Allied sovereigns' visit to England

The Allied Sovereigns at Petworth by Thomas Phillips.

The Allied sovereigns' visit to England occurred in June 1814 to celebrate the peace following the defeat of France and abdication of Napoleon Bonaparte in April 1814. The sovereigns and generals of the Coalition Allies – comprising Austria, Prussia, Russia, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and a number of German States – took part in a state visit and various peace celebrations in London before progressing to the Congress of Vienna later that year. It is also occasionally known as the Congress of London, although most diplomatic discussions were deferred until Vienna.

Official dignitaries

A number of nobles, sovereigns and dignitaries attended the celebrations. These included Tsar Alexander of Russia (who stayed with his sister, the Grand Duchess of Oldenburg at the Pulteney Hotel in Piccadilly); King Frederick William III of Prussia; Prince Metternich, Chancellor of the Austrian Empire; Field Marshal Blücher, Prince Hardenberg, the Chancellor of Prussia; General Yorck; General Bülow; Count Barclay de Tolly.

Events

The Grand Naval Review, Spithead, 24-25 June 1814

Boarding the Duke of Clarence's flagship the Impregnable in Boulogne on 6 June 1814, they crossed to Dover, where they were officially welcomed, with a guard of honour provided by the soldiers of the famous Light Division - the 43rd, 52nd and 95th Regiments. They arrived in London on the afternoon of 7 June.

Various entertainments, parades and ceremonies were undertaken, including Tsar Alexander's levee on 8 June, at the house of the Duke of Cumberland, followed by the Queen's court at the palace in the evening. On 9 June, court was held at Carlton House, followed by a ceremony where the Emperor of Russia, the Earl of Liverpool, and Viscount Castlereagh were admitted as Knights of the Order of the Garter.

The 10 June saw the monarchs attend the races at Ascot. Over the course of the next few days, they visited Oxford – where Tsar Alexander, King Frederick William and Marshal Blucher received honorary degrees – Woolwich Royal Arsenal, and a City of London banquet at the Guildhall on 18 June. One event alone cost £25,000.

On 22 June they attended a naval review at Portsmouth with the Prince Regent before embarking for the Continent.

Aftermath

Celebrations continued in Britain throughout the summer, centred on the Duke of Wellington who had arrived from Spain during the final day of the visit. This culminated in a huge fête given at Carlton House in Wellington's honour by the Prince Regent on 21 July. The scale of it was reminiscent of the extravagant event at Carlton House at which he marked the beginning of the Regency in 1811. In the autumn many of the dignitaries who had visited England began to gather in Vienna for the planned major Congress to settle Europe's future borders.

Portrait of Marshal Blücher by Thomas Lawrence, painted while he was in London.

Many of those who took part in the visit were painted by Thomas Lawrence, either at the time or later, as part of a large-scale commission by the Prince Regent. They now hang in the Waterloo Chamber at Windsor Castle. Separately Thomas Phillips produced the painting The Allied Sovereigns at Petworth featuring several of the leaders in a group scene.

Two streets in the developing suburb of Bayswater, then a little to the west of London, were named Moscow Road and St. Petersburgh Place in honour of the Tsar following the visit.

See also

• St. Catherine's Down § Hoy monument

References

• Alison, Sir Archibald; (1860) History of Europe from the commencement of the French Revolution to the restoration of the Bourbons in 1815, London: W Blackwood, available online
• Bryant, Arthur; (1950) The Age of Elegance: 1812-1822, London: Collins
• Londonderry, Marquis of; (1830) Narrative of the war in Germany and France, in 1813 and 1814, London: H. Coburn and R. Bentley, available online
• Muir, Rory. Wellington: Waterloo and the Fortunes of Peace, 1814-1852. Yale University Press, 2015.
• Alexander Rich, Gisela Gledhill, and Dr. Jerzy Kierkuć-Bieliński; (2014) Peace Breaks Out! London and Paris in the Summer of 1814, London: Sir John Soane's Museum, in print