Workmen have uncovered a trove of forgotten items in Buckingham Palace during an ongoing restoration of the royal residence.
A ticket to a ‘whist drive’ run by the Royal Household’s social club, Blank Littlewoods Football Pool betting slips from 1957, a pair of battered black hobnail boots and an empty Silk Cut cigarette packet were among the everyday objects unearthed.
Also found was a detailed, typed schedule with all the timings and directions required for Queen Elizabeth II’s hosting of a diplomatic reception in her Silver Jubilee year of 1977, revealing the monarch would work the room in a ‘clockwise direction’.
The misplaced belongings, found beneath the floorboards or other areas of the royal residence during the building work, offer a glimpse into the lives of the people who worked and lived behind the scenes at monarchy HQ.
They have remained hidden for decades, preserved within the fabric of the Palace, before being discovered by workers carrying out the refurbishment.
The Palace has been undergoing a £370 million reservicing for the past decade to rewire its electrics, upgrade its plumbing and heating, and overhaul its infrastructure to prevent long-term damage.
The small once-white Whist Drive ticket, priced at 6d, a sixpence, and dated April 14, 1949, during the reign of the King’s grandfather, George VI, was found embedded in a lump of building rock.
In April 1949, Queen Elizabeth II was still Princess Elizabeth and had been married to Prince Philip for less than 18 months, and their eldest son, the now-King, then Prince Charles, was only five months old.
Also discovered were pages from the Daily Express newspaper in 1966 detailing the ‘maximum security’ prison housing the Great Train Robbers.
The instructions for Royal Household staff for the 1977 Diplomatic Corps reception revealed that the Queen and other members of the royal family would move round the Ballroom in a ‘clockwise direction’.
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It also warned that smoking was banned in certain state rooms, with the reception kept to a strict timetable.
‘Drinks will be served to guests in the Blue Drawing Room, State Dining Room and West Gallery between 9.30 and 10.00pm,’ it read.
‘Guests allotted to the Ball Room will be served drinks in the Ball Room Annexe from 9.30pm until approximately 10.15pm. Smoking will not be permitted in any of these rooms.’
Other findings included a section of Minton decorative ceramic tiles from a fireplace hearth, with the design dated around the mid-1800s, an aged Pewter tankard, a bottle of Schweppes Still Malvern English Spring Water, a wooden junction box, and a faded box containing six Christmas cards.
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