The Blue Drawing Room is one of the finest rooms in Buckingham Palace and one of the most magnificent examples of Georgian sumptuousness in decoration.
George IV intended this room as a ballroom, but it was superseded in that function by Queen Victoria’s Ballroom in the south-west wing of the Palace. Today guests gather here for drinks before large luncheon parties and grand State and diplomatic occasions.
The room is 21 metres (68 feet) long and divided into bays by giant Corinthian columns.
The Blue Drawing Room was first known as the South Drawing Room, and its original decoration was a symphony of red, with porphyry scagliola columns, crimson velvet curtains and figured-silk wall hangings.
The blue flock wallpaper now in the room was hung by Queen Mary in the early twentieth century, while the Corinthian columns were re-painted to resemble onyx in the reign of Queen Victoria.
The Virtual Room
