THE KING'S DINING ROOM

The King is Charles II and the decoration of the room dates from his time - a riot of baroque with a ceiling painted by Antonio Verrio and rich cornucopiae of Grinling Gibbons carvings.

This is the first to be seen of the three rooms of the period designed by Hugh May and which escaped the attentions of Wyatville.

Charles's Queen, the dusky Catherine of Braganza, presides here in a large portrait by Jacob Huysmans. A bust of her husband in terracotta stands near. Close by is Kneller's famous portrait of a Chinese convert to Christianity. The tapestries depict the arms of William III.

It was in this room that the royal family, as was the custom of the day, dined in public. The people were allowed to see their Sovereign in the flesh which must have been just as tiresome a drawback for a royal personage as it is today to be beleaguered by press photographers.