EXCLUSIVE MASTERCLASS | THE ROYAL COLLECTORS: BUCKINGHAM PALACE | Its history, occupants and contents with Oliver Everett

How the building developed from a modest Georgian house to the present Palace; from King George III's purchase of a family home in 1762 to the creation of a stunning palace by King George IV and John Nash in the 1820s; to the royal residence used by Queen Victoria and monarchs ever since as the centre of British Court life and the glittering setting for thousands of official functions and State visits.

The Palace also contains hundreds of art treasures from the Royal Collection, including world famous paintings, furniture, sculpture, porcelain, clocks and other objects.

OLIVER EVERETT is Librarian Emeritus of the Royal Library, Windsor Castle. He was Librarian there and Assistant Keeper of the Royal Archives from 1985 to 2002. He wrote articles on the Royal Library, helped with several books on the Royal Collection, wrote the official guidebook on Windsor Castle, taught a history course on it and advised on a television series on it. 

He was in the British Diplomatic Service, 1967-78, including postings in India and Spain. He was Assistant Private Secretary to the Prince of Wales, 1978-80; and Private Secretary to Diana, Princess of Wales, 1981-83.

He lectures widely in Britain and abroad, including at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Getty Museum, Los Angeles; and the New York Public Library. In Canada, at the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; and the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.  In Australia, at National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne and University of Melbourne; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane. And to art societies in Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Spain and New Zealand; and also on cruise ships. 

He was educated at Cambridge University and did post-graduate work at Tufts University, Massachusetts; and at the London School of Economics.

Buckingham Palace, aerial view with the Queen Victoria Memorial in the foreground; the East Front; the internal quadrangle and Grand Entrance; and the garden behind