MARLBOROUGH HOUSE 79 



and are uniformly laid out in sloping terraces and lawns. 

 Lying below the south windows of the palace, enclosed in 

 high walls behind the trees of the Mall, the garden is still in 

 many respects the same as it was in the reign of Charles IL, 

 who " on a summer even was often to be seen here playing at 

 bowls." 



At Marlborough House the Prince and Princess of Wales 

 lived, when in London, until they became King and Queen, 

 in 1 90 1. From that time and for nearly ten years afterwards, 

 the old mansion was the London home of Their Majesties 

 King George V. and Queen Mary, when Prince and Princess 

 of Wales ; and it is now the residence in town of Her 

 Majesty Queen Alexandra. 



Marlborough House having been for many years a residence 

 in London for royal leaders of society, the guiding principle 

 in laying out its garden has been to make it as convenient as 

 possible for receptions and open-air entertainments. This, of 

 course, involves giving up a large proportion of the ground 

 to lawns and wide paths. The space devoted to flowers is, 

 therefore, somewhat restricted. Considering the limitations 

 thus imposed, and the difficulty of obtaining good results 

 in the London atmosphere, a garden presenting so many 

 features of interest as there are here, reflects great credit on 

 its designers and cultivators. 



The ground is between four and five acres in extent, and 

 about half of that is laid out in level stretches of turf, the rest 

 being planted with beautiful groves of lime and chestnut trees, 

 many of them, probably, at least as old as the house itself, 

 A print, engraved soon after the mansion was built, shows a 

 short wide avenue of young trees leading from the south front 

 of the house towards the Mall. A fair number of these are 

 still in existence, but the formality of an avenue has long since 

 disappeared. A large part of the eastern end of the garden is 

 woodland, and the changing effiscts of sunlight and shadow 

 falling on an undergrowth of beautiful flowering shrubs 

 beneath the tall and stately trees here growing, are very charm- 



