WHAT'S ON

George IV’s bed arrives at the Royal Pavilion, Brighton

A new long-term loan from HM The Queen, a bed which belonged originally to King George IV, has been installed at Brighton’s Royal Pavilion. The elaborate bed was made in 1828 for King George IV’s newly refurbished private apartments at Windsor Castle which were completed at the end of that year. It has now been installed in the Pavilion’s King’s Apartments, a ground floor suite of rooms which George IV occupied in later life, for ease of access.

The bed was made by the firm of Morel and Seddon, who carried out the redecoration of the Windsor apartments. It has now been assembled in situ by staff from the Royal Collection. It has been temporarily dressed by conservators from the Royal Pavilion who are undertaking more detailed research into the authentic Regency style of presentation.

The bed replaces a Chinese-style lacquer bed of the 1930s which had been on show since 1951.

Audio Guides at the Royal Pavilion

On 24 April 2006, using money secured as a result of an independent disability audit of the Royal Pavilion in 2003, audio guides were introduced and made available free with admission for the Royal Pavilion’s 300,000 visitors per year.

Audio guides are offered as standard at many historic sites both in this country and abroad and have been requested by visitors to the Pavilion for many years. The introduction of audio guides will greatly enhance the visitor experience and level of engagement with the Royal Pavilion. 

The handsets, known as ‘wands’, are available in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Cantonese, Mandarin, Basic English and a Children's Tour.  A wand tour is also available for people with a visual impairment.

The service is designed to complement information provided by the Information and Security Team, guidebooks and guided group tours already available in The Royal Pavilion.  It also prevents distracting visitors from the amazing historic interiors with too many written information boards.

Over time it is planned to develop the audio guides into an additional 12 languages or formats.