Treasure trove of everyday items dating back to 1800s unearthed during Buckingham Palace restoration work
A ticket to a “whist drive” run by the Royal Household’s social club nearly 80 years ago is among a collection of forgotten items uncovered during the restoration of Buckingham Palace.
A ticket to a “whist drive” run by the Royal Household’s social club nearly 80 years ago is among a collection of forgotten items uncovered during the restoration of Buckingham Palace.
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Blank Littlewoods Football Pool betting slips from 1957, a pair of battered black hobnail boots, and an almost 140-year-old fragment of the West End theatre listings from The Standard newspaper in 1889 were among the everyday objects unearthed.
Also found was a detailed, typed schedule with all the timings and directions required for Queen Elizabeth II’s hosting of a diplomatic reception in her Silver Jubilee year of 1977, revealing the monarch would work the room in a “clockwise direction”.
The misplaced belongings, found beneath the floorboards or other areas of the royal residence during the building work, offer a glimpse into the lives of the people who worked and lived behind the scenes at monarchy HQ.
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The items have remained hidden for decades, preserved within the fabric of the Palace, before being discovered by workers carrying out the refurbishment.
The £370 million project to rewire the Palace's electrics, upgrade its plumbing and heating, and overhaul its infrastructure is aimed at preventing long-term damage.
The works began in 2017 and are due to be completed next year.
Some 2km of electrical wire rubber cabling, which has become brittle with age, has been replaced so far – the equivalent to the length of 40 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
Also discovered were pages from the Daily Express newspaper in 1966 detailing the “maximum security” prison housing the Great Train Robbers, picturing inside Durham Prison and revealing that “the men who were found guilty of stealing a fortune in mailbags spend their week stitching them for nine shillings”.
The small once-white Whist Drive ticket, priced at 6d, a sixpence, and dated April 14 1949, during the reign of the King’s grandfather, George VI, was found embedded in a lump of building rock.
The pass to the staff social club gathering in the Palace, where people would have played progressive rounds of the classic trick-taking card game, reads:
“Royal Household Social Club – Buckingham Palace: A Whist Drive to be held on” followed by the faded, stamped date “14 APR 1949”.
In April 1949, Queen Elizabeth II was still Princess Elizabeth and had been married to Prince Philip for less than 18 months, and their eldest son, the now-King, then Prince Charles, was only five months old.
The instructions for Royal Household staff for the 1977 Diplomatic Corps reception revealed that the Queen and other members of the royal family would move round the Ballroom in a “clockwise direction”.
Aides were also asked to encourage the 350 British guests to mingle with the diplomats at the glittering annual gathering, where the dress code would have been white tie and decorations or national dress, with the royal women wearing tiaras.
“The British guests will be distributed throughout the State Rooms, except the Music Room and West Gallery, where they should be encouraged to talk to the Diplomats,” the manually typed sheet read.
It added: “In the Ballroom, Her Majesty and other Members of the Royal Family will move round the room in a clockwise direction”.
It also warned that smoking was banned in certain state rooms with the reception kept to a strict timetable, saying: “Drinks will be served to guests in the Blue Drawing Room, State Dining Room and West Gallery between 9.30 and 10.00 pm.
“Guests allotted to the Ballroom will be served drinks in the Ballroom Annexe from 9.30 pm until approximately 10.15 pm. Smoking will not be permitted in any of these rooms.”
Other findings included a section of Minton decorative ceramic tiles from a fireplace hearth, with the design dated around the mid-1800s, an aged Pewter tankard, a bottle of Schweppes Still Malvern English Spring Water, a wooden junction box, and a faded box containing six Christmas cards.