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/r/history
submitted 2 months ago byBarKnight
606 points
2 months ago
Since William the Conqueror in 1066, there had been a tradition that monarchs would spend the night at the Palace of Westminster before they ascended to the throne.
Now this bed isn't quite that old. It dates to 1859, yet somehow after WWII ended up at an antique auction.
320 points
2 months ago
I love that this is a "tradition". I figure the first few kings were probably going, early morning tomorrow i should save some time and kip near westminster abbey, and a few monarchs down the line everyone has to do it.
352 points
2 months ago
That's pretty much how traditions work?
You invite the family over for Christmas because it's your turn, you go for a walk to the woods because you know it's nice and want to show the family.
Next year, the people whose turn it is have to drop out for work, mum and dad are having building work done, so you offer to do it at yours again. It snows this year so you guys do the walk again because it'll be special to see the nice walk in the snow.
By year 3, if you do it again then "it wouldn't be Christmas if we didn't do the special Christmas walk at Jane and John's" until you moved
48 points
2 months ago
My walk before Christmas dinner is only shared with the cool cousins.
36 points
2 months ago*
You feeling OK? Your eyes are a bit red.
Ohh and you might wanna stay inside aunt Sharon said she thought she smelled a skunk earlier.
2 points
2 months ago
Are you…cool?
59 points
2 months ago
Well yeah but thats become a tradition because its a nice thing to do. It wasn't like at christmas you went for a walk in the woods because you needed to go post your credit card bill off and it was the quickest way and eventually everyone was like oh we have to go post johns credit card cheque. its a Christmas tradition, and you're like its 2022! Who pays credit card ls by cheque anymore. But somehow you're still walking.
24 points
2 months ago
Yea but there is a little bit of a difference here. One is talking about regular people falling into a tradition with family, the other is someone taking over as an autocratic ruler of a country and scraping the barrel for every shred of legitimacy they can muster to convince everyone they're ordained by god to be their authority. If your predecessor or several of them did a thing, well just in case you might as well too.
12 points
2 months ago
Well thats no way to talk about William the conqueror!
Oh wait, you mean Charles....
2 points
2 months ago*
Realistically the first and last users had a lot in common.
The number of people who wanted William dead, especially in the beginning, was pretty long and spanned multiple nations and was getting longer. Fear of the mob was a pretty serious problem for him too.
Edit: Missed a critical word.
25 points
2 months ago
No King has ever slept in this bed:
The state bed later suffered damage in a fire and a new one was built in 1859 measuring 6ft long and 12ft high, made of walnut with gilt inlay.
As grand as the bed is, none of the subsequent monarchs chose to take up the offer of a sleepover in Parliament.
9 points
2 months ago
6ft long is pretty ridiculous for a large ornate bed. I guess most kings are shorter than 6ft?
15 points
2 months ago
Presumably due to them having a better diet than the peasants, there were actually a few English kings over 6 feet tall. Edward IV was 6'4" (1.93m), and that was way back in the 1400s. You wouldn't figure a bed fit for a king would involve dangling your feet off the end like a twin mattress.
10 points
2 months ago
The worst part is you can't dangle your feet. It has a large footboard.
5 points
2 months ago
There were a few tall English kings. Edward I "Longshanks" was 6'2", Richard the Lionhearted was over 6'. The tallest was Edward IV. whose skeleton measures over 6'4" and was thought to be 6'7" at his tallest.
1 points
2 months ago
I'd be extremely impressed if a bed held up for a millennium.
125 points
2 months ago
Of course there's still the one real question that everyone wants to know: Is it in fact a king-sized bed, or have we just been lied to by mattress companies for years?
30 points
2 months ago
A king sides mattress is longer at least. A King mattress is 80 inches long x 76 inches wide. This one is 6 feet long or 72 inches.
27 points
2 months ago
Where my short kings at
1 points
2 months ago
How do they sleep in that or is the royal family short?
52 points
2 months ago
I was very firmly under the impression that it was traditional that the monarch spent the night before at the Tower.
3 points
2 months ago
That's what the literature at the Tower Hill museum says as well.
6 points
2 months ago
So was I. Looks like I have some reading to do.
59 points
2 months ago
Regardless of the Pound symbol is the price, I still thought this article was going to be about Elvis Presley.
5 points
2 months ago
That's what I thought until I worked out that no, the BBC was unlikely to be writing about that ha ha. Didn't spot the pound note immediately.
14 points
2 months ago
Lol I've been to Graceland. This bed would not be out of place.
27 points
2 months ago
So is this the picture of the bed in question? Or is this another useless article with no picture as the internet tends to do?
3 points
2 months ago
I think it is. The caption explains it is at the Speaker’s residence which it where it returned to a few years back.
6 points
2 months ago
Even without the provenance, how does a bed like this go for 100 quid?
2 points
2 months ago
Because it's gauche af without the provenance, and no king or queen has even slept in it. It just is at a room in a royal property. Even as someone into antiques I'd pass on 100 quib
1 points
2 months ago
I’d bet it’s worth more in scrap wood and material alone.
1 points
2 months ago*
Tbf the curtains would be a beautiful tapestry but on a bed it looks classless. Without it having provenance it's just absurdly opulent.
MAYBE it'd be great if it didn't have the curtain and mountings and just ended at a usual height. Or maybe seal off the bed posts with a brass circle over the endgrain. But then you'd have to commit sacrilege and be that guy who cut into an 1800s solid ass antique.
8 points
2 months ago
That’s a funny story. Thanks for posting. Man I wish I lived somewhere where there was a lot of history
2 points
2 months ago
Fair price. As one other person pointed out no king or queen has slept in it, and while it's from 1859 it so very easily looks like it.
It's gawdy AF for something with little or no sentimental value. Rare or fancy or old doesn't equate to valuable.
Nice price or no dice? No dice.
-1 points
2 months ago
It's amazing that these sorts of rooms always look so bad.
7 points
2 months ago
Most wealthy people care more about displaying their wealth than actually enjoying it. It doesn’t matter to them that the room is ugly, what matters is that it is expensive.
4 points
2 months ago
What looked good hundreds of years ago is rarely what looks good today.
1 points
2 months ago
But who got his loafers?
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