Today's visit to Harewood House in Yorkshire was made in 1835, two years before she became Queen, having learnt she would inherit the thrown four years earlier. And it appears our teenage Victoria was becoming quite used to the royal highlife, and becoming pretty hard to please. She records in her diary that she played the piano here before going to bed and we know she was learning the piano from one Mr Sale who, we hear, was finding it hard to teach her. When he told her that if she wished to succeed she must practice more, she slammed shut the lid of her piano and shouted, 'There is no must about it!" Tim shows us an exquisite Turner watercolour of the house that Victoria would have seen and shows how the image painted by the young (22 year old) Turner some half a century before Victoria's visit and shows how the view changed when the garden was given a magnificent Victorian make over. He also shows a beautiful traveling writing set that belonged to Victoria and which she used to write her journals. Chef and food historian Ivan Day and Rosemary cook an amazingly intricate dish – Asparagus in a pastry Crust – and reveal a Victorian method of making the greens become even greener. Rosemary explores the marvelous kitchen with its great vaulted roof shaped like the ceiling of the Sistine chapel. It was designed as a fire break to stop any fire that broke out in the kitchen spreading to the rest of the house.
Tim & Rosemary visit Holkham Hall in North Norfolk, as they retrace the steps of 16 year old Victoria on a two day visit there, in 1835, two years before she became Queen. It was part of a PR drive by Her mother, the Duchess of Kent, who was keen to show Victoria off to her future subjects. And i...
Chef Rosemary Shrager and Antiques expert Tim Wonnacott visit The Royal Pavilion Brighton to reveal the story behind 19 year old Queen Victoria's visit during the Christmas Holidays in 1838 – the year she became queen. Tim shows us the extraordinary Chinese style interior and reveals just how it ...
At the time of this visit Victoria had been married to Albert for 2 years and had given birth to her first two children Princess Victoria and Prince Albert Edward. Amazingly their host, the Earl of Mansfield, had been planning the trip for two years, had problems with cowboy builders along the wa...