I recently visited the Royal Pavilion at Brighton, and all I
can say is that it is one heck of a place. The interiors are heavily influenced
by British concepts of what they thought China looked like. The exterior
definitely leans towards India, and the whole thing has the feel of one of
those dreams you just can’t explain and wonder how these images ever got into
your brain.
As a lover of history, I could not help but think of the
vast, and I do mean vast, sums of money spent on this pleasure palace at a time
when the country was in a financial crisis. These were the years after the end
of the Napoleonic wars. The men who had marched and sailed against the Emperor
of the French were now out of a job, and many of them were badly maimed and in
need of medical attention and, most definitely, in need of financial
assistance. Because England was no longer feeding large armies, prices for corn
(any grain) and meat on the hoof had plummeted throwing farmers into bankruptcy
and putting laborers on the road. Yet, here was their king acting like a kid
with a Regency Era credit card.
Although the Pavilion is within easy walking distance of the
beach, because the king’s presence attracted tourists to Brighton, George IV,
growing fatter by the day, rarely went out in public. And it wasn’t as if he
had an ocean view. His descendant, Victoria, noted that from her rooms only the
slightest glimpse of the channel could be seen.
