Twenty Minutes
Mendelssohn at Buckingham Palace
Sean Rafferty visits Buckingham Palace's picture gallery to discover details of the various visits Mendelssohn made to the royal residence to see the young Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, among whom he was a favourite. Aided by the deputy surveyor of the Queen's works of art, Jonathan Marsden, who has researched the composer's visits, Sean views excerpts from Mendelssohn's and Victoria's letters and journals, and finds out why he was so popular there. With recollections of the rooms they stayed in, the music played, the works of art the composer saw and gifts exchanged in the form of the Scottish Symphony dedication and Victoria's ring. There are also accounts of Mendelssohn's improvisational skills and the shared interests among the three of them, including Shakespeare and British history.