A couple or days ago, we toured Royal Albert Hall in London... venue for the annual performance of the 'Proms'... and other forms of entertainment. Royal Albert Hall is a trust that has the Queen as patron... but receives no money from her or the government. The building has quality construction... but today, looks like it could do with a stream clean and fresh upholstery.
As usual, the history of the building is fascinating... showing how royalty manipulated government through skilful use of the press... even in the 19th century.
Some spare money became available following the success of the international exhibition that Britain staged in 1844. The industrial revolution had sparked a big investment in research and development... churning out such marvels as washing machines... even vacuum cleaners. Everyone wanted to have a look at the new contraptions... they even had an alarm clock bed... one that sounded an alarm at your selected waking hour... and if you failed to arise upon the sounding of the alarm... the bed tilted to an angle that rolled you out... an inv entive lot... these Victorians.
You will be aware that Britain showed its leadership in matters technical by staging its exhibition in a Crystal Palace... a glass house far bigger than any previously built. In spite of dire predictions that it would collapse in the wind... or a hail storm... the building did its job... grabbed all the headlines and doubled the expected number of attendees. Prices were set low to attract a big crowd... and all the stars were aligned... locals queued up... the continental brigade was out in force... some 6 million people went through the turnstiles. The organisers had so much money left at the end of the exhibition... they didn't know what to do with it.
First, they moved the Crystal Palace from Hyde Park to an area in South London... and created a new suburb called Crystal Palace. The building was destroyed by fire some 60 years later. (Interestingly, an entrepreneur has recently presented drawings to the Lord Mayor for the reconstruction of the building at Crystal Palace.)
The balance of the profits was invested to benefit the ongoing vigour of research and development in London. Land was purchased next to the Hyde Park site and plans were developed to locate many of the professional institutes at that location. Tragedy struck the nation with the unexpected death of the Consort, Albert. The Queen went into mourning from which she never recovered. She asked that a memorial be constructed to 'Berty' close to the exhibition site... and parliament approved the work.
At the end of the planning phase for the new R&D park, it was time to lay the foundation stone... a stone inscribed with appropriate words indicating the government's commitment to ongoing R&D. Queen Victoria made herself available to lay the commemorative stone. One the day her empirical presence added lustre to the occasion... following the script she pulled the cord to expose the important stone... and expressing her pleasure to be there. Then, she departed from the script and sent the government into a spin. She said that Albert had played a key role in the success of the Exhibition and that she would like the building on the site of the stone to reflect his support for the performing arts. What the Queen and Empress (of India) wants... she gets.
The architects worked overtime designing the building that now occupies the site. They had 6 million bricks in the construction (one for each attendee to the exhibition) and 6 thousands 'A's (A for Albert... get it... get it) built into the decorative features... and to show enduring love of the Monarch threw in a couple of thousand 'V's (V for Victoria... oh, forget it). They had the hand railings on stairwells lowered to best fit the vertically challenged Victoria. They took only 4 years to complete the construction.
Also, progress on building the Albert Memorial was going well... by the time the Hall was ready to open, they had completed the structure for the memorial... even had a plaster cast of the statue... but were still awaiting the final bronze piece.
Come the day of the Hall's opening, Victoria was in fine fettle... the plaster cast statue of Albert was covered with cloth... some newspapers speculated that seeing the image of Albert would have proved too upsetting for the mourning monarch... officials said it was covered because it was not the finished product.
Anyone can apply to hire the Albert Hall... at a price. New model cars have had their marketing launch staged on its floor. The day we toured the building, debutantes from London's Russian community were rehearsing their presentation dances in the hope of catching the eye of some eligible young Russian batchelor. When we left them they were practising their pirouettes to the music of Swan Lake... but their footwork had a resemblance to Goslings.
Quiz time! Who has performed at the Royal Albert Hall most frequently? Did you say Eric Clapham? Well done... he has held centre stage 27 times. The Beatles have appeared 3 times... the Rolling Stones, twice... all the big names.
One last interesting fact. To help finance the building, patrons were offered boxes at a price of £1,000... that entitled you to view performances for the next 999 years. One of the boxes was recently offered for resale and attracted a price of £1.2 million.
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