0:00:05 > 0:00:08In the winter of 1647, Carisbrooke Castle,
0:00:08 > 0:00:13on the Isle of Wight, became a jail for a very important prisoner...
0:00:15 > 0:00:16..King Charles I.
0:00:19 > 0:00:23England was still in the shadow of bloody civil war -
0:00:23 > 0:00:26Royalists against Parliamentarians.
0:00:26 > 0:00:29The future of the monarchy was in doubt.
0:00:31 > 0:00:34But in his prison cell at Carisbrooke,
0:00:34 > 0:00:37the King was planning his future.
0:00:37 > 0:00:40Charles was no ordinary prisoner.
0:00:40 > 0:00:42To many, he was still King
0:00:42 > 0:00:47and treated with some dignity by his Parliamentarian captors.
0:00:47 > 0:00:52He had 30 servants down here at one stage and some of his books
0:00:52 > 0:00:55shipped down from his library,
0:00:55 > 0:00:59among them, a book that had inspired a new royal palace,
0:00:59 > 0:01:02the biggest palace Britain had ever seen.
0:01:04 > 0:01:08Charles wanted architecture to assert and sustain the power of monarchy.
0:01:10 > 0:01:14Palaces should be built on a monumental scale.
0:01:14 > 0:01:17They must live up to the Classical glories of ancient Rome
0:01:17 > 0:01:21and emulate divine architecture described in the Old Testament.
0:01:30 > 0:01:31For nearly three centuries,
0:01:31 > 0:01:36Classicism would dominate palace-building in Britain.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39Here were precisely proportioned and symmetrical buildings
0:01:39 > 0:01:43that banished the confusion of medieval and Tudor times.
0:01:44 > 0:01:50It helped establish a national style that would continue until today.
0:01:50 > 0:01:53Architecture had never been so important to monarchy.
0:01:57 > 0:02:00It's a story of palatial ambition.
0:02:00 > 0:02:03Palaces achieved, palaces abandoned,
0:02:03 > 0:02:05palaces killed off.
0:02:36 > 0:02:39The Tudor line ended when Queen Elizabeth died
0:02:39 > 0:02:43on the 24th March, 1603.
0:02:46 > 0:02:50It had been a painful end as she struggled to resist death.
0:02:52 > 0:02:56The Tudor dynasty was over and a new one, the Stuarts, beckoned.
0:02:59 > 0:03:02The heir was James, King of Scotland,
0:03:02 > 0:03:05a Protestant monarch like his cousin Elizabeth.
0:03:05 > 0:03:07Now he had a new kingdom to enjoy.
0:03:10 > 0:03:14Much of London was a rambling mix of timber and plaster buildings,
0:03:14 > 0:03:16packed into narrow streets.
0:03:19 > 0:03:22The new King proclaimed he would rebuild the city
0:03:22 > 0:03:24like Augustus in Ancient Rome.
0:03:24 > 0:03:26Now London would be made of brick,
0:03:26 > 0:03:31"More durable, safe from fire and beautiful and magnificent."
0:03:36 > 0:03:40On the 15th March, 1604, Londoners flooded onto the streets
0:03:40 > 0:03:44to celebrate the coronation of James I.
0:03:44 > 0:03:47James travelled the ancient route of kingship,
0:03:47 > 0:03:51from the Tower of London, to my right, to Westminster
0:03:51 > 0:03:56and on the way, passed through seven triumphal arches...
0:03:56 > 0:04:01the first of which stood just about here, on Fenchurch Street.
0:04:08 > 0:04:12On top of the first arch was a familiar image of Tudor London,
0:04:12 > 0:04:17old St Paul's surrounded by tightly packed houses and streets.
0:04:17 > 0:04:20But the rest of the arch was something new,
0:04:20 > 0:04:23an essay in Classical proportion and symmetry.
0:04:25 > 0:04:28This one, in front of me now,
0:04:28 > 0:04:30I imagine rose 50ft high
0:04:30 > 0:04:36and was draped with giant curtains painted with clouds.
0:04:36 > 0:04:41When the King approached, the curtains parted to reveal the arch.
0:04:41 > 0:04:45The effect, one observer noted at the time,
0:04:45 > 0:04:50was like the rising of the sun, with all mist dispersed and fled.
0:04:54 > 0:04:58All seven arches, even though temporary structures
0:04:58 > 0:05:01of wood and plaster, pointed to a new future.
0:05:01 > 0:05:04King James was choosing a heroic brand of architecture
0:05:04 > 0:05:08and he would use it to define a new kind of monarchy.
0:05:11 > 0:05:15As James passed under each arch, the message was clear.
0:05:15 > 0:05:18Here was a modern-day Caesar.
0:05:18 > 0:05:24For one day, at least, James' new capital London became ancient Rome.
0:05:27 > 0:05:31Now James wanted to make his vision permanent.
0:05:31 > 0:05:33But he would need help to make it happen.
0:05:37 > 0:05:42Inigo Jones, born in London, the son of a Welsh clothworker,
0:05:42 > 0:05:44was a set and costume designer.
0:05:46 > 0:05:49But on a visit to Italy in the late 1590s,
0:05:49 > 0:05:53Jones was profoundly impressed by Renaissance Classicism...
0:05:53 > 0:05:56in particular, the work of Andrea Palladio.
0:05:58 > 0:06:02This is Jones' annotated copy of Palladio's book,
0:06:02 > 0:06:05showing the rudiments of classical architecture,
0:06:05 > 0:06:08the reconstruction of inspirational Roman buildings,
0:06:08 > 0:06:12with rows of columns, symmetry and geometry
0:06:12 > 0:06:15based on the square, the cube, the sphere.
0:06:21 > 0:06:24In the heart of Whitehall in January 1619,
0:06:24 > 0:06:28the Banqueting House of the old Palace of Whitehall burned down.
0:06:33 > 0:06:36Now Jones would design a new building,
0:06:36 > 0:06:39bringing Renaissance Classicism into the heart of London.
0:06:42 > 0:06:45Today, neighbouring buildings compete for attention...
0:06:47 > 0:06:51..and Jones' Banqueting House is easy to miss.
0:06:51 > 0:06:54But in its day, it was a revolution in stone.
0:06:58 > 0:07:01When new, this stone-faced building would have been
0:07:01 > 0:07:06an extraordinary sight for Londoners, alien in design,
0:07:06 > 0:07:11towering above the older brick and timber built structures,
0:07:11 > 0:07:13as if from another world.
0:07:15 > 0:07:19There are tiers of columns and pilasters,
0:07:19 > 0:07:23there are swags between the pilasters up there.
0:07:23 > 0:07:27This architecture expresses unity, harmony,
0:07:27 > 0:07:30the authority of the monarchy.
0:07:32 > 0:07:37Those are just the qualities that James wanted his reign to express.
0:07:50 > 0:07:52Oh. Goodness, it's wonderful.
0:08:07 > 0:08:11Well, the first thing to observe is that the inside
0:08:11 > 0:08:13is rather like the outside,
0:08:13 > 0:08:17an interior world within the greater world.
0:08:17 > 0:08:22As with the outside, there are tiers of columns and pilasters
0:08:22 > 0:08:25and swags up there with masks and...
0:08:25 > 0:08:31Well, it's a magnificent antique space from the ancient world...
0:08:34 > 0:08:37..daunting, in a way, overwhelming.
0:08:39 > 0:08:43The Banqueting House was completed in 1622.
0:08:43 > 0:08:49Classicism was now established as the backdrop to royal authority.
0:08:49 > 0:08:51But it was only the beginning.
0:08:53 > 0:08:56James died in 1625.
0:08:56 > 0:09:00It would be his son, Charles, who took the union of monarchy,
0:09:00 > 0:09:03power and architecture to new heights.
0:09:07 > 0:09:10First, he would transform the Banqueting House
0:09:10 > 0:09:12into a shrine to his dead father.
0:09:20 > 0:09:23Charles would create a ceiling like no other in Britain.
0:09:27 > 0:09:30And Rubens, the greatest artist alive, would paint it.
0:09:37 > 0:09:41The ceiling is an incredible statement,
0:09:41 > 0:09:43in its content and artistically.
0:09:44 > 0:09:50There are, in this ceiling, three versions of James I.
0:09:50 > 0:09:55The first, above my head, shows James sitting in judgment,
0:09:55 > 0:09:59uniting the crowns of England and Scotland
0:09:59 > 0:10:04and there we see the crown being held by Minerva,
0:10:04 > 0:10:10the goddess of wisdom, above the head of a naked babe...
0:10:10 > 0:10:13the future Charles I.
0:10:16 > 0:10:19At the far end of the hall, above the throne,
0:10:19 > 0:10:26is the personification of James as a bringer of peace and prosperity.
0:10:26 > 0:10:30Here he sits between curving columns,
0:10:30 > 0:10:35pointing down to Peace embracing Abundance.
0:10:36 > 0:10:40In the centre of the hall, on the largest panel,
0:10:40 > 0:10:46you see the apotheosis of James I,
0:10:46 > 0:10:49the divinely appointed monarch
0:10:49 > 0:10:55being carried in triumph to Heaven, raised aloft by Justice.
0:10:57 > 0:11:02Together, three images of James I, really a holy trinity...
0:11:02 > 0:11:08all of this proclaiming the virtues of divine monarchy,
0:11:08 > 0:11:11the virtues of the Stuart dynasty.
0:11:17 > 0:11:21Charles's ceiling was a piece of breathtaking arrogance,
0:11:21 > 0:11:24almost blasphemous.
0:11:24 > 0:11:27It proclaimed the divinity of the Stuart dynasty.
0:11:31 > 0:11:36But Charles and his architect, Inigo Jones, had even bigger plans.
0:11:43 > 0:11:47The Banqueting House would inspire a new Palace of Whitehall.
0:11:47 > 0:11:50The muddle of Tudor buildings that made up the old palace
0:11:50 > 0:11:52would be demolished.
0:11:55 > 0:11:58The scale of the new building was vast.
0:11:58 > 0:12:02It would stretch nearly 900ft along the banks of the Thames
0:12:02 > 0:12:05and back well over 1,000ft into St James's Park.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11Its river frontage boasted tiers of arches
0:12:11 > 0:12:15and was topped by balustraded entablatures, rows of columns
0:12:15 > 0:12:19and scores of heroic figures from antiquity.
0:12:23 > 0:12:26It would be the largest palace Britain had ever seen.
0:12:29 > 0:12:34Above all, it would be a building to proclaim the divine right of kings.
0:12:34 > 0:12:39The secret of how to do this lay in a book in Charles' own library.
0:12:39 > 0:12:43It had been written by a Spanish mathematician and Jesuit
0:12:43 > 0:12:46named Juan Bautista Villalpando.
0:12:50 > 0:12:52Villalpando believed that God had delivered a set
0:12:52 > 0:12:57of architectural rules to mankind... rules, in their way, as momentous
0:12:57 > 0:13:00as the Ten Commandments handed down to Moses.
0:13:03 > 0:13:06Passages from the Old Testament describe how God created
0:13:06 > 0:13:09the rules of Classical architecture to build the most sacred temple
0:13:09 > 0:13:13in the world, the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem,
0:13:13 > 0:13:16built to house the Ark of the Covenant.
0:13:22 > 0:13:27Here is the plan of Solomon's Temple as reconstructed by Villalpando.
0:13:27 > 0:13:31It's a wonderful book, full of sensational illustrations.
0:13:31 > 0:13:35Amazing to think of Charles brooding over this plan.
0:13:35 > 0:13:37These drawings are what he would have regarded as
0:13:37 > 0:13:40the world's first sacred building, the great prototype
0:13:40 > 0:13:42for all that's beautiful in architecture.
0:13:42 > 0:13:47Here is the plan of Solomon's Temple.
0:13:47 > 0:13:52It has a grid of nine squares creating a series of courtyards
0:13:52 > 0:13:59and here is the 1638 design for Whitehall Palace.
0:13:59 > 0:14:02What's striking, of course, is the similarity.
0:14:02 > 0:14:06Both designs essentially square and Whitehall, like Villalpando's,
0:14:06 > 0:14:09is organised around a grid of nine squares.
0:14:10 > 0:14:15And here's one of the outer elevations of Solomon's Temple.
0:14:17 > 0:14:21There are towers here marking entrances, tiers of columns
0:14:21 > 0:14:26and pilasters and swags, drapes of foliage...
0:14:26 > 0:14:30just like the design for Whitehall palace.
0:14:39 > 0:14:42The inspiration is clearly Villalpando's reconstruction
0:14:42 > 0:14:44of Solomon's temple.
0:14:45 > 0:14:48They are strikingly similar.
0:14:55 > 0:14:57But Charles was running out of time.
0:14:57 > 0:15:00Political and religious opposition
0:15:00 > 0:15:05to his absolutist - even tyrannical - rule was mounting
0:15:05 > 0:15:09and in 1642, England erupted into civil war.
0:15:13 > 0:15:16Parliamentarians against Royalists,
0:15:16 > 0:15:18one town against another,
0:15:18 > 0:15:20families split down the middle.
0:15:20 > 0:15:24Edgehill, Marston Moor, Naseby...
0:15:24 > 0:15:26battles raged throughout the country.
0:15:31 > 0:15:35The King was captured in January 1647.
0:15:35 > 0:15:38He ended up at Carisbrooke Castle.
0:15:39 > 0:15:43And it was here, even when all seemed lost,
0:15:43 > 0:15:47that Charles gave the go-ahead to the new royal palace.
0:15:47 > 0:15:50John Webb, Inigo Jones' assistant,
0:15:50 > 0:15:53visited him at Carisbrooke with the latest plans.
0:15:56 > 0:16:01This is a revised and final design for Whitehall Palace.
0:16:01 > 0:16:06Charles looked at it and he or Webb wrote upon it the word,
0:16:06 > 0:16:08"taken".
0:16:08 > 0:16:16This design was commissioned. But what on earth was Charles thinking?
0:16:16 > 0:16:18At the 11th hour, did he really believe
0:16:18 > 0:16:21he could snatch victory from defeat?
0:16:21 > 0:16:24That he could, at some point, regain the throne
0:16:24 > 0:16:27and inhabit such a vast palace?
0:16:27 > 0:16:30Was he trying to intimidate his jailers with this almost
0:16:30 > 0:16:35monstrous display of self-confidence,
0:16:35 > 0:16:38or was he simply, sadly deluded?
0:16:53 > 0:16:55On New Year's Day, 1649,
0:16:55 > 0:16:59Parliament voted to try King Charles for treason.
0:16:59 > 0:17:03The outcome was a foregone conclusion.
0:17:03 > 0:17:07Charles was found guilty as "tyrant, traitor, murderer
0:17:07 > 0:17:11"and public enemy to the good people of this nation."
0:17:11 > 0:17:16The sentence was "death by severing the head from his body."
0:17:17 > 0:17:20This was uncharted territory,
0:17:20 > 0:17:23an incredible turn of events.
0:17:23 > 0:17:26Traitors were usually enemies of the King,
0:17:26 > 0:17:32but now the King had been declared a traitor to the nation.
0:17:32 > 0:17:37Parliament had turned the old world upside down.
0:17:37 > 0:17:42And the place chosen for execution was perhaps the final insult.
0:17:51 > 0:17:54Charles was to be treated as a criminal,
0:17:54 > 0:17:58with Whitehall Palace the scene of his crimes.
0:18:00 > 0:18:04So he would be executed on a scaffold in front of the very place
0:18:04 > 0:18:08that embodied the Stuart monarchy...
0:18:08 > 0:18:10the Banqueting House.
0:18:22 > 0:18:26As Charles passed through the building, he must have looked up
0:18:26 > 0:18:30at the Rubens ceiling to see his father ascending into Heaven.
0:18:39 > 0:18:43What Charles saw next must have chilled him to the bones.
0:18:43 > 0:18:47There was, on the scaffold, a set of chains to restrain him
0:18:47 > 0:18:53in case he struggled and a cheap black coffin to receive his body.
0:18:53 > 0:18:58Charles had wanted to address his last words to the public
0:18:58 > 0:19:02but the vast crowds of people out there on rooftops,
0:19:02 > 0:19:08leaning from upper windows, was kept well back by ranks of soldiers.
0:19:14 > 0:19:18The Banqueting House had been modified for his execution.
0:19:18 > 0:19:21A window had been removed, so he could step out onto
0:19:21 > 0:19:24the specially erected scaffold, draped in black.
0:19:27 > 0:19:30"I go from a corruptible to an incorruptible crown,"
0:19:30 > 0:19:34he said, "Where no disturbances can be..."
0:19:39 > 0:19:45Charles knelt down on the scaffold, just a metre or so above my head.
0:19:45 > 0:19:49The restraining chains were, of course, not needed.
0:19:49 > 0:19:52He said to the executioner,
0:19:52 > 0:19:55"When I put my hands this way...
0:19:55 > 0:19:57"then!"
0:19:57 > 0:20:02Charles lay down with his head on the block.
0:20:02 > 0:20:06He murmured a few words to himself,
0:20:06 > 0:20:11a private prayer, of course, and then put out his arms, thus.
0:20:11 > 0:20:14And with one blow, all was over.
0:20:14 > 0:20:16LOUD THUD
0:20:23 > 0:20:25Architecture to glorify the monarchy
0:20:25 > 0:20:29had ended up as a backdrop to royal catastrophe.
0:20:47 > 0:20:52The years of the Commonwealth saw many royal palaces fall into ruin.
0:20:52 > 0:20:55Squatters moved into Windsor Castle.
0:20:55 > 0:20:59Oliver Cromwell famously occupied the Palace of Whitehall,
0:20:59 > 0:21:03but even it was put up for sale after his death in 1658.
0:21:06 > 0:21:09Many saw buildings in the Palladian style of Inigo Jones
0:21:09 > 0:21:14as painful reminders of royal power and arrogance.
0:21:14 > 0:21:17Jones' Somerset House was ransacked,
0:21:17 > 0:21:21and the Classical portico which he had added to old St Paul's
0:21:21 > 0:21:23was vandalised.
0:21:24 > 0:21:27Jones himself was imprisoned by the new regime
0:21:27 > 0:21:32and fined £1,000 for being a delinquent.
0:21:32 > 0:21:36He died in 1652, unaware that a royal palace
0:21:36 > 0:21:38would ever be built again.
0:21:40 > 0:21:45On the 29th May, 1660, the unthinkable happened.
0:21:45 > 0:21:49The heir of the executed King returned
0:21:49 > 0:21:53to restore the fortunes of the Stuart dynasty.
0:21:53 > 0:21:56And the new King Charles shared the architectural ambitions
0:21:56 > 0:21:57of his father...and more!
0:22:03 > 0:22:06Charles II arrived in London from exile in Europe
0:22:06 > 0:22:08in triumphant style.
0:22:12 > 0:22:13And Charles brought with him
0:22:13 > 0:22:16a taste for the new French style of Classicism.
0:22:21 > 0:22:24The Baroque was about to reach new heights -
0:22:24 > 0:22:28the building of the great Palace of Versailles for Louis XIV.
0:22:29 > 0:22:33Its grandeur and scale would be the envy of British monarchs
0:22:33 > 0:22:35for decades to come.
0:22:40 > 0:22:43But here in Britain, the world had changed.
0:22:47 > 0:22:48From now on, the monarchy
0:22:48 > 0:22:52and its finances would be under the control of Parliament.
0:22:52 > 0:22:56Claims to rule by divine right were well and truly over.
0:22:58 > 0:23:02But it remained to be seen how the ambition of royal architecture
0:23:02 > 0:23:06could deal with the reality of reduced royal power.
0:23:08 > 0:23:11At Windsor Castle, Charles managed to build a miniature palace
0:23:11 > 0:23:12within a palace.
0:23:15 > 0:23:16Behind medieval castle walls,
0:23:16 > 0:23:19he created a set of Baroque apartments...
0:23:25 > 0:23:29..an opulent royal interior, discreetly hidden from public view.
0:23:32 > 0:23:36Only three of the original 15 rooms survive but the decorations
0:23:36 > 0:23:40give a hint of what Charles would have done on a grander scale.
0:23:43 > 0:23:47It was a way of enjoying the flavour of a Baroque palace
0:23:47 > 0:23:50while still enjoying a defendable position.
0:23:50 > 0:23:52It was as far as Charles dared go,
0:23:52 > 0:23:55given the events of just a few years earlier.
0:23:59 > 0:24:03Charles would complete only one palace, at Winchester,
0:24:03 > 0:24:05close enough to the coast for a speedy escape
0:24:05 > 0:24:08if things turned anti-royal again.
0:24:09 > 0:24:12Winchester was later abandoned, converted into barracks
0:24:12 > 0:24:15and gutted by fire in the late 19th century.
0:24:23 > 0:24:27But Charles succeeded in setting the style for royal architecture.
0:24:29 > 0:24:32In 1669, he'd appointed Christopher Wren
0:24:32 > 0:24:34as Surveyor of the King's Works.
0:24:38 > 0:24:42Wren had first come to prominence after the Great Fire of London
0:24:42 > 0:24:44with a plan for rebuilding the whole city.
0:24:47 > 0:24:50He proposed abandoning the old medieval layout
0:24:50 > 0:24:53and replacing it with a harmonious grid of streets,
0:24:53 > 0:24:57intersected by wide, straight, diagonal avenues.
0:24:57 > 0:25:01Alas, the King did not have the money or power to force through
0:25:01 > 0:25:05a radical plan and the city was rapidly rebuilt
0:25:05 > 0:25:07on its cramped medieval plan.
0:25:09 > 0:25:12But the choice of Wren as Royal Architect would resonate
0:25:12 > 0:25:15long beyond Charles' death in 1685.
0:25:17 > 0:25:21After a brief and disastrous reign by Charles II's brother,
0:25:21 > 0:25:25James, Parliament asserted its opposition to the King
0:25:25 > 0:25:28and James fled abroad into exile.
0:25:28 > 0:25:33Now events offered Wren a new royal patron.
0:25:37 > 0:25:40Parliament invited James' Protestant daughter, Mary,
0:25:40 > 0:25:44and her husband, William, to become joint monarchs.
0:25:44 > 0:25:47It was called The Glorious Revolution
0:25:47 > 0:25:50for its empowerment of Parliament,
0:25:50 > 0:25:53but it would also pave the way
0:25:53 > 0:25:56for the most ambitious royal building for years.
0:25:59 > 0:26:02William and Mary were a most odd couple.
0:26:02 > 0:26:07He was a wheezing asthmatic, stunted, with blackened teeth
0:26:07 > 0:26:09and a hooked nose.
0:26:09 > 0:26:15She was attractive, 12 years his junior and half a foot taller.
0:26:15 > 0:26:20The marriage got off to a bad start. She was a reluctant bride
0:26:20 > 0:26:23and cried through much of the marriage ceremony.
0:26:23 > 0:26:29So you have Mary, emotional, passionate, good-looking,
0:26:29 > 0:26:34and William, chilly, dour and grim of visage,
0:26:34 > 0:26:39But the alliance grew into that most unlikely of things,
0:26:39 > 0:26:44a politically-arranged marriage that blossomed into true love.
0:26:50 > 0:26:52The blend of the cautious and pragmatic William
0:26:52 > 0:26:57with his exuberant, art-loving wife, Mary, was a magic combination.
0:26:58 > 0:27:01It meant for the first time since James I,
0:27:01 > 0:27:06royal building work wasn't going to set alarm bells ringing.
0:27:06 > 0:27:10Parliament trusted and needed William, so Mary could get on
0:27:10 > 0:27:13with what she liked most, the art of building.
0:27:16 > 0:27:21She also had the alibi of being a caring wife.
0:27:21 > 0:27:23Newly arrived from Holland,
0:27:23 > 0:27:27asthmatic William was soon enfeebled by the London damp.
0:27:30 > 0:27:32Ten days after arriving in England
0:27:32 > 0:27:34and after seeing her haggard husband,
0:27:34 > 0:27:37Mary moved William and the royal household
0:27:37 > 0:27:40down here to Hampton Court.
0:27:40 > 0:27:43It was in the countryside, by the river,
0:27:43 > 0:27:48away from the smokes and smogs of the City.
0:27:48 > 0:27:53But changes had to be made to the old Tudor building, so two days
0:27:53 > 0:28:00after arriving, the Royal couple summoned Sir Christopher Wren down to look at the palace
0:28:00 > 0:28:04and come up with ideas for additions and alterations.
0:28:07 > 0:28:09Wren's plan was radical.
0:28:09 > 0:28:13He would demolish the Tudor Palace and rebuild from scratch.
0:28:13 > 0:28:17Only the Great Hall would be spared.
0:28:17 > 0:28:19But the plan was much too expensive.
0:28:19 > 0:28:22The Queen took charge.
0:28:23 > 0:28:26Mary had a great enthusiasm for architecture.
0:28:26 > 0:28:30She and Wren poured over drawings for Hampton Court.
0:28:30 > 0:28:33He called her judgment exquisite.
0:28:33 > 0:28:36Together, they came up with an ambitious plan.
0:28:36 > 0:28:41Wren would add a new building, but attached to the old Tudor palace.
0:28:41 > 0:28:43A sense of economy prevailed,
0:28:43 > 0:28:48even though the new building would contain over 250 rooms.
0:28:51 > 0:28:56In style, too, the new Palace would tread a political knife-edge.
0:28:56 > 0:29:01For sheer bravado, it needed to rival the best palaces in Europe,
0:29:01 > 0:29:04while avoiding the impression the old Stuart arrogance was back.
0:29:16 > 0:29:17So in their architecture,
0:29:17 > 0:29:23William and Mary wanted to challenge Louis XIV, the Sun King.
0:29:23 > 0:29:29But their lack of money and perhaps fear of appearing too ostentatious
0:29:29 > 0:29:32in the eyes of their new subjects,
0:29:32 > 0:29:36gives their palace a very special quality...
0:29:36 > 0:29:38a quality of muted grandeur.
0:29:38 > 0:29:41And, of course, Christopher Wren, with typical brilliance,
0:29:41 > 0:29:46turned economic constraints to artistic advantage by using
0:29:46 > 0:29:50cheaper red brick but laced with white stone.
0:29:50 > 0:29:54It gives this a great architectural distinction.
0:29:54 > 0:29:59And rather than being intimidating, say, like Versailles,
0:29:59 > 0:30:03this palace is comfortable, it is sedate, it has a sense of welcome.
0:30:12 > 0:30:17Even so, the palace borrows directly from France's architecture
0:30:17 > 0:30:19of royal etiquette and flamboyance.
0:30:30 > 0:30:34This is the King's Staircase, the start of the King's Apartment.
0:30:34 > 0:30:38The theme here, in the decoration, is the glorification of William.
0:30:38 > 0:30:41We see him here in three guises.
0:30:41 > 0:30:46Above me, he is Apollo, presiding over the muses of Peace,
0:30:46 > 0:30:48Plenty and Prosperity.
0:30:49 > 0:30:52And up here, as Alexander the Great,
0:30:52 > 0:30:55with winged Victory over his shoulder.
0:30:55 > 0:30:58So, military triumphalism.
0:30:58 > 0:31:04And here, as Emperor Julian ridding the world of Roman Catholicism.
0:31:05 > 0:31:10And above all preside the gods in banquet,
0:31:10 > 0:31:14looking down and approving the world, the works of William.
0:31:20 > 0:31:23But however brilliant the decoration, the most exciting
0:31:23 > 0:31:27feature here is the arrangement of the King's State Apartment.
0:31:31 > 0:31:36The first room is the Guard Chamber, where guards were stationed
0:31:36 > 0:31:39to keep out idle, mean and unknown persons.
0:31:45 > 0:31:48Then from here on in, each room becomes more exclusive,
0:31:48 > 0:31:53allowing access to the King to fewer and fewer people,
0:31:53 > 0:31:57an architectural statement in status and privilege.
0:32:03 > 0:32:07And an enfilade adds drama to the space.
0:32:07 > 0:32:10It's the name given to a set of aligned doorways
0:32:10 > 0:32:13forming a perfect vista through a succession of rooms.
0:32:17 > 0:32:21Such a virtual corridor ensured a theatrical feel to the whole thing.
0:32:30 > 0:32:34This is the King's Presence Chamber,
0:32:34 > 0:32:39a place of formal reception where the King would have sat
0:32:39 > 0:32:41beneath this canopy of state.
0:32:43 > 0:32:46Now things get a little bit more privileged,
0:32:46 > 0:32:50with many visitors being filtered out at this door.
0:32:57 > 0:33:01The King's Eating Room was, as the King described it himself,
0:33:01 > 0:33:05"Open to persons of good fashion and good appearance
0:33:05 > 0:33:08"that have a desire to see us at dinner."
0:33:13 > 0:33:16Next came the King's Privy Chamber...
0:33:18 > 0:33:21..where nobility and privy councillors were permitted.
0:33:30 > 0:33:32Now this is very interesting.
0:33:32 > 0:33:35Only very special people would have been allowed in here,
0:33:35 > 0:33:37the Withdrawing Chamber.
0:33:37 > 0:33:41They'd have come in to chat to the King, so therefore very sort of
0:33:41 > 0:33:45privileged access, or even play cards with him in front of the fire.
0:33:45 > 0:33:48So more relaxed but nevertheless,
0:33:48 > 0:33:52the King still has a sort of throne on this dais, sitting there
0:33:52 > 0:33:57and contemplating the portrait of his grandfather, Charles I.
0:34:13 > 0:34:17This is the Great Bedchamber, the start of the inner world
0:34:17 > 0:34:21of the King's apartment, ruled over by a very powerful courtier
0:34:21 > 0:34:24called the Groom of the Stool.
0:34:24 > 0:34:28And here we have this absolutely sensational bed,
0:34:28 > 0:34:32but not for sleeping in, it was a great status symbol, really,
0:34:32 > 0:34:38a symbol power. Also, it was the focus of a strange bit of theatre
0:34:38 > 0:34:41that William had imported from the court of his great rival
0:34:41 > 0:34:45Louis XIV, because when William was in residence here,
0:34:45 > 0:34:50he would get dressed and undressed in public.
0:34:50 > 0:34:52The King would be here, the courtiers over there,
0:34:52 > 0:34:56he would be putting on his shirt, his waistcoat, chatting to them,
0:34:56 > 0:34:59I suppose, as this event took place.
0:34:59 > 0:35:03William, knowing his character, poor fellow, must have hated it.
0:35:03 > 0:35:05Slightly embarrassing.
0:35:08 > 0:35:10Next, the King's Little Bedchamber.
0:35:10 > 0:35:13Designed to be the King's real bedroom,
0:35:13 > 0:35:15few courtiers would have made it here.
0:35:19 > 0:35:24On the ceiling is Mars, the god of war, perhaps depicting William
0:35:24 > 0:35:28being disarmed by Mary, in the guise of Venus.
0:35:31 > 0:35:35The finale, curiously, is one of the smallest rooms in the palace.
0:35:41 > 0:35:43This is the King's Closet.
0:35:43 > 0:35:48This small room was the ultimate goal of all ambitious courtiers.
0:35:48 > 0:35:52Only the most privileged would be allowed in here
0:35:52 > 0:35:55for a private interview with the King.
0:35:55 > 0:35:57There's something very ingenious about this room.
0:35:57 > 0:36:02William, standing here, would have had a view, via this angled mirror,
0:36:02 > 0:36:05of the entire length of the enfilade,
0:36:05 > 0:36:08seeing who was coming into his presence.
0:36:15 > 0:36:17But Hampton Court was 13 miles,
0:36:17 > 0:36:20and a couple of hours hard ride, from central London.
0:36:24 > 0:36:28Increasingly, William and Mary were under pressure to move back to town.
0:36:33 > 0:36:35But Mary was not moving to London
0:36:35 > 0:36:39unless she could have a palace well away from the river.
0:36:40 > 0:36:45She chose Nottingham House in the quiet village of Kensington.
0:36:45 > 0:36:47Sir Christopher Wren was given the job of turning
0:36:47 > 0:36:50Nottingham House into a royal home.
0:36:50 > 0:36:53If Hampton Court had been something of a compromise,
0:36:53 > 0:36:57this project promised to be even more so.
0:36:57 > 0:37:00Due to constraints over time and money, Wren suggested initially
0:37:00 > 0:37:02keeping the Jacobean house
0:37:02 > 0:37:05and having four corner pavilions around it.
0:37:05 > 0:37:09Once again, brick was the chosen material, cheaper than stone.
0:37:09 > 0:37:14Mary drove the project and she was a very tough taskmaster.
0:37:17 > 0:37:21Everyday, she urged Wren and the builders to finish quickly,
0:37:21 > 0:37:23so the royal couple could move in.
0:37:24 > 0:37:27One day, a wall collapsed, killing several men.
0:37:27 > 0:37:31"I was too impatient," Mary said, blaming herself for the tragedy.
0:37:37 > 0:37:41For a palace, Kensington is very modest.
0:37:41 > 0:37:44It's about as close as a royal couple could get to building
0:37:44 > 0:37:50themselves a domestic semi-suburban villa.
0:37:50 > 0:37:53The only external grandeur are these three windows in front of me,
0:37:53 > 0:37:55with that parapet up there and those urns
0:37:55 > 0:37:59and some curious carved keystones down below.
0:38:00 > 0:38:03This simplicity could simply be William and Mary
0:38:03 > 0:38:07being politically astute, not wanting to build a mighty palace
0:38:07 > 0:38:09to frighten their new subjects...
0:38:09 > 0:38:12but more likely it represents
0:38:12 > 0:38:16the sort of home they wanted to live in as a happily married couple.
0:38:24 > 0:38:27But the palace interior is far from modest.
0:38:31 > 0:38:35The King's Staircase was originally wooden
0:38:35 > 0:38:39but work began on a new stone staircase in 1695.
0:38:41 > 0:38:44The walls of the staircase, like much of the palace interior,
0:38:44 > 0:38:47would be decorated by later monarchs.
0:38:49 > 0:38:53But they continued the Roman and Italian Renaissance themes
0:38:53 > 0:38:55the Stuarts had introduced...
0:38:56 > 0:38:59..and nowhere more so than the climactic Cupola Room.
0:39:06 > 0:39:11This is the most striking room in the palace - the Cupola Room.
0:39:14 > 0:39:16It's splendid.
0:39:20 > 0:39:24The ceiling is inspired by the great emblematic Roman building,
0:39:24 > 0:39:28the Pantheon... wonderfully theatrical.
0:39:28 > 0:39:31It has the architectural authority,
0:39:31 > 0:39:35the ancient pedigree of the interiors created by Inigo Jones
0:39:35 > 0:39:40for James I and Charles I, almost 100 years earlier.
0:39:40 > 0:39:45This really is the recognised, accepted architectural language
0:39:45 > 0:39:47of British monarchy.
0:40:16 > 0:40:19But the architectural ambitions of royalty
0:40:19 > 0:40:23were about to spill beyond palace walls.
0:40:23 > 0:40:26In 1692, Sir Christopher Wren completed the Royal Hospital
0:40:26 > 0:40:29at Chelsea, a home for old soldiers.
0:40:35 > 0:40:38Situated two miles south of Kensington,
0:40:38 > 0:40:42Chelsea was as monumental as any royal palace.
0:40:48 > 0:40:52Now Wren planned the construction of a two mile avenue
0:40:52 > 0:40:55to connect Chelsea with Kensington Palace.
0:40:55 > 0:40:57The remains of this scheme survive.
0:41:00 > 0:41:05What was Wren up to? His ambition was amazing.
0:41:05 > 0:41:09He must surely have collaborated with William and Mary
0:41:09 > 0:41:13over the acquisition of the site for Kensington Palace
0:41:13 > 0:41:17and, with them, sought to create in the fields of west London
0:41:17 > 0:41:22an approximation of the Baroque gardens of Versailles
0:41:22 > 0:41:29or indeed, to realise aspects of the Renaissance plan for Rome.
0:41:29 > 0:41:34I suppose for Wren, this was an opportunity at last to realise
0:41:34 > 0:41:37his vision for rebuilding the city of London.
0:41:44 > 0:41:47Alas, Wren's plans ended here.
0:41:47 > 0:41:51All that remains is this short length of gravel pathway...
0:41:51 > 0:41:55and the question of what might have been.
0:41:58 > 0:42:01Back at Kensington Palace, things were about to unravel.
0:42:05 > 0:42:08Queen Mary, architectural and artistic spirit
0:42:08 > 0:42:12of the Stuart dynasty and royal muse for Wren, was ailing.
0:42:21 > 0:42:23This was Mary's bedchamber.
0:42:26 > 0:42:29On the 20th December, 1694,
0:42:29 > 0:42:36she woke up here with a headache, back pains and a slight fever.
0:42:36 > 0:42:38She had smallpox.
0:42:40 > 0:42:42William, of course, was distraught.
0:42:42 > 0:42:45He knew just how deadly the disease was...
0:42:45 > 0:42:48It had killed his mother and his father.
0:42:48 > 0:42:51He wrote to a cousin,
0:42:51 > 0:42:55"You can believe the condition I am in, loving her as I do.
0:42:55 > 0:42:59"If I lose her, I shall be done with the world."
0:43:18 > 0:43:20As Mary's health declined,
0:43:20 > 0:43:25she was moved into this small closet, adjoining her bedchamber.
0:43:25 > 0:43:29It would have been a very private room and when in health,
0:43:29 > 0:43:33it played an important role in Mary's life in the palace.
0:43:33 > 0:43:37This is where she would have written letters, read books, I suppose,
0:43:37 > 0:43:40received intimate friends...
0:43:40 > 0:43:45And it's now, as you can see, a rather clinical office.
0:43:45 > 0:43:47Strange.
0:43:47 > 0:43:52But around Christmas, 1694,
0:43:52 > 0:43:55it was this room, this small room,
0:43:55 > 0:43:56in which Mary died.
0:44:02 > 0:44:05Seven years later, William died and Mary's sister,
0:44:05 > 0:44:09Anne, last of the Stuart monarchs, died childless.
0:44:14 > 0:44:18Wren would go on to complete his greatest work,
0:44:18 > 0:44:21his immense Baroque cathedral of St Paul's.
0:44:22 > 0:44:24He would even live to see it finished,
0:44:24 > 0:44:27dying at the grand old age of 91.
0:44:30 > 0:44:31But the Stuart monarchy,
0:44:31 > 0:44:35the most architecturally obsessed royal dynasty Britain had ever seen,
0:44:35 > 0:44:37was over.
0:44:38 > 0:44:41And for a while, it looked like the grand vision
0:44:41 > 0:44:44for royal building had died with them.
0:44:47 > 0:44:51Parliament settled on a distant branch of the family
0:44:51 > 0:44:53to take over the throne...
0:44:53 > 0:44:58German princes of Hanover, with solid Protestant credentials.
0:44:58 > 0:45:02While other European monarchs built with Baroque extravagance,
0:45:02 > 0:45:06in Britain, no great royal palaces would be built to reflect
0:45:06 > 0:45:09the nation's growing Imperial ambitions.
0:45:16 > 0:45:18Kew Palace is one of the most modest buildings
0:45:18 > 0:45:21ever to rejoice in the title of palace.
0:45:24 > 0:45:28Built in 1631 as a merchant's villa,
0:45:28 > 0:45:32it was acquired by the new royals in 1728.
0:45:32 > 0:45:37It was a perfect country retreat, but also close enough to London.
0:45:37 > 0:45:40Kew would become a favoured residence of George III
0:45:40 > 0:45:42and his growing family.
0:45:42 > 0:45:45It seemed to usher in a new era.
0:45:51 > 0:45:55George was like a breath of fresh air when he came to the throne in 1760.
0:45:55 > 0:45:58He was only 22 years old.
0:45:58 > 0:46:01He got married almost immediately. It must have been a love-match
0:46:01 > 0:46:04because he and his queen started having children
0:46:04 > 0:46:08at a rate of one a year - for the next 15 years!
0:46:18 > 0:46:22As soon as you step in here, it feels, well, not like a palace,
0:46:22 > 0:46:25but like a family home.
0:46:35 > 0:46:40For George, this house must have been full of memories.
0:46:40 > 0:46:45As a child, this is where he'd received part of his schooling.
0:46:45 > 0:46:49So it was natural for him to arrange for his children
0:46:49 > 0:46:51to be brought up here.
0:46:51 > 0:46:54This was their nursery, this is where they received
0:46:54 > 0:46:57their early lessons, where they played...
0:46:57 > 0:47:01and they were, by all accounts, a rowdy bunch.
0:47:01 > 0:47:04One governess took to drink
0:47:04 > 0:47:07and a governor resigned in despair.
0:47:13 > 0:47:16George disliked Hampton Court and Kensington Palace.
0:47:16 > 0:47:19Kew is probably where he felt most at home.
0:47:22 > 0:47:26Even today, it has a feel of modest domesticity.
0:47:26 > 0:47:27And it brought the royal family
0:47:27 > 0:47:30closer to the people than ever before.
0:47:44 > 0:47:47It seems incredible, but in the late 18th century,
0:47:47 > 0:47:51that path, the one right down there, was a public road.
0:47:51 > 0:47:56There were gates and railings to give the royal family some privacy
0:47:56 > 0:47:59and security, but it does show just how close George's subjects
0:47:59 > 0:48:02could get to their monarch.
0:48:02 > 0:48:07And in the early days of George's reign, he welcomed them in.
0:48:11 > 0:48:15There are accounts of the King and Queen sitting at windows
0:48:15 > 0:48:19and talking to friends and you can imagine George, on occasion,
0:48:19 > 0:48:24chatting to his subjects on the road there - it's quite possible.
0:48:24 > 0:48:28And of course the royal children playing in the gardens.
0:48:28 > 0:48:33On one occasion, a royal gardener approached the King and complained
0:48:33 > 0:48:38about the public trampling the flowers and tearing up the shrubs.
0:48:38 > 0:48:41The King, somewhat annoyed, simply snapped back,
0:48:41 > 0:48:44"Well, plant some more, then."
0:48:50 > 0:48:54But George's eccentricity would escalate into insanity.
0:48:57 > 0:48:59There would be times of mania
0:48:59 > 0:49:02when he had to be hidden from public view.
0:49:06 > 0:49:08These were dark days for royalty.
0:49:11 > 0:49:14Unfortunately for George, his mania would push him
0:49:14 > 0:49:19into an act of gothic madness, right on the doorstep at Kew.
0:49:26 > 0:49:30In 1802, work started on the Castellated Palace.
0:49:30 > 0:49:33Radicals nicknamed it The Bastille,
0:49:33 > 0:49:39a gleeful reference to the regicidal days of the French Revolution.
0:49:39 > 0:49:43The new palace was denounced as a monument to madness,
0:49:43 > 0:49:47its neo-medieval style the product of a distempered reason.
0:49:54 > 0:49:58It's amazing to think that the vast new royal palace
0:49:58 > 0:50:00stood just about here.
0:50:01 > 0:50:05The sheer ambition of this grandiose project
0:50:05 > 0:50:08reveals George's soaring optimism...
0:50:08 > 0:50:10or indeed, his mania.
0:50:10 > 0:50:13He must have believed he'd weathered the mental storm
0:50:13 > 0:50:19and he wanted to repossess Kew, the home of a happy childhood.
0:50:19 > 0:50:22But this was the calm before the storm.
0:50:22 > 0:50:26Ten years later, the dream came crashing down.
0:50:30 > 0:50:33In 1811, a regency was proclaimed
0:50:33 > 0:50:37because the King's madness had finally taken hold.
0:50:37 > 0:50:41The Prince Regent, another George, was now monarch in all but name.
0:50:42 > 0:50:44Here was a royal who wanted to return
0:50:44 > 0:50:47to the architectural glory days of the Stuarts.
0:50:50 > 0:50:55This George was generally regarded as a flamboyant rake,
0:50:55 > 0:51:01but was also a leader of taste and fashion, with a passion for
0:51:01 > 0:51:07palatial architecture, a passion that was to find expression
0:51:07 > 0:51:12in a most dramatic manner, on farmland here in Marylebone.
0:51:16 > 0:51:22In 1811, this was agricultural land and due to revert to the crown.
0:51:23 > 0:51:27Now George would take palatial architecture to the people...
0:51:27 > 0:51:30albeit mostly rich and well-connected people.
0:51:32 > 0:51:36John Nash had begun his career as a speculative builder
0:51:36 > 0:51:39and it was his plan that caught George's imagination.
0:51:41 > 0:51:45The farmland would be transformed into a picturesque landscape,
0:51:45 > 0:51:47Regent's Park.
0:51:47 > 0:51:49It would be the setting for an extraordinary
0:51:49 > 0:51:51new architectural vision.
0:51:52 > 0:51:56This is Cumberland Terrace. It's formed by individual houses,
0:51:56 > 0:52:01designed to look like a single palatial composition.
0:52:01 > 0:52:04Nash argued that the Regent's Park development
0:52:04 > 0:52:10should have the look of grand town houses set in the country
0:52:10 > 0:52:15rather than country houses marooned in the town.
0:52:15 > 0:52:17These are domestic palaces,
0:52:17 > 0:52:21hopefully for aristocratic occupation.
0:52:26 > 0:52:29The Classical frontage of Cumberland Terrace
0:52:29 > 0:52:33hid 27 separate houses across three blocks
0:52:33 > 0:52:34linked by triumphal arches.
0:52:40 > 0:52:44The central pediment shows Britannia in imperial pose,
0:52:44 > 0:52:48presiding over the arts, sciences and trades.
0:52:53 > 0:52:56But Nash's development didn't just consist of houses.
0:52:58 > 0:53:01It was part of an audacious new street plan
0:53:01 > 0:53:06that would change the face of London and inspire picturesque town-planning
0:53:06 > 0:53:08beyond the capital.
0:53:08 > 0:53:12The streets of London would be raised to palatial heights.
0:53:15 > 0:53:19It involved the creation of a new road that would have taken
0:53:19 > 0:53:21the residents around Regent's Park,
0:53:21 > 0:53:24straight to the heart of royal power,
0:53:24 > 0:53:27to the palace of the Prince Regent himself.
0:53:31 > 0:53:34The new road, inevitably called Regent Street,
0:53:34 > 0:53:38was to be filled with fashionable shops and houses.
0:53:38 > 0:53:42It swept down to Piccadilly, where the Circus was created,
0:53:42 > 0:53:46before arriving at George's own front door at Carlton House.
0:53:48 > 0:53:52But Nash's great processional route didn't end at Carlton House,
0:53:52 > 0:53:56which stood about here, but continued west along the Mall
0:53:56 > 0:54:00and terminated in front of another royal residence,
0:54:00 > 0:54:02then known as Buckingham House.
0:54:02 > 0:54:06Nash, in partnership with the regent, now George IV,
0:54:06 > 0:54:10would transform Buckingham House into the most famous Palace in the world.
0:54:16 > 0:54:18The wings of the house would be demolished,
0:54:18 > 0:54:23rebuilt and brought forward to form an open courtyard.
0:54:23 > 0:54:26The main block was to be kept but extended,
0:54:26 > 0:54:29with the brick exterior covered in Bath stone.
0:54:31 > 0:54:34George IV's improvements here started here in relatively
0:54:34 > 0:54:38modest manner - it is, after all, revealing that he initially
0:54:38 > 0:54:40referred to the palace as his "pied-a-terre".
0:54:40 > 0:54:45But as King, and with Nash in charge, he undertook the construction
0:54:45 > 0:54:50of one of the largest royal palaces the country had ever seen.
0:54:53 > 0:54:56George and Nash's plans grew ever more ambitious.
0:54:56 > 0:54:59Initial costs were met by public funds,
0:54:59 > 0:55:03but when George needed more, Parliament resisted.
0:55:03 > 0:55:08So he pulled down his father's Castellated Palace at Kew and his
0:55:08 > 0:55:12own Carlton House to salvage stone and recycle fixtures and fittings.
0:55:14 > 0:55:16But costs still spiralled
0:55:16 > 0:55:21and by 1829, they had reached £500,000.
0:55:22 > 0:55:24It was almost undignified.
0:55:24 > 0:55:28Parliament pointed an accusing finger at Nash.
0:55:28 > 0:55:31It was, of course, also a way of getting at George.
0:55:31 > 0:55:34Nash was hauled before furious parliamentary committees
0:55:34 > 0:55:37demanding to know where the money had gone.
0:55:37 > 0:55:41Nash pointed out that he was simply an obedient servant,
0:55:41 > 0:55:44obeying royal orders, but despite all of this,
0:55:44 > 0:55:47Nash did achieve something quite remarkable.
0:55:50 > 0:55:55Here was a building that harked back to ancient Rome,
0:55:55 > 0:55:58to the Classicism beloved by Inigo Jones
0:55:58 > 0:56:02and the vision of Juan Battista Villalpando.
0:56:03 > 0:56:08Today, Nash's triumphal assertion of monarchy survives intact,
0:56:08 > 0:56:13forming three sides of Buckingham Palace's inner courtyard.
0:56:19 > 0:56:21It may feel unfamiliar today,
0:56:21 > 0:56:25but that's because a later frontage has been added,
0:56:25 > 0:56:29enclosing the courtyard and hiding the Nash building from public view.
0:56:35 > 0:56:39George died in 1830, leaving an architectural legacy
0:56:39 > 0:56:42that was to provide the backdrop for modern monarchy.
0:56:46 > 0:56:50At the time, though, it looked like the expense of his building work
0:56:50 > 0:56:52had fatally discredited the monarchy.
0:56:56 > 0:56:59Nash was sacked by Parliament in 1831,
0:56:59 > 0:57:03accused of financial irregularities and negligence.
0:57:05 > 0:57:08He died in 1835...
0:57:08 > 0:57:10out of work and in debt.
0:57:12 > 0:57:15For over two centuries, British kings and queens,
0:57:15 > 0:57:18with their favourite architects,
0:57:18 > 0:57:22embraced the Classical language of architecture as a means of expressing
0:57:22 > 0:57:28the power, the aspirations and the changing fortunes of monarchy.
0:57:28 > 0:57:30It had been an extraordinary journey.
0:57:34 > 0:57:37The two most architecturally ambitious British monarchs
0:57:37 > 0:57:42since the Middle Ages were Charles I and George IV.
0:57:42 > 0:57:45But they were also amongst the least loved.
0:57:45 > 0:57:49Perhaps the price of achieving great royal architecture
0:57:49 > 0:57:54was to be reviled for being profligate and arrogant.
0:57:54 > 0:57:57But William and Mary achieved great things
0:57:57 > 0:58:00without losing the support of the nation.
0:58:00 > 0:58:04Now the monarchs of the modern age would need to use
0:58:04 > 0:58:09all their political adeptness to keep the palace show on the road.
0:58:11 > 0:58:13Next time...
0:58:14 > 0:58:16..opening the palaces to the people...
0:58:18 > 0:58:21..the grandest royal statement of them all...
0:58:23 > 0:58:25..British palaces under fire...
0:58:29 > 0:58:32..and the fight to keep the palaces standing.