Royal Pavilion Tour KS1
Duration of tour 45 minutes – 1 hour.
Greet group in ‘holding area’ of entrance hall and then take them through to the Long Gallery
(into the non-public section on the left).
Introduction
Welcome to the Royal Pavilion
Q. What do you already know about the Royal Pavilion?
This was a King’s Palace. King George IV lived here a long time ago (about 180 years ago).
We’re going to imagine what it would be like to come to the place to have a party hosted by
the King.
Show the children the caricatures of guests at the Royal Pavilion and ask them to choose
someone that they are going to pretend to be. Ask them to look at the clothes they are
wearing, the way they are standing and the look on their face.
Q. What sort of person do you think you are? Rich or poor? Happy or sad? Young or old?
Q. What do you think you enjoy doing?
Q. Can you stand like the person in the picture is standing? Ask children to mime standing
like their character, praising those that are doing really well.
The Long Gallery
We are standing in the Long Gallery. This would be the first large room that guests to the
Royal Pavilion would see. The Long Gallery was designed to be George IV’s ‘Chinese
garden.’
Q How does it look like a garden? Wallpaper, garden-style furniture, bamboo trellis and
staircase (an example of how technology is used: cast iron made to look like bamboo)
Q In what ways does it look Chinese? Chinese figures, pagoda cresting, bells, lanterns



The Royal Pavilion is decorated in a Chinese-inspired style
It includes furniture, works of art and decoration that were made in China and England (by
people who were inspired to make objects that they thought looked Chinese)
People thought that this style of decoration was very exciting, exotic and magical – mainly
because they had never seen anything like it
Q. How might this room have been used in the past?
 This room was used for strolling in wet weather (a bit like an indoor garden)
 It is also where guests arriving for dinner would wait to be taken though to the
Banqueting Room
 This is a quote from a visitor to the Royal Pavilion, describing how George IV greeted
his guests in the Long Gallery [ this is available as a label]:
‘…he speaks to everybody, shakes hands with newcomers or particular friends..
When dinner is announced, he leads out a lady of the highest rank…
or one on each arm.’
We’re now going to go into the room where dinner would be served. Would someone like to
pretend to be the King, greet his guests and then lead us into dinner accompanied by two
leading women, one on each arm? The rest of us will walk behind and pretend that we are
very rich and important guests of the King.
Children parade through the Long Gallery into the Banqueting Room
The Banqueting Room
Guide should stand behind the rope in front of the King’s Chair. You can bring the ropes
towards you to allow more room for other Pavilion visitors to pass.
Q. What words would you use to describe this room? Let’s see if we can think of five really
good descriptive words.
 This room was designed to stun the King’s guests
Q. From where you are standing, have a look around the room. What sort of animal can you
see in this room? Dragons
 The King thought that dragons were exciting and made sure there were dragons in every
room
 The chandelier in the centre of the room weighs one ton (about the weight of a car) and is
nine metres in height (about the width of a swimming pool). It is held in the claws of an
enormous dragon.
Q. When you have your dinner in the evening, how many courses or different bits of a meal
do you have?
Q. How long do you think you spend eating your dinner?
 When eating in this room, guests would have been served over 36 courses and the meal
could go on for six hours!
Q. If you were coming to dinner at the Pavilion, where would you sit?
Q. Where do you think the George IV would sit?
 In the largest chair in the middle of the table, as he liked to be able to socialise. The
King or Queen would always sit in the largest chair.
Q. The table is set for desert. Can you guess what sort of deserts the King liked? Let me
give you some clues…
 The tall, glass lidded jars would be used to hold small sweets that are soft, chewy,
generally pink and white in colour (marshmallows)
 The large, china lidded pots decorated with gold handles would be used to hold a cold
sweet that comes in many flavours (ice cream)
Q. It’s was very clever for ice cream to be served 180 years ago. Why do you think this is?
 There was no electricity and so no fridges when King George built the Royal Pavilion. Ice
would be collected in winter from local streams and rivers and stored in the ice house in
the Pavilion gardens.
We’re now going to go to the Great Kitchen. As we walk through the corridor see if you can
notice how its decoration is different to the way the Banqueting Room has been decorated.
Lead the children through the Banqueting Room and into the Great Kitchen via the Deckers
Hall and servant’s corridor
The Great Kitchen
Stand in the middle of the kitchen, and ask group to stand around main chopping table
Q. What did you notice?
 It is much plainer and so tells us that this was a passage used by servants.
 These passageways were not as well decorated as the main state rooms which were used
by the King and his very rich, important visitors.
The Great Kitchen is also sometimes called the King’s Kitchen as George IV would often
bring his guests in here to see his wonderful kitchen and to admire the modern kitchen
equipment.
Q. Look carefully at the food waiting to be cooked. What do you think the King and his guests
might be eating tonight?
 Swan, pheasant, rabbit, fish, lobster, duck, chicken, beef, pork, pears, fresh herbs…
Q. How would the food have been cooked?
 Spit roasted: the smoke jack was used to roast lots of food at the same time. It was
powered by the heat of the fire, which made the 5 spits turn around
 Huge ranges: 15 people would work at the range. It was heated by wood, charcoal and
fuel depending on the temperature that was required.
Q. Can you find the jelly moulds?
Q. What do you think was the King’s favourite flavoured jelly? Meat
Activity: ask children to think about the different jobs that people would do in this kitchen
(chopping, mixing, stirring, re-fuelling the fire, taking the wobbly jelly out of the mould). Ask
children to practice these different moves, and then ask them to do the action when you call
out the different tasks.
We’re now going to walk back through the Banqueting Room and onto the Banqueting Room
Gallery. On the way, you’ll be able to get another good look at the enormous dragon holding
the chandelier in its claws.
Lead the children from the Great Kitchen, through the Banqueting Room and into the
Banqueting Room Gallery
The Banqueting Room Gallery
Stand behind the rope, in front of the bench with the pleated fabric back
Imagine that you’re a guest of the King at the Royal Pavilion. You’ve just spent 6 hours
eating an enormous dinner.
Q. How do you feel? full
Q. What do you want to do? sit down, lie down, relax
 After dinner the men would stay in the Banqueting Room to have a smoke and drink, while
the ladies would retire to the Banqueting Room Gallery to chat and play cards.
The Royal Pavilion is actually quite small for a Royal palace, and so George IV used lots of
tricks or illusions to make it seem bigger.
Q. Some of these tricks are in this room. Have a look and see if you can spot them. Mirrors,
extra doors, fabric, iron bamboo trees.
The final two rooms we’re going to look at are all about George IV’s other favourite pastime.
Lead the children from the Banqueting Room Gallery, through the Saloon and into the Music
Room Gallery
The Music Room Gallery
Stand behind the rope, in front of the pianoforte.
Q. Is there anything in this room that gives us a clue about King George’s other favourite
pastime? Point to the pianoforte if children are stuck for ideas.
 This room would have been used for small concerts and recitals. George IV often
entertained his guests by singing and playing the pianoforte.
Q. Do any of you play a musical instrument?
Q. Have you eve performed for your friends and family? How did it feel?
Would anyone like to pretend to be the King and mime playing the piano for us? Mime means
doing the action, but not making any sound. The rest of us will give you a round of applause.
Carefully help one of the children climb over the ropes and stand in front of the pianoforte.
Make sure that they don’t sit on the stool or touch the pianoforte.
And now for our final room – the Music Room. Prepare to be amazed!
Lead the children from the Music Room Gallery into the Music Room
The Music Room
Lead the group through to the roped off area and ask them to stand in a circle.
This fabulous room was used for music recitals and dancing. The King had his own band
which comprised 46 of the very best musicians. They would parade out of the concealed
doors at each side of the organ to entertain the guests and provide music for them to dance
to.
The people who visited the Royal Pavilion would sometimes use fans to send each other
secret messages across the dance floor. [Guide should demonstrate]
 Fanning: I want to dance
 Closing the fan with a brisk movement: don’t come near me!
 Holding the fan against your chest: I love you!
Why don’t we have a go at being at signalling to one another with fans? I’ve got some fans
here for you to use.
Hand out fans – one between two. Remind children that as this is a royal Palace and there
other visitors here, they will need to use their fans quietly and won’t be able to do any
energetic dancing. Give children a couple of minutes to practice.
That was great, well done everybody. Now you can have a sit down whilst we look more
closely at some of the beautiful decoration in this room. Just take a moment to have a good
look around the room and then close your eyes.
Q. Can you remember two details from this room? Let the children tell you what they see and
then build on their observations.
 On the nine lotus-shaped chandeliers there are characters from Chinese mythology, called
the twelve immortals.
 The domed ceiling is inlaid with 26,000 shells coated in gold leaf. They get smaller as
they go to the top, to make the dome appear bigger.
 There are 108 dragons in this room
 The bells all around the room are to let us know when the large Chinese gods enter
 The red and gold walls are made to look like a giant lacquer box, or jewellery box from
China
 Carpet – the original would have been twice the thickness.
We are about to finish our trip to the Royal Pavilion. Thank you for coming here today. I hope
you’ve enjoyed your visit.
Q. What have you learnt? Tell me two things that you can remember
Q. What do you think the King’s guests would have thought of the Royal Pavilion?
Q. Which room do you like best. Why?
Explain to the teachers that if they continue to follow the trail the rough the museum, they will
go through the King’s Apartments, up stairs and then out through the museum shop.