Just round the corner from the Royal Pavilion is Brighton's war memorial. The inscription along the top is a quotation from verse 16 of Ecclesiasticus, chapter 41: "A good life hath its number of days: but a good name shall continue for ever" and the central panel lists various theatres of World War I.
We will leave the town centre tomorrow and get back to Fern's walks.
Before we leave the Pavilion, just a quick peep inside the entrance hall to get a very weak flavour of what might it be like inside.
The southern entrance to the Pavilion grounds is the Indian Gate.
That sign could do with cleaning!
Queen Victoria was the niece of George IV. She disliked the Royal Pavilion and, I think, only visited it once. Her statue stands across the road from that of her uncle, whom she faces with, I think, a look of disapproval. She had all the furniture and fittings removed to Windsor and sold the building to the town in 1850 for £50,000, thinking the building would be pulled down. Luckily, it wasn't. Then, back in the 1960s or 70s, there was another suggestion that the Pavilion be demolished to provide space for...
...a bus station!
This statue of King George IV was erected in 1828 "by public subscription". It was he who had the Royal Pavilion built and although by all accounts he was not a popular monarch, the people of Brighthelmstone (as I think the town was known in those days) must have been grateful to him for putting the town on the map. This statue stands just outside the Pavilion grounds by the north gate. I always think it wrong that he is not looking at the Pavilion!
Change the clothes and this could almost be a scene from 200 years ago - or is my imagination running away with me?
