Buckingham Palace destruction of the Palace of Westminster by fire in 1834, William considered converting the palace into the new Houses of Parliament. Buckingham Palace finally became the principal royal residence in 1837, on the accession of Queen Victoria, who was the first monarch to reside there; her predecessor William IV had died before its completion. While the state rooms were a riot of gilt and colour, the necessities of the new palace were somewhat less luxurious. For one thing, it was reported the chimneys smoked so much that the fires had to be allowed to die down, and consequently the court
Beloselsky-Belozersky Palace assassinated by a terrorist bomb at the Kremlin on February 17, 1905. The palace was then the property of his widow who became a nun in 1909. She went to live at the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent and willed the palace to her ward Grand Duke Dmitri. During the First World War, from January 1916 until January 1918, the palace was the base of the Anglo-Russian Hospital, a voluntary British Red Cross hospital set up to treat Russian soldiers. It was staffed by British doctors and nurses, and led by Lady Muriel Paget and Lady Sybil Grey. (They also established field hospitals