Not all modern British monarchs have viewed the prospect of moving into Buckingham Palace with unalloyed joy. So in announcing he will never live there, after the completion of its £369m upgrade next year, King Charles has at least grasped that nettle.
Queen Victoria was initially dismayed by the damp, dingy and disorganised building that greeted her after her ascension in 1837. It was her husband, Albert, who she married three years later, who refashioned it into “Monarchy HQ”. After his death in 1861, Victoria retreated mainly to Windsor, Balmoral and Osborne House on the Isle of Wight.
