3-021-234 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Mr. and Mrs. Disraeli's Assembly at the new Foreign Office, [London], 1868. View of '...the entertainment given to a large assembly of persons of rank and fashion...The new Foreign Office is part of the quadrangle of buildings...The architect is Mr. George Gilbert Scott...The interior, decorated by Messrs. Clayton and Bell, is magnificent...The grand centre to which the company converged was the Secretary of State's room...A chandelier, suspended from the centre of the ceiling, with small candelabra fixed round the walls of the room, effectively lighted the room. Rich carpets were spread everywhere, and banks of flowers were placed in every convenient situation...The Duke of Cambridge and Prince Teck...arrived first...Their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales, attended by the Marchioness of Carmarthen and Captain Ellis, arrived precisely at half-past eleven...Many of the members of the Corps Diplomatique and foreigners of rank, several past or present Cabinet Ministers, including Mr. Gladstone, and a great many of the members of the two Houses of Parliament, with the ladies accompanying them, were amongst the company...The entertainment was very successful'. From "Illustrated London News", 1868.