Click on events for further information and booking.
Judgement, Respectability and Comfort: Getting it right at the Georgian Dinner Table - SOLD OUT
Georgian London - SOLD OUT
Wigs and Hair in the 18th Century
Stories and Secrets at Kew Palace - SOLD OUT
Judgement, Respectability and Comfort: Getting it right at the Georgian Dinner Table - SOLD OUT
Talk and Tasting
With Dr Annie Gray
Date Tuesday 24 April
Time 6.30pm – 8pm
Cost £18 / £15 HRP members
Food historian Annie Gray will present an evening dedicated to the food and etiquette of the Georgian dinner party, from the agony of the housewife, to the delight of the honoured guest. Ranging from the King’s dinners, through those of his subjects, and back to his most lowly servants, the beauty and elegance of dining in an era obsessed with ‘taste’ will be explored.
The talk will unpack the hidden meanings in the laying of the dining table, and show how servants were expected to behave. It will also showcase some of the food, illustrating how the tastes and textures of Georgian food contributed to the experience of dinner.
Historic recipes will be available for you to sample, and you will also be able to take away modernised versions to try at home.
This event includes a drinks reception and entry to Kew Palace.
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Georgian London - SOLD OUT
Evening Lecture
With Lucy Inglis
Date Tuesday 8 May
Time 6.30pm – 8pm
Cost £18 / £15 HRP members
London’s 18th-century rookeries, to Jeremy Bentham and the birth of a surveillance society, to what it was like to have gout, to bizarre birth stories from Gentleman’s Magazine, join Lucy Inglis for an engaging talk on the day-to-day trivia and more bizarre aspects of 18th-century London life.
A historian and writer, Lucy’s blog www.georgianlondon.com informs and entertains on ordinary life in 18th-century London, emphasising the artisan communities and immigrant populations of the city. The blog not only is the largest study on 18th-century London freely available online, but has also featured in national newspapers and was voted ‘History Website of 2009’ by the online readers of History Today magazine.
Georgian London the book will be published in 2012, charting the development of the city we know today through ideas, people and built history (and sex, slavery, politics, money, theatre, literature and working life).
Join Lucy for a talk on our recent history and be amazed by a city you thought you knew.
This event includes a drinks reception and entry to Kew Palace.
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Wigs and Hair in the 18th Century
Evening Lecture
With Felicite Gillham
Date Tuesday 29 May
Time 6.30pm – 8.30pm
Cost £18 / £15 HRP members
Join us for an informative and entertaining evening with Felicite Gillham, wigmaker for stage and screen.
Wigs are known to have been worn for about 5,000 years, with examples having been found in Egyptian tombs, made from human hair and made in a manner similar to the way that they are today. The great age of wigs was from the middle of the 17th century to the end of the 18th century. Felicite will discuss how politics and fashion influenced wigs and hairstyles of that period, and why the wearing of wigs ceased. Felicite will also build a tall, lady’s hairstyle dating from around 1780 and examples of period wigs will be shown and modelled.
Felicite studied at the Sorbonne and St Martin’s School of Art. From there she joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford, becoming the head of their Wig Department. Following this she founded her own business in London. Her recent work includes the BBC’s ‘Cranford’, and ITV’s film of ‘Persuasion’.
This event includes a drinks reception and entry to Kew Palace.
To book, click here.
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Stories and Secrets at Kew Palace - SOLD OUT
Talk and Tour
With Susanne Groom, HRP Collections Curator
Date Tuesday 26 June
Time 6.30pm - 8pm
Cost £18 / £15 HRP members
Kew Palace began life as a wealthy merchant’s country retreat in 1631. With beautifully articulated gables and façades of cut and rubbed brick, it was designed to impress. When the Royal Family moved there in the 18th century, Kew became the hub of fashionable society, and the house was elegantly refurbished in the Georgian style.
The 1770s were a golden decade at Kew for the Royal Family. Sadly, in the years after Charlotte’s death, Kew lay silent and neglected until opened to the public in 1898. Under the care of Historic Royal Palaces, a thorough programme of research, repair and re-presentation was completed in 2006, so that Kew Palace could once again tell the story of our Georgian past.
Join Historic Royal Palaces curator, Susanne Groom as she reveals the stories of Kew Palace through a selection of palace treasures – by turns exquisite, intriguing and quirky. Everyday objects rank alongside prestigious artworks, survivors all of momentous times and famous owners. Susanne will use these objects to evoke domestic family life at Kew Palace, inviting your own questions and thoughts.
This event includes a drinks reception and entry to Kew Palace.
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