My last blog!!! Our excursion this Wednesday took us to Buckingham Palace, the symbol of power for the British Monarchy. The Queen was sadly not in residence, having moved for the summer months to Balmoral in Scotland. Every room was incredibly magnificent and extraordinary; words cannot even describe the grandeur and opulence that can be found in the few rooms that we saw. This year marks the 200th year that Queen Victoria would have ruled so there was a special exhibit on her time in Buckingham Palace. She changed the face of the palace in many ways and changed its relationship with the people. Physically, she expanded the palace to include a more room for her many children and for entertaining. Symbolically, she was the first to make it truly a home for the monarch of the British Empire. 

     The day before this, I also had the privilege of getting a private tour of Parliament. Being an international affairs major, this was extremely exciting! With no crowds in sight, we saw the great hall where heads of state such as the Queen and Barack Obama have given speeches, the House of Commons, and the House of Lords. I learned that the Lords are appointed to their positions and only get paid if they show up to meetings, which many don’t. The House of Commons is made of up elected officials led by the Speaker of the House. It was so incredible to see where so many global decisions, good and bad, have been made and where all the power in Great Britain rests.  

     This past Monday, our class took a trip to the Tower of London. I had never been there and was definitely not expecting to find basically an entire village instead of just a tower. The architecture that has survived hundreds of years was incredible to see, but what was inside was even better. One of the most interesting things to see what the graffiti left by prisoners of the towers. It makes their imprisonment more tangible to the people who are touring today.  

     We were also able to see the Crown Jewels which was absolutely amazing- definitely my favorite part. Between the precious stones, glittering gold, and giant salt holder, the wealth and magnitude of the British monarchy was very clearly conveyed. It was also a little upsetting to see this extreme level of wealth within these pieces created years ago when the British were still an empire. Many of their colonies were underdeveloped, and had slaves and other extremely poor populations so seeing the wealth that was available for no reason other than pageantry was very telling. The armory was also very overwhelmingly extravagant, with life-size models of horses clad in armor and even armor for children. War is one of the most important parts of history and shapes both economies and societies, and seeing all this historic armor really put that into perspective. War is expensive, only the rich (individuals or countries) can afford to have suits of armor such as those displayed in in the Tower of London. This makes it very easy to conquer other nations that do not have such strong, advanced armor for the time. 

    Not to be extremely negative about this beautiful structure, but all of it screams of extreme wealth and privilege that only a country like England could have.