Wednesday, August 10, 2011

King William's private place

Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Loretta reports:

State apartments are all very well, and I can be easily awestruck by, say, a magnificent painted ceiling, or candle stands that tower over my head.

But the most fun for me in touring a historic site is looking into the less public spaces:  kitchens, for instance.  Wine cellars.  Bathrooms.

Not too long ago we looked into Queen Caroline’s (Caroline of Ansbach 1683-1737) bathroom at Hampton Court Palace.

Nowhere in my perambulations, however, did I come upon the King’s bathroom.  I did find his lavatory, though.

King William III (1650–1702) was not an extrovert.  He liked to be alone or with small groups of friends.  One of the places where he could have some privacy was what’s called the King’s Closet.  Here he’d meet with the privileged few and work at his modest-looking walnut desk.  His long-case clock nearby needs to be wound only once a year—highly advanced technology for the time.

And in this private area, not far away, and in plain sight between the jib doors* is King William's own actual close stool.  According to the brochure, “the Groom of the Stool was a senior courtier who not only ran the Bedchamber department but also had to personally attend the king on his ‘stool.’”

I leave you to surmise what attendance entailed.

*In architecture a jib door is a door made flush with the wall, without dressings or mouldings, often as a disguised or concealed door.—Probert Encyclopaedia of Architecture.

4 comments:

YONKS said...

I bet there's still a lot of DNA matter left ont hat stool! We could clone another one:-)

Isobel Carr said...

Very cool! I had no idea there was a specific name for those kind of concealed doors (and I have on in my WIP; talk about synchronicity).

Vanessa Kelly said...

I wonder how many times they had to switch out that velvet seat! And thank you for the explanation of the jib door. That is a very cool factoid.

Anonymous said...

I've thought that the word 'Closet' may well be an abbreviation of close stool as that is where it is found.

Don't miss the King's Closet at Knole. I found a photo of it on- line at view pictures.co.uk by googling 'Knole House Closet'. The close stool is in the lower right in the photo.

 
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