Something is afoot! Join a team of re-enactors for a fun-filled experience at Apsley House.
There’s something amiss, the preparations for the Duke of Wellington’s prestigious, annual Waterloo Banquet - commemorating his famous victory over Napoleon and his forces - are well underway but a piece of the famous Portuguese Silver Service has gone missing……
What has happened to it? Has it been stolen? Merely misplaced, or has the culprit damaged it and is now hiding the object in question for fear of retribution? Perhaps the first question to answer is, what is the object in question?
As the staff begin to panic and accusations fly around one of the most prestigious addresses in the whole of London, this is your chance to step forward and assume the role of detective and solve this most vexatious Georgian whodunnit.
Behind Gilded Doors is the latest in Apsley House’s immersive series of events that bring the history of Arthur Wellesley (1769-1852), the 1st Duke of Wellington’s London home to life. Join a team of re-enactors for a fun-filled experience (between 11am and 4pm), to learn about the people who ran this stately home on the fringes of Hyde Park, once simply known as Number One, London.
The Portuguese Service itself was originally presented in 1816 to the Duke of Wellington, to honour him for leading the armies of the Triple Alliance (Spain, Portugal and Great Britain) to victory against the French forces of Napoleon in the Peninsular War (1808-14). Its magnificent centrepiece is on display in the dining room at Apsley House and is just part of the 1000-piece service gifted to Wellington from the Portuguese nation.
The centrepiece took pride of place at the annual Waterloo banquets held from 1820 in Apsley House’s beautiful dining room and after 1830, in the Waterloo Gallery. Both places you will have a chance to explore during the event.
With time running out before the banquet begins tonight, you must discern fact from fiction and discover who the guilty party is. So, adopting your new persona as proto detective, it is your job to speak to the staff and by the processes of elimination and clever deduction collar the culprit. After all, England and its greatest military hero is depending on you.
Behind Gilded doors: 21 September 2024
Time: 11:00 - 16:00
Apsley House, House149 Piccadilly, Hyde Park Corner, W1J 7NT
Tickets: Apsley House Tickets and Dates 2024 & 2025 (seetickets.com)
Further Information: Behind Gilded Doors | English Heritage