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The Rubens Hotel is one of our favourite hotels when Lady Regina and I stay in London to enjoy the delights of this great cosmopolitan city. The Rubens at the Palace is a historic luxury hotel in the centre of London overlooking Buckingham Palace, famed for its rich heritage and fine British style. 

The room with a view of the Royal Mews was of course something very special. This wonderful historic luxury hotel is just a stone's throw away from Buckingham Palace, where you can experience the royal ambience of the area, witness the Changing of the Guard or stroll through the picturesque St James's Park.
The Rubens' prime location in London Victoria is opposite the Royal Mews. Westminster, the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben and the London Eye are not far away and Buckingham Palace is just a short walk away. The green oases of Hyde Park, Green Park and St James's Park are also not far away. Here are some impressions of these wonderful hotel.

Lady Regina and I were fortunate to see the King and Queen during the very impressive carriage procession on the day of the State Opening of Parliament. These photos speak for themselves!
God save the King!

Many years ago I was very delighted to commission the portrait painter Max Scotto to paint a portrait for me. Ever since the Renaissance, the nobility, the gentry and the fashion-conscious have chosen to be recorded for posterity by a portraitist. Portrait genre has thrived in Germany and Britain with artists like Dürer, van Dyke, Reynolds, Gainsborough and Raeburn. This consideration motivated me to commission a Scottish based artist, Max Scotto, to paint a portrait of me. 

As I could see on his website portfolio he has an excellent expertise in paintings. In my case the result was a wonderful classical painting and Max told me that he was influenced by the Grand Manner, a style promoted by Sir Joshua Reynolds.
The painting is now hanging in our living room. The painter produced an outstanding piece with a very classic taste, depicting me and a view of Cadbury Castle in South Cadbury.

I was so delighted with my portrait that later I commissioned the artist again to paint my wife, the Baroness. Mr Scotto, who is based in Scotland, painted a bust composition of the Lady of North Cadbury and told that he felt inspired by portraits in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh.

As successors of the early Barons and as the present Baron and Baroness of North Cadbury, and custodians of the barony, we are obliged to preserve this nearly thousand years old piece of English history for future generations.
For more information of one of the oldest feudal baronies of England which existing still today, I would like to refer you to the History page.
Some years ago I have written this short article also for Manorial Counsel Ltd., from the creation of the barony more than 950 years earlier with its history, legends and it's owners to the present day.

maxscotto.com

manorialcounselltd.co.uk/keeping-history-alive

For us, it's simply called the "Britain Bible" and one of Lady Regina's and my favourite books on our coffee table: "British Tradition and Interior Design - Town and Country Living in the British Isles". This beautiful book, which is richly illustrated with photos, describes the culture, traditions, design and lifestyle of the people of the British Isles in great detail. 

It is always a pleasure to leaf through this great book. Here we show a small selection of many different topics that are typical of Britain. This book may be older, but it is still relevant and inspiring, making it a real treasure for lovers of the British lifestyle.
This meanwhile discontinued book is from 2001 and was published in German and English and is still to find today in Antiquarian bookshops.

A view at the Baron and Baroness's display table, where various old and antique baronial, knightly and royal memorabilia are showcased.

Today Lady Regina and I paid another visit to the famous Bensberg Castle Hotel. It is a historic palace from the 17th century, which was originally built by the prince elector of the time as a hunting lodge. Today the Grand Hotel Schloss Bensberg is a member of the Leading Hotels of the World.
They offer a traditional English Afternoon Tea, which we enjoyed in the beautiful ambience of the Salvador Dali Bar.

To mark the recent birthday of Lord North Cadbury, a small birthday celebration was held this year with a Traditional Afternoon Tea at the Ritz Hotel in London.
The Lord and Lady were delighted to invite a longstanding and close friend, Lord of Kinterbury, to this occasion. 

This most charming English Afternoon Tea in Mayfair is served in the spectacular surroundings of The Palm Court.
The Ritz London is the only hotel in the UK to have a certified Tea Master who travels around the world to various tea plantations to source the wonderful teas, served at the Ritz.
It was a great pleasure and honour to take the traditional English afternoon tea together with a befriended Lord in this British icon of hotels, the London Ritz.

Nothing shows the essence of gentlemanly hunting more than this elegant and classy looking English red hunting jacket. Sewn from high quality, soft red or sometimes black woollen fabric and embellished with shiny silver or gold-coloured buttons decorated with coats of arms or name initials.

This typical English red hunting coat offers the highest wearing comfort on the wide field or in the bushy forest. Formal hunting attire consists of a striking red hunting coat, a top hat, a white "stock" tie, which is often pinned on with a decorative hunting-themed safety pin, white breeches and high black or red-brown riding boots.

Today Lady Regina & I received Royal Post from Buckingham Palace - a Thank You card from His Majesty the King for our well wishes which we sent some weeks ago. 

We feel very pleased and honoured to get such a wonderful response.

Of course we very much hope that the King will recover in full very soon! 

God save the King!

It brings back memories of Downton Abbey or Upstairs, Downstairs.
There, the servants who served the nobility, the lords, ladies and gentlemen upstairs in large town houses, manor houses or stately homes, wore fine liveries with shiny buttons that were always polished to a high lustre. The rather large buttons were often decorated with heraldic symbols from the noble families coats of arms, aristocratic coronets or the initial letters of the family name or lordship title and were thus the distinctive mark of the noble household.
Even today, it is still customary for servants in respectable houses to wear livery with such magnificent buttons.

Our collection of heirloom old British parade and ceremonial uniforms, on the left is a Scots Guards tunic and on the right a Welsh Guards tunic. 

These can also be seen at the daily Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace or at Trooping The Colour, the birthday parade in honour of the King.

We are very pleased to have these wonderful hand painted heraldic shields from 1066 Heraldic Shields in our collection. Such commissioned works are unfortunately no longer available and absolute rarities.

Many years ago we had our Coat of Arms carved and coloured by one of Germany's best heraldic artists and master sculptor Manfred Gerlach.

This commissioned work took some time, if I remember correctly it took almost half a year to complete. We were kept up to date on every step with visual documentation.
Mr Gerlach's highly detailed artistic and craftsmanship skills led to this outstanding and impressive result, of which my wife Lady Regina and I are very proud. It has a fantastic old antique look.
Our family heraldry is placed in our living room above the fireplace, where it really comes into its own. Visitors and friends often admire it, especially as not many families have their own Coat of Arms and have not often seen a hand-carved one like this.

The detailed blazon of our Coat of Arms can be found here.

In Edwardian times in English Stately Homes or Country Houses the servants lived downstairs and would rarely seen by the upstairs owners of a manor house or stately home.
The most important of the downstairs people was the Butler. He kept the servants away from the owners - the aristocracy or gentry - and liaised between the two groups. He was responsible for the servants and answerable to the members of the noble family. The butler - in charge of the house, coachmen and footmen. He looked after the family and the wine cellar.

There were many other servants required to run a large property. Without the servants the house could not function. For more to read see here.