白金汉宫40

By the late 1840s, Victoria and Albert had decided to transform the front of Buckingham Palace. And to make space, they dismantled the marble triumphal arch and relegated it to a distant corner of a Royal Park. As the cars and tourists swirl around Marble Arch in their thousands, I doubt many of them realise that this was once the ceremonial entrance to Buckingham Palace, through which Queen Victoria would ride in her splendid horse-drawn carriages. When it was first moved here, it was a suitably regal entrance to Hyde Park. But now, surrounded by multi-lane roads, it's rather forlornly marooned amid the fast-food outlets and the traffic. In place of the arch, Victoria and Albert commissioned architect Edward Blore to build a new wing right across the front of the building. And at its centre was an important new feature, the now-famous balcony.

到了18世纪40年代，女王和亲王做了个决定，改变白金汉宫的前门，为了腾出空间，移除大理石建造的凯旋门，改造成皇家公园的一角。 当车辆和游人流连于大理石拱门的时候，不知道他们是否会意识到这里曾经是白金汉宫的正大门，是维多利亚女王乘坐豪华马车出入的地方。当初移到这里的时候，就成了到海德公园最佳的出入口。但是现在被熙攘的马路包围，成了一个孤岛，湮没于快餐店和交通之中。 为了填补拱门的空缺，维多利亚和阿尔伯特命令建筑师爱德华·布罗在宫殿的前方新建一个侧厅。在中心位置，是一个重要的新景观——一个有名的阳台。