catherine of Aragon endured great personal suffering
0:17:02 > 0:17:05as a result of this investigation into her sex life.
0:17:05 > 0:17:10But it was also to have extraordinary consequences for the nation as a whole.
0:17:10 > 0:17:15Gossip from a Tudor bedroom had given Henry the excuse he needed for his divorce,
0:17:15 > 0:17:21ultimately leading to the break from Rome and the birth of the Church of England.
0:17:21 > 0:17:24It was clear that a King's performance, or non-performance,
0:17:24 > 0:17:29in the royal bedroom could now transform the future of the country.
0:17:29 > 0:17:32The pressure to produce new members of the dynasty
0:17:32 > 0:17:36became even more intense as the Queen's crown passed to Anne Boleyn.
0:17:37 > 0:17:41Catching Henry's fancy wasn't enough to ensure Anne's success,
0:17:41 > 0:17:43she had to produce a male heir.
0:17:44 > 0:17:46As with Catherine, Anne's fate,
0:17:46 > 0:17:50and the fate of the nation, would be decided in the royal bedroom.
0:17:52 > 0:17:58To make sure that a royal baby, heir to the throne, was healthy and safely delivered,
0:17:58 > 0:18:02a Tudor Queen's pregnancy was closely monitored.
0:18:02 > 0:18:08So, on the 26th of August, 1533, following the announcement that Anne was going to have a baby,
0:18:08 > 0:18:12she was confined to her bedchamber at Greenwich Palace.
0:18:12 > 0:18:17The doors were closed, the windows were blocked, fires were lit
0:18:17 > 0:18:22and the darkened room was prepared with candles and aromatic oils.
0:18:22 > 0:18:25Despite the stifling summer heat,
0:18:25 > 0:18:30Anne would have to spend the next eight weeks in this stuffy cocoon.
0:18:30 > 0:18:33Every moment of her pregnancy was witnessed by a gaggle of women
0:18:33 > 0:18:36selected from the Tudor court.
0:18:36 > 0:18:39It must have been horrible for Anne to be trapped
0:18:39 > 0:18:43in what sounds like a really oppressive environment for such a long time,
0:18:43 > 0:18:47at the height of summer, with all these people watching her.
0:18:47 > 0:18:52And when the baby was born, it was a disappointment.
0:18:52 > 0:18:54Everybody had been hoping and praying for a boy
0:18:54 > 0:18:58to secure the succession, but Anne's baby was a girl.
0:18:58 > 0:19:01For her, this was a personal tragedy.
0:19:01 > 0:19:06It was a step on the journey towards her fall and, ultimately, her execution.
0:19:11 > 0:19:16The trauma of this event and the importance that was attached to it
0:19:16 > 0:19:18showed how the future of the succession
0:19:18 > 0:19:21would now unfold in the royal bedchamber
0:19:21 > 0:19:28and the Tudor dynasty's anxiety about its future would all be centred in the royal bed.
0:19:29 > 0:19:31As the number of Henry's wives mounted up,
0:19:31 > 0:19:35people's scrutiny of what was going on between the royal sheets
0:19:35 > 0:19:37got more and more intense and intimate
0:19:37 > 0:19:40and quite extraordinary in its detail.
0:19:41 > 0:19:45When Henry VIII wants to get rid of his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves,
0:19:45 > 0:19:48his line is that Anne was just too unattractive,
0:19:48 > 0:19:51he couldn't bring himself to consummate the marriage.
0:19:51 > 0:19:55But this was a risky strategy, because people may have said,
0:19:55 > 0:19:59"Well, it's Henry's fault, the King is now old, he's becoming impotent."
0:19:59 > 0:20:03So, to counter this, Henry does something quite extraordinary,
0:20:03 > 0:20:07he has his doctor, Doctor Butts, make an announcement in the House of Lords
0:20:07 > 0:20:11that the King has still got it in the bedroom department.
0:20:11 > 0:20:14Doctor Butts tells the Lords that the King's had,
0:20:14 > 0:20:19"duas pollutiones nocturnas in somno,"
0:20:19 > 0:20:23that means, two nocturnal pollutions, two emissions.
0:20:23 > 0:20:28This is intended to show that the King is still very capable of fathering a child.
0:20:30 > 0:20:32In the Tudor period then,
0:20:32 > 0:20:35inadequacies in the royal bedroom had been instrumental
0:20:35 > 0:20:39in the divorce and downfall of four of Henry's six Queens.
0:20:39 > 0:20:42And when none of his children produced heirs of their own,
0:20:42 > 0:20:45it was the end of the Tudor dynasty.
0:20:47 > 0:20:49Under their successors, the Stuarts,
0:20:49 > 0:20:53the royal bedroom would get even more splendid
0:20:53 > 0:20:56and the pressure to reproduce got even more intense.
0:20:56 > 0:21:00After a rather bad patch for the monarchy, the Civil War,
0:21:00 > 0:21:02Charles I's annus horribilis,
0:21:02 > 0:21:05and ten years without any monarch at all,
0:21:05 > 0:21:10Charles II was unexpectedly restored to the throne.
0:21:10 > 0:21:14He knew he had to create a stable and a popular dynasty.
0:21:14 > 0:21:17When he arranged the marriage between his niece
0:21:17 > 0:21:19and the Dutch Prince, William of Orange,
0:21:19 > 0:21:23he even turned up at their wedding night to egg them on.
0:21:23 > 0:21:26When the 15-year-old Mary was told that she had to marry
0:21:26 > 0:21:30this unknown 27-year-old hooked-nosed Dutchman,
0:21:30 > 0:21:32she cried for two days.
0:21:32 > 0:21:35And their wedding night was quite inauspicious.
0:21:35 > 0:21:37The young couple were put to bed by the whole court,
0:21:37 > 0:21:40and then Charles II, who was uncle to both of them,
0:21:40 > 0:21:44shouted out some helpful words of encouragement,
0:21:44 > 0:21:48"Now, nephew," he said, "to your work for St George and England."
0:21:50 > 0:21:54As with the Tudors, royal wedding nights were witnessed,
0:21:54 > 0:21:58and when a royal baby was born, it was equally important that courtiers
0:21:58 > 0:22:03were present to swear that the heir was healthy and likely to live.
0:22:03 > 0:22:08And the Stuarts would discover that you could never be too careful about getting this done properly.
0:22:08 > 0:22:14In 1688, dangerous speculation about failings in the royal bedroom
0:22:14 > 0:22:18would bring about the downfall of the King himself, James II.
0:22:20 > 0:22:24This bed belonged to James II's second wife, Mary of Modena,
0:22:24 > 0:22:26the Italian Princess.
0:22:26 > 0:22:28But when I say that I have to qualify it a bit,
0:22:28 > 0:22:31because the bed's actually a bit of a mishmash.
0:22:31 > 0:22:34Mary would have slept in it in the late 17th century,
0:22:34 > 0:22:37but the wooden structure holding up the canopy,
0:22:37 > 0:22:40actually dates from the early 18th.
0:22:40 > 0:22:43Those ARE Mary and James' initials on the headboard,
0:22:43 > 0:22:46but they've been brought from another bed,
0:22:46 > 0:22:48cut out and slightly randomly plonked here,
0:22:48 > 0:22:51so it's not the greatest work of art in the world.
0:22:51 > 0:22:55But the reason that people have looked after it and repaired it
0:22:55 > 0:23:00and cherished it for centuries is because of what went on here.
0:23:00 > 0:23:04This was the location of the famous warming pan incident.
0:23:07 > 0:23:12The warming pan incident began with the announcement from St James's Palace
0:23:12 > 0:23:15that Mary of Modena had given birth to a son.
0:23:15 > 0:23:18Usually, this would have been a cause for national celebration,
0:23:18 > 0:23:21but James II was extremely unpopular.
0:23:21 > 0:23:24He was autocratic, he was arrogant,
0:23:24 > 0:23:27qualities that most of his subjects hoped that they'd seen the last of
0:23:27 > 0:23:29when they beheaded his father, Charles I.
0:23:31 > 0:23:35But James's biggest problem was that he had converted to Catholicism.
0:23:36 > 0:23:41Large numbers of his subjects weren't keen on returning to the Church of Rome,
0:23:41 > 0:23:44but now with the news that James had a Catholic heir,
0:23:44 > 0:23:48there was a real threat that Catholicism would be back for good.
0:23:48 > 0:23:51In the eyes of the Protestant establishment,
0:23:51 > 0:23:52something had to be done.
0:23:54 > 0:23:59James's Protestant enemies put it about that his baby boy had died
0:23:59 > 0:24:02and to cover this up, an impostor baby,
0:24:02 > 0:24:06a changeling, had been smuggled in to the Queen's bed.
0:24:06 > 0:24:08This became a very elaborate story
0:24:08 > 0:24:10with all kinds of circumstantial detail.
0:24:13 > 0:24:16People even produced maps, showing the route
0:24:16 > 0:24:20by which the baby is said to have been smuggled in to the palace.
0:24:20 > 0:24:21This is ever so detailed.
0:24:21 > 0:24:26He came in here, they said, and he was carried through these rooms,
0:24:26 > 0:24:31round the corner, along here, through these rooms
0:24:31 > 0:24:36and finally, along here, into the Queen's bedchamber.
0:24:36 > 0:24:39And how was the baby supposed to have been transported?
0:24:39 > 0:24:44Well, it was in the 17th century equivalent of a hot water bottle.
0:24:44 > 0:24:47It's a metal pan, you fill it with hot coals,
0:24:47 > 0:24:51use it to warm the sheets, and this is the infamous warming pan.
0:24:54 > 0:24:58As the rumours gained credence, James got more and more furious.
0:24:58 > 0:25:00Hoping to kill the speculation,
0:25:00 > 0:25:03he published the results of an official inquiry
0:25:03 > 0:25:08into exactly who'd been at the birth and what they'd seen.
0:25:08 > 0:25:10Now, clearly this inquiry was a bit of a farce.
0:25:10 > 0:25:12There were 40 witnesses to this birth,
0:25:12 > 0:25:16and you can't even fit a baby into one of these things.
0:25:16 > 0:25:20But it was a good story, and this meant a lot of people believed it.
0:25:21 > 0:25:23The smear campaign had worked
0:25:23 > 0:25:26and within months, James had fled the country.
0:25:27 > 0:25:31After James II was overthrown, the Crown passed jointly to
0:25:31 > 0:25:35his daughter Mary and to her husband, James's own nephew,
0:25:35 > 0:25:39William of Orange, both of them strongly Protestant.
0:25:39 > 0:25:41These two, William and Mary,
0:25:41 > 0:25:43had been very keen on the warming pan story
0:25:43 > 0:25:47and had done their best to spread it about to damage James.
0:25:48 > 0:25:50William and Mary came out on top,
0:25:50 > 0:25:53but their succession had come at a price.
0:25:53 > 0:25:55Before being crowned, they'd had to agree
0:25:55 > 0:25:59that they'd be answerable to their people and to Parliament.
0:25:59 > 0:26:04As their position changed, so too did the role of the royal bedroom.
0:26:14 > 0:26:18William and Mary made their main base at Hampton Court,
0:26:18 > 0:26:21totally remodelling the rambling Tudor palace,
0:26:21 > 0:26:26and spending £131,000, about £9.5 million today,
0:26:26 > 0:26:29on the refurbishments and its new baroque layout.
0:26:32 > 0:26:35And the new royal bedrooms give a fascinating insight
0:26:35 > 0:26:40into the changing relationship between the monarchy and its subjects.
0:26:40 > 0:26:42A dynasty's success was now just as dependent
0:26:42 > 0:26:46on winning over the political classes as it was on producing heirs,
0:26:46 > 0:26:51so there was less of a focus on the bedroom in terms of marriage and childbirth.
0:26:53 > 0:26:58Its importance now lay as a place where elaborate ceremonies were played out,
0:26:58 > 0:27:02where aspirational courtiers would try to gain access to the King
0:27:02 > 0:27:04to exert their influence.
0:27:06 > 0:27:10In the 17th century, this was almost literally a corridor of power.
0:27:10 > 0:27:13What you needed to make it as a courtier
0:27:13 > 0:27:15was face-time with the King.
0:27:15 > 0:27:17These are his rooms and they're laid out in a chain
0:27:17 > 0:27:21that gets increasingly exclusive as you go up it.
0:27:21 > 0:27:24There were the more public rooms at that end for receiving guests,
0:27:24 > 0:27:29then the more private rooms that are for eating and for little parties.
0:27:29 > 0:27:31Now, the more important and influential you were,
0:27:31 > 0:27:33the more likely you could get up this chain
0:27:33 > 0:27:35and the more likely you were to get into
0:27:35 > 0:27:37the actual presence of the King.
0:27:39 > 0:27:43The climax to the whole experience is the King's bedchamber.
0:27:43 > 0:27:46You can tell this is the most important room
0:27:46 > 0:27:48because of the painted ceiling,
0:27:48 > 0:27:50the decoration is much fancier than elsewhere
0:27:50 > 0:27:53and obviously, there's an enormous red velvet bed in it
0:27:53 > 0:27:56with an explosion of ostrich feathers.
0:27:57 > 0:27:59It's quite surprising that the King's bedroom
0:27:59 > 0:28:02was a semi-public space,
0:28:02 > 0:28:04but those top courtiers, the ones who'd made it,
0:28:04 > 0:28:07they were allowed in here to watch the ceremony of
0:28:07 > 0:28:09the King being dressed in the morning,
0:28:09 > 0:28:14that was called the levee, or undressed at night, the couchee.
0:28:14 > 0:28:16The King didn't actually sleep in this bed,
0:28:16 > 0:28:20he nipped next door to a much more comfortable little one,
0:28:20 > 0:28:25and by the late 17th century, this is a purely ceremonial space.
0:28:25 > 0:28:27It's a bit weird to think though
0:28:27 > 0:28:30that sometimes it was packed with courtiers
0:28:30 > 0:28:33looking at the King in his underwear.
0:28:33 > 0:28:36These rituals may sound extraordinary today,
0:28:36 > 0:28:38but they really mattered.
0:28:38 > 0:28:40Although power was beginning to shift to the people,
0:28:40 > 0:28:43the monarch was still ultimately in charge.
0:28:43 > 0:28:47To see or to be seen with the King was any ambitious courtier's goal.
0:28:49 > 0:28:52This is an amazingly rare and special thing.
0:28:52 > 0:28:54These are two bits of a railing,
0:28:54 > 0:28:58like a fence, that would have been erected across the bedchamber
0:28:58 > 0:29:02of William's grandmother, Henrietta Marie.
0:29:02 > 0:29:05It was probably erected at a time when she was lying in
0:29:05 > 0:29:08or getting ready to give birth, and at times like this
0:29:08 > 0:29:12and during the levee or the couchee, there were sometimes so many people
0:29:12 > 0:29:15wanting to come and see that they would jostle for a good position,
0:29:15 > 0:29:19and the railing was necessary to keep them back from the bed.
0:29:19 > 0:29:22It also served another purpose, it stopped the royal beds
0:29:22 > 0:29:25from being ripped to pieces by the palace pets,
0:29:25 > 0:29:27particularly the naughty dogs.
0:29:28 > 0:29:31Even though you had to keep your distance behind the railing,
0:29:31 > 0:29:35in the 17th century the honour of seeing the monarch semi-naked
0:29:35 > 0:29:37meant that you'd really made it.
0:29:39 > 0:29:42But it was the people holding backstage passes,
0:29:42 > 0:29:45the staff responsible for looking after the royal body and bedroom
0:29:45 > 0:29:50and orchestrating these rituals who were really at the top of the tree.
0:29:50 > 0:29:53So what we have here is a list of all the servants
0:29:53 > 0:29:56who attended the King in his bedchamber.
0:29:56 > 0:29:57Quite a number of them then really,
0:29:57 > 0:30:01ranging from high to low in serried ranks, is that right?
0:30:01 > 0:30:02Yes, absolutely.
0:30:03 > 0:30:07And the Groom at the Stool, or Stole as it's written here,
0:30:07 > 0:30:09he's the most important. What was his job?
0:30:09 > 0:30:12The Groom of the Stole was originally the Groom of the Stool,
0:30:12 > 0:30:15so during the Tudor period, the officer that attended the King
0:30:15 > 0:30:18- when he went into his stool closet... - His toilet.
0:30:18 > 0:30:21When he used his closed stool, yes.
0:30:21 > 0:30:23And did he have the job of wiping the King's bottom, then?
0:30:23 > 0:30:26- Probably not, no. - Oh, come on.
0:30:26 > 0:30:30Surely lost in the midst of medieval time it was pretty hands on.
0:30:30 > 0:30:34It was hands on, but he would have done things like holding the candle,
0:30:34 > 0:30:35helping the King with his clothes,
0:30:35 > 0:30:38and passing him the stool ducket, so the wiping linen.
0:30:38 > 0:30:41Well, if you're handing the King something to wipe his bottom on,
0:30:41 > 0:30:45- that's still a pretty dirty job. - It is. But it wasn't considered to be menial.
0:30:45 > 0:30:47It was actually a very important and honourable role.
0:30:47 > 0:30:50That was because you got the chance to be alone with the King,
0:30:50 > 0:30:52intimate with him, you could ask him a good favour.
0:30:52 > 0:30:55Yes, it's a key moment where you can ask the King for a promotion
0:30:55 > 0:30:58or you can ask for one of your friends to be promoted,
0:30:58 > 0:31:01or perhaps try and influence some political policy.
0:31:01 > 0:31:04It's amazing to think that this is the top job at court,
0:31:04 > 0:31:06and yet, it involves the toilet, but everybody wanted it.
0:31:06 > 0:31:10Absolutely. It really was the most important job at court.
0:31:10 > 0:31:12What about actual dressing?
0:31:12 > 0:31:16Well, the Grooms of the Bedchamber were responsible for keeping the King's underwear,
0:31:16 > 0:31:17so his day shirt and his drawers,
0:31:17 > 0:31:20so they bring those in to the royal bedchamber.
0:31:20 > 0:31:23He's not important enough to put the shirt on the King himself,
0:31:23 > 0:31:25so they would warm the shirt by the fire
0:31:25 > 0:31:27and then pass it to the Groom of the Stole
0:31:27 > 0:31:29- who would then put it on the King. - Ah, I like that.
0:31:29 > 0:31:30So the more important you are,
0:31:30 > 0:31:33the more intimate the things are that you're allowed to do.
0:31:33 > 0:31:34Absolutely.
0:31:35 > 0:31:38The monarch had a huge retinue of staff,
0:31:38 > 0:31:42each with his or her own title and very specific function.
0:31:42 > 0:31:46Many of these offices still survive in the royal household to this day.
0:31:46 > 0:31:48Those who were responsible for the bedchamber,
0:31:48 > 0:31:50the most important room of the palace,
0:31:50 > 0:31:52were at the top of the hierarchy.
0:31:57 > 0:32:01The Groom of the Stool or Stole had access to all areas.
0:32:01 > 0:32:04He had the private key to the King's apartments
0:32:04 > 0:32:08that he wore on a blue ribbon round his neck as a badge of his office.
0:32:08 > 0:32:13Where, you might wonder, could William III ever be by himself?
0:32:13 > 0:32:14Well, there was one place,
0:32:14 > 0:32:17down here in the King's private apartments.
0:32:17 > 0:32:20This little room was his private bedchamber.
0:32:20 > 0:32:23It's got three different doors, but on the inside of each of them
0:32:23 > 0:32:28is a lock with a bolt, so the King could slip these three bolts
0:32:28 > 0:32:32and he was in the one room of the whole palace where he could be on his own.
0:32:38 > 0:32:42This is what you might call the service entrance to the King's bedchamber.
0:32:42 > 0:32:46It's a secret hidden set of stairs called the back stairs.
0:32:46 > 0:32:51Here you might meet the necessary woman coming down with the chamber pot when it was full
0:32:51 > 0:32:55or other servants going up with food and drink and clean sheets.
0:32:55 > 0:32:59This was very heavily guarded to keep out any riff-raff,
0:32:59 > 0:33:02but sometimes you might meet some very important people here.
0:33:02 > 0:33:06If the King wanted any visitors to come and see him in secret,
0:33:06 > 0:33:09with discretion, then they came up through the back stairs.
0:33:12 > 0:33:17Access to these back stairs was closely monitored by the Page of the Back Stairs -
0:33:17 > 0:33:23or some people used the less formal job title the Pimpmaster General.
0:33:23 > 0:33:24In the 17th and 18th century,
0:33:24 > 0:33:28male monarchs were notorious for their mistresses.
0:33:28 > 0:33:33Charles II's infamous actress-turned-mistress turned-Duchess Nell Gwynn,
0:33:33 > 0:33:38and Barbara Villiers, the uncrowned queen who secured titles and wealth
0:33:38 > 0:33:43not just for herself, but her five illegitimate children with the King.
0:33:43 > 0:33:47And George II had his famed official mistress, Henrietta Howard.
0:33:47 > 0:33:53Today, if somebody has a mistress it's almost, by definition, a secret thing, isn't it?
0:33:53 > 0:33:56And yet everybody knew who these women were.
0:33:56 > 0:33:59Absolutely. In the 18th century, it was a very public figure.
0:33:59 > 0:34:01If you were a royal mistress, it was an official position.
0:34:01 > 0:34:06And the likes of Henrietta Howard, long term and, indeed, long suffering mistress of George II,
0:34:06 > 0:34:10she's given a salary, she's given a pension when she retires.
0:34:10 > 0:34:13It's all very public and out in the open.
0:34:13 > 0:34:16It's as official a position as any other that you would find at court.
0:34:16 > 0:34:20What sort of contemporary accounts are there about Henrietta's behaviour?
0:34:20 > 0:34:23Henrietta was very popular with certain sections of the court
0:34:23 > 0:34:26and her apartments were forever filled with ambitious courtiers
0:34:26 > 0:34:30all expecting her to be able to put in a good word on their behalf with the King.
0:34:30 > 0:34:32Whatever the perception was,
0:34:32 > 0:34:34how much power did Henrietta really have?
0:34:34 > 0:34:37I think the truth was Henrietta had very little power.
0:34:37 > 0:34:41We can't actually trace any action or gift that the King made
0:34:41 > 0:34:44that was thanks to Henrietta's influence,
0:34:44 > 0:34:48so I think, really, she had nothing, she had very, very little.
0:34:48 > 0:34:52But, actually, her enemy, Lord Harvey, probably put his finger on it
0:34:52 > 0:34:54because he writes quite a lot about this in his memoirs.
0:34:54 > 0:34:56He says that,
0:34:56 > 0:34:59"She was forced to live in the constant subjection of a wife
0:34:59 > 0:35:02"with all the reproach of a mistress to flatter and manage a man
0:35:02 > 0:35:05"whom she must see and feel had as little inclination
0:35:05 > 0:35:08"to her person as regard to her advice."
0:35:08 > 0:35:10That's terrible then. She has to put up with
0:35:10 > 0:35:13all the tough stuff of being a wife, being bossed around.
0:35:13 > 0:35:16But at the same time she doesn't get the fun of being the Queen
0:35:16 > 0:35:18because she has no real tiptop official position.
0:35:18 > 0:35:22But actually, it didn't matter, in fact, whether Henrietta had power or not,
0:35:22 > 0:35:25the idea that she had it was enough to secure her position.
0:35:31 > 0:35:32By the 18th century,
0:35:32 > 0:35:36the royal bedroom was the epicentre of power at court
0:35:36 > 0:35:41and if you could gain access to it, you were considered to be amongst the chosen few.
0:35:41 > 0:35:47Its prominence was illustrated by the extraordinary beds that were made for it.
0:35:47 > 0:35:49When the last Stuart monarch, Queen Anne,
0:35:49 > 0:35:53realised that she was approaching the end of her life,
0:35:53 > 0:35:55she commissioned what people have called
0:35:55 > 0:35:58one of the most magnificent beds ever created.
0:36:00 > 0:36:02This is Queen Anne's bed,
0:36:02 > 0:36:06and we believe that she commissioned this for a very special reason.
0:36:06 > 0:36:09We believe that she intended to die in it.
0:36:09 > 0:36:11Unfortunately, she left things a bit late
0:36:11 > 0:36:14and she actually died before the bed was finished.
0:36:14 > 0:36:17But if you think about a bed fit for a Queen,
0:36:17 > 0:36:19this has to be what comes to mind.
0:36:19 > 0:36:23It's so tall, it's so brightly coloured, it's so rich.
0:36:23 > 0:36:26And Anne's successors valued it ever so highly.
0:36:26 > 0:36:29100 years later, George III called this
0:36:29 > 0:36:32the most splendid bed in the universe.
0:36:35 > 0:36:39Anne's bed reflects the height of baroque furnishing fashions.
0:36:39 > 0:36:44The fabric alone cost about £78,000 in today's money.
0:36:47 > 0:36:51Even the parts of the bed that you're not supposed to see are incredibly sumptuous.
0:36:51 > 0:36:53Here are the five mattresses,
0:36:53 > 0:36:57and look at this, they go from rough to smooth.
0:36:57 > 0:37:01They get increasingly silky as you approach the proximity of the monarch's flesh.
0:37:01 > 0:37:05When Queen Anne commissioned her "death bed" in 1714,
0:37:05 > 0:37:11it didn't just express her personal taste, it was a political statement.
0:37:11 > 0:37:15Traditionally, luxurious fabrics like this would have been created on the Continent.
0:37:15 > 0:37:18But now, with Britain at war with France,
0:37:18 > 0:37:21this bed had to feature the best of British.
0:37:23 > 0:37:27Today, Gainsborough Silks in Suffolk is one of the oldest silk weaving firms in the country,
0:37:27 > 0:37:31and the only one to hold a Royal Warrant.
0:37:32 > 0:37:38We've got fabrics from, dating back as early as the 15th century right through to 20th century.
0:37:38 > 0:37:40We've got one for Buckingham Palace here.
0:37:40 > 0:37:42- Well, they've kept you quite busy, haven't they?- Absolutely.
0:37:42 > 0:37:44It doesn't say where they're going.
0:37:44 > 0:37:47No, we're always quite private about that side of things.
0:37:48 > 0:37:51Well, some things might be strictly hush-hush,
0:37:51 > 0:37:54but Gainsborough's swanky silks still show just how much
0:37:54 > 0:37:58money and effort must have gone into a bed like Anne's.
0:37:59 > 0:38:02How many metres can the machine produce in one day?
0:38:02 > 0:38:04On a good day here we'll do between eight and ten metres of fabric.
0:38:04 > 0:38:05Oh, that's not much.
0:38:05 > 0:38:08Yeah, no, not really, not by modern standards.
0:38:08 > 0:38:11If a weaver from 1714 was to come here, how much of the set up would he recognise?
0:38:11 > 0:38:14He'd probably recognise the majority of the set-up,
0:38:14 > 0:38:16basically weaving's been the same for centuries.
0:38:16 > 0:38:20Obviously, some more modern innovations, for example the power,
0:38:20 > 0:38:22but apart from that, it's all pretty much familiar.
0:38:27 > 0:38:30Now what's the name of the beautiful pattern that Lee's weaving here?
0:38:30 > 0:38:32Yeah, this is one of our designs, Bologna,
0:38:32 > 0:38:34which is an early 18th century design.
0:38:34 > 0:38:36It's very similar to the damask woven for
0:38:36 > 0:38:39Queen Anne's bedchamber at Hampton Court, isn't it?
0:38:39 > 0:38:41Absolutely.
0:38:41 > 0:38:44We know from the accounts that she needed 300 metres worth of silk.
0:38:44 > 0:38:48That's an incredible amount of fabric for a hand weaver at the time to be doing.
0:38:48 > 0:38:50They may do a couple of metres a day,
0:38:50 > 0:38:53so you're probably looking at about a year's work for an individual.
0:38:53 > 0:38:55- A year's work, wow!- Yeah.
0:38:57 > 0:39:02That cost her nearly £400, which in today's money is £78,000,
0:39:02 > 0:39:04has that got more expensive?
0:39:04 > 0:39:06- Probably slightly less than that, but not very much.- Less?
0:39:06 > 0:39:09- I think we'll probably be... - It's a bargain this place.
0:39:09 > 0:39:12- ..between £50-£60,000 of fabric. - For 300 metres?- Yeah, yeah.
0:39:12 > 0:39:15- That's still quite a lot of money. - It's still a lot of money.
0:39:15 > 0:39:18With an affluent and growing middling class
0:39:18 > 0:39:22in the 17th and 18th centuries, it wasn't only Kings and Queens
0:39:22 > 0:39:27who desired the conspicuous consumption involved in a royal bed.
0:39:27 > 0:39:32The lust for luxury began to filter down from the palace to the people.
0:39:32 > 0:39:36Samuel Pepys' diaries are the most intimate of the 17th century,
0:39:36 > 0:39:40and in them he takes this childish glee in the things that he owns,
0:39:40 > 0:39:44including his two goose down mattresses for his bed.
0:39:44 > 0:39:47And when he gets a second bed, it's even better.
0:39:47 > 0:39:49This is what he has to say.
0:39:49 > 0:39:52"Mighty proud I am and ought to be thankful to God Almighty
0:39:52 > 0:39:58"that I'm able to have a spare bed for my friends."
0:39:58 > 0:40:03In the 17th century, beds were something that everybody wanted to be able to boast about.
0:40:06 > 0:40:10Samuel Pepys was the official Secretary to the Admiralty,
0:40:10 > 0:40:13and in his work he sometimes rubbed shoulders with royalty.
0:40:13 > 0:40:18But he wasn't grand enough ever to expect a King or Queen to visit his house.
0:40:20 > 0:40:22For those a bit higher up the social ladder though,
0:40:22 > 0:40:26the idea of owning a bed fit for a King or Queen
0:40:26 > 0:40:29could be a realistic ambition. Some courtiers weren't content
0:40:29 > 0:40:33with gaining entrance to the monarch's bedroom at the levee,
0:40:33 > 0:40:38even better than that was to have the King or Queen come to visit you in your own home.
0:40:40 > 0:40:45This was the age of the phenomenon of the state bed in commoners' houses.
0:40:45 > 0:40:48Noblemen and aristocrats would buy one of these fabulous
0:40:48 > 0:40:53pieces of furniture and often build a special bedroom to put it in,
0:40:53 > 0:40:56all in the hope of a visit from the King.
0:40:56 > 0:41:00But this was risky. You could end up bankrupt and disappointed
0:41:00 > 0:41:03because there was no guarantee that the monarch would actually show up.
0:41:03 > 0:41:07That's what happened to the owner of Dyrham Park near Bath.
0:41:07 > 0:41:10They spent a lot of money on this fabulous bed for Queen Anne.
0:41:10 > 0:41:12But she never arrived to sleep in it.
0:41:12 > 0:41:17And the same thing happened here at Kedleston Hall, which is by Derby.
0:41:17 > 0:41:19They built here an absolutely fabulous state bed,
0:41:19 > 0:41:23look at that one, but George III never showed up to sleep in it.
0:41:23 > 0:41:27And the same again happened at Audley End House in Essex.
0:41:27 > 0:41:32For the third time now, we have one more bed in which the King never slept.
0:41:33 > 0:41:37Most frustrating of all is what happened to the owner of Wilton House.
0:41:37 > 0:41:39He actually had a royal visit booked,
0:41:39 > 0:41:42but he didn't have a state bed, so he borrowed one from a friend,
0:41:42 > 0:41:45it was a huge palaver getting it into the house,
0:41:45 > 0:41:49but when George III actually arrived, he wouldn't sleep in it.
0:41:49 > 0:41:51He'd brought his own bed with him.
0:41:53 > 0:41:57Since the Royal Family thought that they owned the best beds in the universe,
0:41:57 > 0:42:01perhaps it's not surprising that they'd shun second best.
0:42:01 > 0:42:04But although many people were disappointed that
0:42:04 > 0:42:07their state beds went unslept in, for others, the cache
0:42:07 > 0:42:11of simply owning a state bed fit for a King or Queen was enough.
0:42:11 > 0:42:16This is Osterley Park, the 18th century home of the Child family.
0:42:16 > 0:42:19The Child's weren't old school aristocracy
0:42:19 > 0:42:21who'd worked their way up through the royal court,
0:42:21 > 0:42:24but they got their money through banking.
0:42:24 > 0:42:26They were part of a growing new elite,
0:42:26 > 0:42:31who were reaping the benefits of Britain's Industrial Revolution and its expanding empire.
0:42:31 > 0:42:34And although they had little chance of getting a royal visit,
0:42:34 > 0:42:38the bed they created is probably the most spectacular we've seen.
0:42:38 > 0:42:44In my opinion, this is one of the most flamboyant and playful beds ever designed.
0:42:44 > 0:42:48It makes me think of actors and actresses and the theatre.
0:42:48 > 0:42:49It's the work of Robert Adam,
0:42:49 > 0:42:54who created the very distinctive look of the late Georgian age,
0:42:54 > 0:42:55and it's a whopper.
0:42:55 > 0:42:58The dome is so heavy that it's not only a four poster bed,
0:42:58 > 0:43:01it's an eight poster to take the weight.
0:43:01 > 0:43:04At the same time as he was working on this commission,
0:43:04 > 0:43:10Adam was also designing a new box at the Italian theatre in the Haymarket for George III,
0:43:10 > 0:43:13and some people think that the two commissions got intertwined.
0:43:13 > 0:43:16And I do think that those velvet swags look like
0:43:16 > 0:43:19just the sort of thing that you'd find round a box at the theatre.
0:43:20 > 0:43:24When the bill arrived for his bed, Robert ripped it up
0:43:24 > 0:43:27so that his wife couldn't see how much money he'd spent on it.
0:43:27 > 0:43:31But people guessed that it probably cost £2,000,
0:43:31 > 0:43:34which is £210,000 today,
0:43:34 > 0:43:37an awful lot of money to spend on a piece of furniture.
0:43:37 > 0:43:40But to Robert Child, this was money well spent.
0:43:40 > 0:43:43The King might not actually come to sleep in it,
0:43:43 > 0:43:47but Robert was the first generation of his family to have been born a gentleman.
0:43:47 > 0:43:51He wanted to have all the trappings of high society
0:43:51 > 0:43:53and he was very proud of his bed.
0:43:53 > 0:43:55He and his wife would bring guests through here
0:43:55 > 0:43:58on a candlelight tour to admire it.
0:43:58 > 0:44:01And it was even accessible to members of the public.
0:44:01 > 0:44:05They, too, could see it, if they paid the housekeeper.
0:44:05 > 0:44:08The connoisseur, Horace Walpole, found
0:44:08 > 0:44:12that it was a bit too theatrical, a little bit nouveau riche.
0:44:12 > 0:44:17He said it looked like a lady's hat decorated with flowers around the top.
0:44:17 > 0:44:20And he asked what would the serious Roman architect Vitruvius
0:44:20 > 0:44:22make of this form of Classicism?
0:44:22 > 0:44:25The dome looks like it's been decorated by a milliner.
0:44:29 > 0:44:32The bed may have got mixed reviews, but Robert Child had
0:44:32 > 0:44:35certainly succeeded in creating a talking point.
0:44:36 > 0:44:38This bed intrigues me even more,
0:44:38 > 0:44:41because nobody really expected it to be used.
0:44:41 > 0:44:43Even though it was brand spanking new,
0:44:43 > 0:44:46it was a relic from a lost way of life.
0:44:46 > 0:44:48By the end of the 18th century,
0:44:48 > 0:44:52even the Royal Family themselves had stopped commissioning state beds.
0:44:52 > 0:44:57The very last one was ordered by George III's wife, Queen Charlotte.
0:45:00 > 0:45:03This has got to be the most delicate and beautiful of all the royal beds, wouldn't you say?
0:45:03 > 0:45:05I think it really is exactly that.
0:45:05 > 0:45:07And there's a reason for that, perhaps,
0:45:07 > 0:45:11because it's one of the last gasps of the great state beds,
0:45:11 > 0:45:15so they put all their ideas and energies and thoughts into it.
0:45:15 > 0:45:17And the theme is English country garden,
0:45:17 > 0:45:19but there's nothing informal about it, is there?
0:45:19 > 0:45:22Absolutely not. It's a very neoclassical design.
0:45:22 > 0:45:24It probably involved a royal architect,
0:45:24 > 0:45:27perhaps even William Chambers, the leading King's architect himself.
0:45:27 > 0:45:31The textiles are very much to do with the Queen's own interest
0:45:31 > 0:45:33and her passionate interest in gardening and botany.
0:45:33 > 0:45:37- What's that one there? - That looks like some kind of tulip.
0:45:37 > 0:45:40- And I think, is that a rose? - Or is it a big peony?
0:45:41 > 0:45:42What's that one?
0:45:42 > 0:45:45We could be looking at this all day, Lucy. There are 4,200 flowers on it.
0:45:45 > 0:45:464,200 and they're all different.
0:45:46 > 0:45:49Every one different, every little posy carefully drawn in a row.
0:45:49 > 0:45:54And each one would have probably taken about a day or more to stitch.
0:45:54 > 0:45:56But it's a bit funny and ironic,
0:45:56 > 0:45:59because Queen Charlotte never actually slept in it, did she?
0:45:59 > 0:46:02No, by this time the state bed is a largely pointless object,
0:46:02 > 0:46:03and they are made to occupy the space
0:46:03 > 0:46:06where there must be a bed in the great State Apartment,
0:46:06 > 0:46:08but there is no longer the levee in the morning
0:46:08 > 0:46:11when people attend the monarch and watch them getting dressed.
0:46:11 > 0:46:14They don't sleep in these beds at all.
0:46:14 > 0:46:16The levee has sort of become an afternoon tea party.
0:46:16 > 0:46:19The levee itself is an all-male affair now,
0:46:19 > 0:46:23and it's carried on in the late morning or the early afternoon by the King,
0:46:23 > 0:46:27largely at one palace in particular, St James's Palace.
0:46:27 > 0:46:29And it's a social gathering where business is conducted
0:46:29 > 0:46:32between gentlemen and the aristocracy and the King.
0:46:32 > 0:46:34So nobody gets to take their clothes off any more?
0:46:34 > 0:46:36Nobody takes their clothes off, there's no bed presence,
0:46:36 > 0:46:39it's just a word, and it carries on right through to the 20th century.
0:46:39 > 0:46:44Why do you think then that this great phenomenon of the state bed falls into decline?
0:46:44 > 0:46:48By this time the King and Queen are no longer actually ruling from their own palaces
0:46:48 > 0:46:50and ruling particularly from the bedchamber,
0:46:50 > 0:46:54and so you don't have to have all of the great and the good assembled around you all the time.
0:46:54 > 0:46:57So a bed like this, it's become a dinosaur, hasn't it?
0:46:57 > 0:46:58It is exactly that.
0:46:58 > 0:47:01Politics has moved from the bedchamber
0:47:01 > 0:47:04to the Houses of Parliament, so these beds are no longer required.
0:47:07 > 0:47:10Families like the Childs of Osterley
0:47:10 > 0:47:14no longer needed royal patronage to maintain their wealth and status.
0:47:14 > 0:47:17If anything, they were often richer than the King was.
0:47:17 > 0:47:20They weren't queuing up for jobs any more in the royal household
0:47:20 > 0:47:24or competing for access to the royal bedchamber.
0:47:24 > 0:47:27And some people began to ask what was the point
0:47:27 > 0:47:31of this whole paraphernalia of palaces and state beds?
0:47:31 > 0:47:34In 1831, the political reformer John Wade
0:47:34 > 0:47:38put together what he calls an extraordinary list
0:47:38 > 0:47:43of the incomes, privileges and power of the aristocracy
0:47:43 > 0:47:45and he doesn't mean that in a good way.
0:47:45 > 0:47:49He asks all sorts of difficult questions like, "What is a levee?"
0:47:49 > 0:47:52He says it's just a procession of fools.
0:47:52 > 0:47:58They bow and the King bows, and sometimes the King even smiles.
0:47:58 > 0:48:01And what's the point of the ancient offices of the royal household,
0:48:01 > 0:48:05the Groom of the Stool, or the Lords of the Bedchamber?
0:48:05 > 0:48:08Well, at best they give a nice little income
0:48:08 > 0:48:12to some ruined aristocrat, or some low parasite.
0:48:12 > 0:48:14By the 19th century,
0:48:14 > 0:48:18the monarch had become little more than a national figurehead.
0:48:18 > 0:48:22The court was no longer a certain route to financial success.
0:48:22 > 0:48:25Political power now lay squarely with Parliament
0:48:25 > 0:48:27and the Prime Minister.
0:48:27 > 0:48:30But there would be one final remarkable episode
0:48:30 > 0:48:34before the royal bedroom lost its power and significance for good.
0:48:34 > 0:48:39In 1839, just two years in to Queen Victoria's reign,
0:48:39 > 0:48:43the Parliamentary archives tell the story of the greatest upset
0:48:43 > 0:48:49in the royal bedchamber since the warming pan incident 250 years before.
0:48:49 > 0:48:55In 1839, Victoria was still a young and inexperienced and unmarried Queen.
0:48:55 > 0:48:59She relied a lot on her Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne, the Whig.
0:48:59 > 0:49:02But he fell from power. Victoria was very upset.
0:49:02 > 0:49:05What was supposed to happen is that Melbourne's rival,
0:49:05 > 0:49:08Robert Peel, the Tory, should have formed the government,
0:49:08 > 0:49:11but he refused unless a certain condition was met.
0:49:11 > 0:49:15He said, "I won't do it unless Victoria sacks her Ladies of the Bedchamber."
0:49:17 > 0:49:19Now, what was Peel's problem?
0:49:19 > 0:49:23Lots of Victoria's ladies were Whigs and he was worried that these people,
0:49:23 > 0:49:26who were intimate with the Queen, would be rude about the Tories.
0:49:26 > 0:49:30He wanted them replacing with people from his own party.
0:49:30 > 0:49:33But Victoria refused. These people were her friends.
0:49:33 > 0:49:36She didn't want to be surrounded by some strange Tory ladies.
0:49:36 > 0:49:38There was a stand-off.
0:49:38 > 0:49:42Now you might think that this sounds like a ridiculous storm in a tea-cup,
0:49:42 > 0:49:45but actually it's a constitutional crisis.
0:49:45 > 0:49:47There is no Prime Minister.
0:49:47 > 0:49:49It all comes out in the House of Commons.
0:49:49 > 0:49:52Here we have it in Ministerial Explanations
0:49:52 > 0:49:54and Peel has to defend himself.
0:49:54 > 0:49:57He has to give a blow by blow account of the whole debate.
0:49:57 > 0:50:00Here he says he's been to see her last Thursday
0:50:00 > 0:50:03and verbal communications took place on this subject.
0:50:03 > 0:50:07And then she writes to him saying, "No, I won't sack my ladies,
0:50:07 > 0:50:11"that would be repugnant to my feelings."
0:50:11 > 0:50:14Eventually, Victoria has to back down.
0:50:14 > 0:50:17She has to accept that she's now the servant of her people.
0:50:17 > 0:50:22She can no longer have powerful, political friends in her bedchamber.
0:50:26 > 0:50:30Under Queen Victoria, matters of state would no longer unfold
0:50:30 > 0:50:33in her or in anybody else's bedroom.
0:50:36 > 0:50:39When her favourite Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli,
0:50:39 > 0:50:43came to office and brought Hughenden Manor,
0:50:43 > 0:50:46owning a big house was a pre-requisite of his job.
0:50:47 > 0:50:50But although he was the most powerful man in the country,
0:50:50 > 0:50:53his bedroom was rather a low key affair.
0:50:55 > 0:50:58Hughenden did have a state bedroom, but it was just a hang over
0:50:58 > 0:51:01from when the house was built 100 years earlier.
0:51:04 > 0:51:08So when Disraeli was here, this top floor was really a servants' quarters,
0:51:08 > 0:51:10but we do know he had a smoking room up here as well.
0:51:10 > 0:51:13He famously called tobacco the tomb of love.
0:51:13 > 0:51:15The tomb of love. That's brilliant.
0:51:15 > 0:51:19I did enjoy going past that "No admittance" sign, that was quite a good thing to do.
0:51:24 > 0:51:29So how is this curious room a state bedroom, how does it work?
0:51:29 > 0:51:34Well, this was the size of the state bedroom and it feels very squat
0:51:34 > 0:51:37and that's because this floor didn't exist.
0:51:37 > 0:51:40- It's been inserted into... - Absolutely.- ..a big cubular room.
0:51:40 > 0:51:42This was a two-storey quarter of the house.
0:51:42 > 0:51:46So this is the original ceiling and plasterwork to the room below here.
0:51:46 > 0:51:48- So it was a vast room. - It's pretty grand.- Absolutely.
0:51:48 > 0:51:51It's one of the impressive ceilings of the house, actually.
0:51:51 > 0:51:54So was there ever a royal state visit to Hughenden?
0:51:54 > 0:51:56Disraeli, when he lived here, did have a royal visit
0:51:56 > 0:52:01and that was Prince Albert, who got caught in snow passing through Wickham
0:52:01 > 0:52:05and diverted to Hughenden and was snowed in here for three days.
0:52:05 > 0:52:09That's really ironic that we're in this very grand 18th century shell
0:52:09 > 0:52:11that was constructed for a state visit.
0:52:11 > 0:52:13It never got used.
0:52:13 > 0:52:15But eventually Prince Albert did come,
0:52:15 > 0:52:19but it was a private, low key, domestic, cosy, little visit.
0:52:19 > 0:52:21Absolutely, yes.
0:52:21 > 0:52:24And they famously played whist together
0:52:24 > 0:52:28and had what, by all accounts, was a really enjoyable three days.
0:52:28 > 0:52:32So Disraeli's state visit happened purely by accident.
0:52:32 > 0:52:35He didn't crave the ceremonial charade that went on
0:52:35 > 0:52:39between monarchs and their subjects in the century before.
0:52:39 > 0:52:42Although Victoria and Albert may have had little choice
0:52:42 > 0:52:45in the removal of politics from their bedchamber,
0:52:45 > 0:52:48the removal of publicity was no great loss.
0:52:48 > 0:52:50It actually suited their sensibilities.
0:52:52 > 0:52:56So, Helen, from Queen Victoria's diaries we sometimes get a glimpse
0:52:56 > 0:52:59into what actually happened in her bedroom with Albert.
0:52:59 > 0:53:03But generally, people at the time wouldn't have had a clue, would they?
0:53:03 > 0:53:05No, all of that was strictly off-limits.
0:53:05 > 0:53:07The private life was private,
0:53:07 > 0:53:10but the image that was projected for public consumption was,
0:53:10 > 0:53:15of course, this one of the happy family round the Christmas tree at Windsor.
0:53:15 > 0:53:17This is almost middle class,
0:53:17 > 0:53:19but like any middle class Victorian person,
0:53:19 > 0:53:21we're not going to let you into our bedroom.
0:53:21 > 0:53:25Absolutely not. That was their own very, very private sphere.
0:53:25 > 0:53:30But there's enough to show that Victoria was a very lusty woman,
0:53:30 > 0:53:33enjoyed the physicality of her relationship with Albert.
0:53:33 > 0:53:36The sex life was certainly driven
0:53:36 > 0:53:40by Victoria's very strong sexual appetite.
0:53:40 > 0:53:44When Victoria became pregnant, was this announced to the public?
0:53:44 > 0:53:48Oh, absolutely not. Nothing was said virtually until she's had the baby.
0:53:48 > 0:53:52There's this polite announcement, as you get in most of the press,
0:53:52 > 0:53:55about the accouchement of the Queen.
0:53:55 > 0:53:57The Queen became unwell.
0:53:57 > 0:54:00So it says here, "The Queen was brought to bed on Tuesday
0:54:00 > 0:54:04"after an indisposition of a few hours duration."
0:54:04 > 0:54:07- They usually say that, that she became ill.- Just an indisposition.
0:54:07 > 0:54:09- That's, it was all over in a trice really.- Yeah.
0:54:09 > 0:54:12The Queen herself found pregnancy actually unpleasant,
0:54:12 > 0:54:16ugly, uncomfortable, very animalistic.
0:54:16 > 0:54:19She didn't like the process of being pregnant.
0:54:19 > 0:54:21For example, in this letter, she talks about
0:54:21 > 0:54:25how she hated seeing ladies going out in public
0:54:25 > 0:54:28when they were heavily pregnant, and she used the word 'enceinte',
0:54:28 > 0:54:33the French word for 'pregnant', and it's another euphemism that was used.
0:54:33 > 0:54:35She thought it was absolutely appalling.
0:54:35 > 0:54:37She said, "It was quite disgusting.
0:54:37 > 0:54:39"It is more like a rabbit or guinea pig than anything else,
0:54:39 > 0:54:43"and really it is not very nice." That's brilliant.
0:54:43 > 0:54:46She found the whole process extremely ugly.
0:54:46 > 0:54:50"I feel like a cow or a dog at such moments.
0:54:50 > 0:54:53"I often feel shocked at the confidences of other married ladies.
0:54:53 > 0:54:56"They are very indelicate about these things."
0:54:58 > 0:55:02Victoria just believed that matters of the body should be kept private,
0:55:02 > 0:55:05especially childbirth and what went on in bed.
0:55:07 > 0:55:13You can see this preference by comparing her favourite palace, Osborne House on the Isle of Wight,
0:55:13 > 0:55:16to other royal residences.
0:55:16 > 0:55:20Osborne is private, it's a holiday retreat on an island,
0:55:20 > 0:55:23and its bedchamber was somewhere that Victoria could escape
0:55:23 > 0:55:26and enjoy time alone with her husband.
0:55:29 > 0:55:34This bed is an incredibly personal and intimate piece of furniture.
0:55:34 > 0:55:37Her bed was of great importance to Queen Victoria,
0:55:37 > 0:55:41but in her private roles as a wife and a mother,
0:55:41 > 0:55:44and they're both commemorated here.
0:55:44 > 0:55:47Down at this end she's put up a little plaque
0:55:47 > 0:55:49which marks the date of the first night
0:55:49 > 0:55:53that she spent here with her beloved husband, Albert.
0:55:53 > 0:55:55And the date of the last night too,
0:55:55 > 0:55:58because, clearly, he died many years before she did.
0:55:58 > 0:56:02This isn't spelt out in the plaque, it's just the dates.
0:56:02 > 0:56:05It's intended to be read only by Victoria.
0:56:06 > 0:56:08And at this end of the bed,
0:56:08 > 0:56:13this plaque commemorates her death in this bed in 1901.
0:56:13 > 0:56:17And this is a family thing, it was put up by her daughter-in-law.
0:56:17 > 0:56:19It's not for public consumption.
0:56:19 > 0:56:25And it reads, "In loving memory from her sorrowing children,
0:56:25 > 0:56:28"grandchildren and great grandchildren
0:56:28 > 0:56:31"to their ever beloved mother."
0:56:44 > 0:56:47In Queen Victoria's bedroom you do feel like an intruder,
0:56:47 > 0:56:50like you're not really allowed to be there,
0:56:50 > 0:56:53and for many years the public weren't.
0:56:53 > 0:56:57When Osborne House was opened up shortly after Victoria's death,
0:56:57 > 0:57:02the bedroom suite was kept private until 1955,
0:57:02 > 0:57:06and visitors were kept out by these iron gates.
0:57:06 > 0:57:10When the royal bedroom door swung closed in Victoria's reign,
0:57:10 > 0:57:12it stayed closed.
0:57:12 > 0:57:15Today, the Royal Family don't release details
0:57:15 > 0:57:17of what may or may not go on in the royal bedroom.
0:57:17 > 0:57:20Any knowledge that does get out is stolen.
0:57:23 > 0:57:26As the power of the monarchy has waned over the centuries,
0:57:26 > 0:57:31the royal bedchamber has also faded out of public sight.
0:57:31 > 0:57:33When medieval Kings moved around their realm,
0:57:33 > 0:57:37their mobile bedchamber was the key to their administration.
0:57:37 > 0:57:39Under the Tudors and the early Stuarts,
0:57:39 > 0:57:44it was essential to the success or failure of a royal dynasty,
0:57:44 > 0:57:47and throughout the 17th and 18th centuries,
0:57:47 > 0:57:50it became more of a ceremonial space
0:57:50 > 0:57:54where aspiring courtiers could gain influence and status.
0:57:54 > 0:57:56Until eventually, like today,
0:57:56 > 0:58:01it became totally private just for the monarch and his or her family.
0:58:04 > 0:58:08The royal bedchamber may have lost its political significance,
0:58:08 > 0:58:13but people are still just as obsessed as ever about what may go on inside it.
0:58:13 > 0:58:15And that's because the story of the Royal Family
0:58:15 > 0:58:19is still wrapped up in the story of Britain.
0:58:19 > 0:58:23When they experience childbirth and marriage and renewal,
0:58:23 > 0:58:25it tends to rub off.
0:58:25 > 0:58:27We feel good about ourselves.
0:58:53 > 0:58:55Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd