To mark the end of the Crimean War,
Queen Victoria organised a series of balls.
The ball we've chosen to recreate is the ball
held on 17 June 1856. We chose this ball for
two reasons. Firstly because it was one of the
earliest balls held in Queen Victoria's
Ballroom and secondly because we had a
fantastic record of this particular ball in a
watercolour produced by Louis Haghe, which
still survives in the Collection.
In recreating Queen Victoria's Ballroom, we
hope that visitors coming to the Palace this
summer will enjoy stepping back into the
1850s and experiencing the festivity,
the music and the colour that really defines
the early part of Queen Victoria's time at
Buckingham Palace.
Before the new Ballroom was built, balls
took place at Buckingham Palace in the
State Apartments. There was no room big
enough to accomodate all of the guests at the
same time.
The Queen herself admits that on one
particular ocassion she couldn't perform a
particular 'quadrille' because the spaces were
just so crowded.
The new Ballroom that Pennethorne built was
a necessity for the Palace, it allowed the
Queen to accomodate up to 2,000 guests.
He did this amazing job of combining
traditional architecture, so the room itself
is almost designed on a medieval Great Hall,
but with modern technology and all the
comforts that Queen Victoria and
Prince Albert wanted.
For the interior scheme, Prince Albert
worked closely with his art advisor,
Ludwig Grüner. He was German by birth but
had worked extensively in Rome.
Ludwig Grüner really helped Prince Albert
to create this vision of this space designed
to look like a sort of Italian Renaissance villa.
To make our vision of this Victorian ball a
reality, we worked with a Holywood-based
production company, who specialise in visual
effects. At the beginning of the project we set
a particular remit. The two major elements
that we wanted to recreate were firstly
the decorative scheme in the Ballroom which
no longer exists, but also we wanted to
recreate a dance and fill the room with
people and with music.
To recreate the silk wall hangings at a lower
level in the Ballroom, we based this on a
surviving sample of the actual silk that
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert installed.
For women's costume, we used the
watercolour by Louis Haghe as our primary
piece of research.
Supported by looking at fashion plates
of the time, we know at this date that women
would have worn this type of dress to court.
The décolletage, or the necklines, were
incredibly low and off the shoulder. This is
something that Queen Victoria insisted on
and there are reports that she had people
stationed at the doors during her balls to
make sure that everyone adhered to her
requirements.
For the hair we based this very much on our
watercolour. The style at this time was to
have these low chignon styles, so really
hairstyles that sat at the base of the neck.
The men depicted in the watercolour
are dressed either in civilian or military
uniform. Because of the military theme
of the ball we wanted to ensure that we
depicted how honours and medals were worn
at court.
The actor in red is shown wearing the star,
badge and sash of the Order of St Michael
and St George.
While the actor in blue is shown wearing the
star, sash and badge of the Order of
the Bath.
To recreate the dance itself, we were
inspired by a piece of Victorian technology
called 'Pepper's Ghost'. This was popularised
during Queen Victoria's reign and was seen
in musicals and theatres around London.
What we have done is modernise this
technique, bringing it up to date using the
latest in digital technology. The completion of
Ballroom marked a final stage in
Queen Victoria's transformation of
Buckingham Palace from a rather unloved
and neglected royal residence into the focal
point of the cultural and social life
of the country.