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
Princess Irene of the Netherlands the former monarch of the Netherlands, Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands; the two younger ones are Princess Margriet and Princess Christina. Because of the invasion of the Netherlands by Nazi Germany during World War II the Dutch royal family first fled to the United Kingdom. Irene was not yet a year old when the family was forced to leave the Netherlands; she was christened in the Chapel-Royal of Buckingham Palace in London, the wife of King George VI, Queen Elizabeth being one of her godparents. As the family was leaving the Netherlands, the port where they were boarding the British