Clarence House: Official Souvenir Guide

Clarence House is famous as being the London home of Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother for fifty years, from 1953 to 2002, but it has been a royal residence for over 170 years.

It was built between 1825 and 1827 by John Nash for William Henry, Duke of Clarence, who lived here as William IV from 1830 to 1837. Subsequently it became the London home of Queen Victoria's mother, the Duchess of Kent, and of two of Queen Victoria's sons -- Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, and his Russian wife Marie (daughter of Tsar Alexander II); then Arthur, Duke of Connaught. From 1949 to 1952 Clarence House was the residence of Her Majesty The Queen, who as the newly married Princess Elizabeth, lived here with The Duke of Edinburgh.

In 1953 Clarence House took on its most famous role, as The Queen Mother's home, decorated in her inimitable style and housing much of her famous collection of paintings and works of art, in particular twentieth-century British art, with pictures by John Piper, Graham Sutherland, Walter Sickert and Augustus John. Clarence House was also home to The Queen Mother's personal collections of English porcelain and silver, and of many mementoes and paintings celebrating her love of horses and racing.

From 2003, Clarence House becomes the official London residence of The Prince of Wales, and of the Princes William and Henry. For the first time the ground floor is open during the summer months to the general public. Refurbished and redecorated in keeping with its new official role, Clarence House is the last remaining great London house to be maintained in use for the purpose for which it was built.