LONDON -- Queen Victoria is most often remembered as a dour, elderly widow whose long reign came to symbolize steadfastness and middle-class sensibility.
Now Buckingham Palace is showing a different side of the monarch as part of a special exhibition that opens Saturday on the role music has played for more than 250 years in the palace. The exhibit reveals the queen as a vivacious young woman who loved to dance.
"I have been dancing till past four o'clock in the morning," the 18-year-old Victoria wrote in her diary after a party in 1838 to celebrate her upcoming coronation.
Queen Victoria was the first monarch to take up residence at Buckingham Palace and she quickly made it the social and cultural center of the country. Her early reign, alongside her beloved husband, Prince Albert, was marked by a series of costume balls - the monarch even built a ballroom in the palace to indulge in the pastime.
"We have these stock images of different kings and queens and we think of Victoria as absolutely imperial, very old, widowed, wearing black," said Jonathan Marsden, the curator of the summer exhibition at the palace.
"Here, you can see the other side - the young 18-year-old, energetic monarch as she was," he added, gesturing to an elaborate gold-edged costume worn by the young queen at a ball.
Victoria was not the only monarch to gain enjoyment from music.
In 1748, George I employed Handel to compose his famous "Music for the Royal Fireworks" to mark the signing of the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. The piece was played outside the palace - then Buckingham House - in Green Park.
Almost 20 years later, in 1765, 8-year-old Mozart played to King George III and Queen Charlotte, dedicating six sonatas to the queen.
More recently, Queen Elizabeth II and her son, Prince Charles, have hosted several concerts featuring musicians including Elton John, Ozzy Osbourne, Eric Clapton, Joe Cocker, Tony Bennett and Tom Jones.
Visitors to the palace during its annual summer opening can use an audio guide to hear music specially composed for the royal family. The voices of famous performers and the sounds of royal instruments are on display.
Works include Johann Strauss's waltz for Queen Victoria's coronation, Felix Mendelssohn's special arrangements of his "Songs Without Words" and "The Queen's Suite," recorded by Duke Ellington in 1959.
A highlight of the exhibition is an Erard grand piano, densely but delicately painted with musical cupids and monkeys, that was bought by Queen Victoria in 1856.
"You need music in a great court if you are going to be the center of a country," Marsden said. "This place has always resounded with music."
Visitors to the palace can imagine those musical echoes as Queen Elizabeth II throws open the doors to the palace's lavishly furnished state rooms for the 12th consecutive summer.
The state rooms house some of the greatest treasures in the royal collection, including paintings by Rembrandt, Rubens and Poussin, and sculptures by Canova. Visitors are also given tidbits of life in the working palace - a glimpse of a secret doorway and a close-up look at the sword the queen uses to invest knights.
Visitors leave the palace through its gardens, which, despite their location in the center of the capital, are home to more than 350 different wild flowers and more than 30 species of birds.
The royal tour is strictly limited to public areas of the residence.
Marsden said he'd like to think visitors go to the palace to see the incredible art collection but added he understands that what many are hoping for most is a glimpse behind the royal curtain.
"I think a lot of people do come thinking they are going to see where the queen sits and watches television," he said. "We have to politely explain that isn't the point."
The Buckingham Palace state rooms are open from July 31 to Sept. 26.
On the Net:
British Monarchy: www.royal.gov.uk
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