Free Queen's House by Edna Healey Page A

He therefore sent his librarian, Richard Dalton, to engage Edward Crace for the cataloguing and care of the paintings in the Royal Collection – and he remained in the King’s service until his death in 1799.
    The King and Queen occasionally looked in to watch the cleaning and revarnishing of the collection. Edward Crace also worked on the King’s paintings at Hampton Court and Windsor Castle. He was succeeded by his son, John, who became the greatest of the family. He worked as a decorator and upholsterer – amongst his bills are one for the supply of ‘39 yards of yard wide Morone Chintz’, and another for ‘A turkey pattern Brussells Carpet with a neat border’. According to his son, Frederick, John Crace introduced ‘Imitation of marbling and graining of woodwork’ into English decoration during the 1790s. Frederick Crace was taken up by the Prince of Wales – ‘being first noticed by the Prince of Wales and Mrs Fitzherbert being at work upon gilding the iron railing of the staircase’. 12 The Prince of Wales was to employ John and Frederick Crace to work on the chinoiserie interior of the Royal Pavilion in Brighton and at Carlton House.
    In 1765 the firm Wedgwood made an exquisite green and gold servicefor Queen Charlotte, named Queen’s Ware in her honour. Mr Josiah Wedgwood, who recorded his visits to the Palace, was charmed by the Queen and instructed his partner Bentley to smarten himself up for the visits to the Queen’s House. The delicate service of Chelsea china which, early in the reign, the Queen sent to her brother the Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was given back to Queen Elizabeth (now the Queen Mother) in 1947, and is now displayed in glass-fronted cabinets in the Bow Room at Buckingham Palace, through which thousands of visitors to the royal garden parties pass each year. *
    The King took great interest in acquiring furniture for the Palace. In 1781, he attended an auction.
    On Monday his Majesty passed by West Thorpe House near Marlow, the seat of the late Governor Winch [sic]. He sent one of his Equerries to enquire whose goods were selling by auction; when Mr Christie requested his most dutiful respects might be presented to his Majesty for he wished to show him some very curious ivory chairs and a couch that were to be disposed of.
    His Majesty turned back, they were shown him on the lawn opposite the house and he liked them so well that he ordered them to be purchased for the Queen … the chairs cost 14½ guineas each, the couch 48 guineas and two small cabinets 45 guineas. 13
    Governor Wynch had ordered this furniture in 1770 to be made at Madras by native craftsmen from English models. Deposed in 1775 by the Court of the East India Company, he returned to England, where he died in May 1781.
    We know of other furniture acquired by Queen Charlotte from the sale of her collection in 1819. James Christie, son of the ‘Mr Christie’ who had sold this lot to George III, offered in his Great Room, Pall Mall,
    A rare and costly sopha, veneered with ivory, with carved back, arms and feet, engraved with devices of serpents and tiger’s heads, with cane bottom.
    A set – 1 corner armchair and 8 square back chairs veneered with ivory. 14
    Two sofas made £106 12s., two sets of chairs £171 5s. 6d., two miniature cabinets £55 2s. 6d. The Prince Regent bought these at the auction and placed them in the Corridor or the Long Gallery at the Royal Pavilion, Brighton; they were brought to Buckingham Palace in 1847. Some of them are now in the Principal corridor at Buckingham Palace.
    George III’s own rooms were uncarpeted and simply furnished, but his extravagance was his collection of clocks. Some are still to be seen in Buckingham Palace. He particularly admired the work of Benjamin Vulliamy, a member of another family that served the Crown for generations. A German lady, Sophie von la Roche, met Vulliamy’s father in the