House of Lords: Royal Gallery Frescos

Lord Dobbs Excerpts

Thursday 13th June 2013 Lords Chamber

[The Chairman of Committees]

I think there might be some difficulty in that one. If I can be a little bit serious and give a bit more information to the House, the murals, almost from the start, have lost a deal of colour. They became murky and coloured down, mainly, I think, because of the dirt and coal dust that were in the atmosphere at that time in the mid-Victorian age. It is hoped that by proper cleaning we can get the colours back. I do not think that necessarily means a sanitised view of warfare.

[Lord Dobbs]

My Lords, does the Lord Chairman accept that there is a lingering irony in these wonderful images next door? They were commissioned by a German, Prince Albert; they were carried out by a wonderful, gifted Irishman, Maclise; and they were almost ruined by the constant interference of bureaucrats. They show a Britain interdependent with its European neighbours but determined to preserve its sovereignty against the overbearing European project; a Britain of men and women, young and old, black men as well as white, and, above all, a Britain victorious. Does the Lord Chairman not agree that while the paint gets darker nevertheless their message gets ever brighter?

[The Chairman of Committees]

Possibly. I do recollect somewhere along the line that when Wellington and Blucher met at Waterloo, they spoke to each other in French.