London walk · Stop 5 of 14
Buckingham Palace — Bram, Irving and the Prince of Wales
Passing Buckingham Palace brings us to the royal connections of Bram Stoker’s theatrical world. At the Lyceum, Henry Irving and Bram entertained distinguished guests in the Beefsteak Room, often over supper after a performance. Guests included William Ewart Gladstone, Sarah Bernhardt, Richard and Isabel Burton, and the pianist Ignacy Jan Paderewski.
The room seated only thirty-six. When the Prince of Wales joined a party of fifty on 7 May 1883, the gathering therefore moved onto the theatre’s stage. Chandeliers hung beneath a canopy, crimson curtains surrounded the diners, and a quartet played behind palms and flowers. The round table held a magnificent display of yellow flowers, kept low so that guests could see one another. Bram remembered the Prince saying that he had never seen a lovelier table.
According to family recollection, the Prince also gave Bram a gold pen and pencil set.
Although we tell this story beside Buckingham Palace, the Prince’s London home was nearby Marlborough House, on Pall Mall, where he lived with Princess Alexandra before becoming King Edward VII in 1901.
Pause on the public pedestrian route near the Victoria Memorial, with a view of the Palace. Keep crossings and entrances clear; no Palace admission is needed for this stop.
Bram’s account of the Lyceum stage dinner, 7 May 1883 ↗
Gladstone and the Beefsteak Room — Folger Shakespeare Library ↗
The Prince and Princess at Marlborough House — Royal Collection Trust ↗
Next: Enter Green Park beside Canada Gate. Turn left onto the park footpath parallel to Constitution Hill, keeping to the pedestrian path above the horse ride. Follow it west, then take the connecting path north towards Piccadilly and No. 138, using a marked crossing to reach the house.
