Banqueting House

1 to 2 hours

Off the beaten track. Perfect for art lovers, architecture enthusiasts and those that love a bit of dark history too.

One of my more specialist tours. Banqueting House must be one of London's best hidden gems. Today Banqueting House is London’s most stunning private events venue, home to the finest painted ceiling north of the Sistine Chapel in Rome but did you know that Banqueting House, located on Whitehall (just around the corner from No. 10 Downing Street) is the last building left of Whitehall Palace, once the largest palace in Europe? More than twice that of the size of Buckingham Palace today!

An architectural marvel. When completed in 1622 AD, no one had seen such classical, architectural style for over a thousand years, not since the Romans had left London in around 410 AD. It was like a spaceship had landed and picture it, Banqueting House - made of three different types of coloured stone at the time - was located slap bang in the middle of a vast red brick, timber, Tudor style palace started by King Henry VIII back in the 1530s. By the early 1600s Whitehall Palace still had the Tudor style look and all sprawled out no, very wide but no taller than one storey. What a contrast and it was built for a very important purpose - to be the centre of royal ceremony and royal play…

A visit to Banqueting House can take anything between ten minutes and two hours, depending on one’s interests. You've got 400 years of history in just two rooms but two very special rooms, the Undercroft originally decorated as a shell grotto and used by King James I of England as his private drinking den and the Main Hall used by the king to meet high-ranking diplomats and ambassadors who would then be entertained along with much of the court with royal masques (extravagant plays) at great expense.

King James's son, King Charles I commissioned the Flemish painter, Sir Peter Paul Rubens to fill the then empty ceiling spaces with nine stunning baroque style paintings, depicting the life of his father and celebrating the monarchy itself.

We can sit in comfort, on beanbags and I’ll tell you about all the details and about the story of how King Charles I walked through the space on January 1st 1649 and out of a window - in the north west corner of the building – and onto a ready-made scaffold… where he would be beheaded for treason!

Admission tickets are required to visit Banqueting House.