Prince George, who subsequently entered English history at number four, "opened" the hotel at the beginning of the 19th century. Almost immediately after his peer, young and adventurous James Mivart, decided to take up the hotel business and hung a sign saying Mivart’s (as the hotel was called until 1854) at Brook Street number 51. Whether Mivart was unusually talented, or the charm of a royal blood person affected, but the hotel flourished: two decades later it grew to five buildings along the same street, and after four it was officially listed as one of three first-class hotels in the capital. Prince George’s initiative did not go unnoticed: King William III of the Netherlands, French Empress Eugene and even our Grand Duke Alexander (the future Alexander III) came to visit the hotel and see London at the same time.

James Mywart retired in 1854, but his work did not die. When the new owners of the hotel (in 1854 they became the couple Clarridge and in 1893 the hotel was bought by Richard D’Oyly Carte, the founder of the Savoy network, it occurred to me to change something - to give the hotel a new name or not to leave a stone unturned in old buildings - they left traditions intact. In 1854, Mivart's became Claridge’s, and in 1893 was destroyed to the ground ... in five years to rise like a phoenix in a new luxurious interior and with all the comforts: elevators, bathrooms and electric lighting. After all, real kings, as we know, do not care about not only peas, but even the achievement of technical progress.

If the hotel owes its elevation to the kings, then the device is to the English aristocrats. They decided to follow the example of Prince George after the First World War, when maintaining his own mansions in London was an unaffordable luxury. At Claridge’s, they spent all six months of the high season, the blessing of living in a hotel high life could have been like any other place in the British capital. Men whiled away time in the billiard and smoking rooms - here was their "club" - the focus of the life of every wealthy adult male Englishman. Ladies read books in the hotel’s library and painted in a drawing room. In the evenings, the capital's beau monde danced in the hotel’s luxurious ballroom, decorated with the reliefs of Marcel Boulanger and painting in the style of Watteau. All these rooms have survived to the present day, except that they now look even more luxurious and the accents have shifted slightly. Men prefer the bar and the smoking room, where they are cut and lit cigars according to all the rules of the art of fumélie, and the ladies at the Olympus Suite - a great fitness center, the realm of glass and light. Claridge’s now has over 200 rooms decorated in different styles. In style ar deko or in Victorian; traditional or modernized with the latest technology; with a comfortable work area or a spacious living room with a fireplace and even a grand piano, with windows to a quiet courtyard or private terrace with a magnificent view of the rooftops of London If you really want to feel the spirit of the hotel, choose ar deko.

Style ar deko as if created for Claridge’s. No wonder the hotel "waited" for more than 20 years: the building was completed in 1898 by the famous Stevens, who became fashionable after the reconstruction of Harrods department store, and the question of the main interior style was finally resolved only in the mid 20s of the next century. Then for the design of the hotel called the English pioneer ar deko Бэйзила Ионидеса (Basil Ionides).

No other place in London style ar deko does not look so appropriate and so royally luxurious. It was not for nothing that during the last renovation carried out in 1999, New York architect Terry Despont (Therry Despont) was inspired by this particular style, combining original pieces in new interiors ar deko with modern bright details. Cream panels, monumental columns, decorated with elegant ornaments, a huge chandelier in the foyer, made of more than 800 hand-blown glass elements, attract guests no less than the opportunity to meet in the elevator a hotel of one of the now living monarchs of Europe.

By the way, on some of the Thursdays you will surely come across the English Queen here. Heads of foreign countries, who, at the invitation of the Queen, stay at her residence from Monday to Wednesday, traditionally carry out Thursday at Claridge’s apartments. On Thursday evening, the hotel’s restaurant hosts a banquet in honor of Her Majesty. They say the queen pays tribute to the interiors and the kitchen of Gordon Ramsay, the only London owner of the three Michelin stars. Presumably, he envies his distant ancestor, Prince George, who had the courage to leave the prim of Buckingham Palace and move to live in Claridge’s.

The editors are grateful to British Airways for their assistance in preparing the material.