Ambassador Gallery

Mrs Kennedy and her deb daughters

Mrs Joseph Kennedy, wife of H.E. the United States Ambassador, in a photograph to mark the presentation of two of her daughters at the first court at Buckingham Palace in May 1938. On the left is Rosemary Kennedy (1918 - 2005), in the middle Rose Kennedy and on the right, Kathleen Kick Kennedy. Kathleen met Billy Cavendish, heir to the Devonshire dukedom during the Season and married him becoming Marchioness of Hartington. He was killed during World War II and Kathleen herself was killed in a plane crash in 1948. Rosemary, or Rosie, was deemed mentally retarded and was subjected to a frontal lobotomy at the age of 23. She spent much of her life in and out of asylums. Date: 1938

© Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans

The Grand Staircase in Dorchester House

Interior of Dorchester House at the time it was the residence of the American Ambassador in London, Mr Whitelaw Reid. Located on Park Lane, it was designed by Lewis Vulliamy for Robert Holford, built on the site of an earlier house belonging to the Earls of Dorchester in 1851 - 53. It was the residence of Mr. Whitelaw Reid, American Ambassador to the Court of St. James's, from 1905-13 and served as a hospital during World War I. One of the most impressive and palatial mansions in London, It contained a fine picture gallery, library and was particularly noted for its grand staircase. The house was sold in 1929 and demolished to make way for the Dorchester Hotel. Date: 1906

© Mary Evans Picture Library

Presentation of Mahometan Credentials, or The Final Resource of the French Atheist, 1793 (hand-coloured etching)

NCO190457 Presentation of Mahometan Credentials, or The Final Resource of the French Atheist, 1793 (hand-coloured etching) by Gillray, James (1757-1815); Courtesy of the Warden and Scholars of New College, Oxford; (add.info.: the Turkish plenipotentiary proposing an alliance between England, France and Turkey; Charles James Fox (1749-1806), Richard Sheridan (1751-1816) and Joseph Priestley (1733-1804) kneeling; bonnet rouge with crescent moon emblem; implied French plot with radical Whig support; received by King George III (1738-1820) and Queen Charlotte (1744-1818); William Pitt (1759-1806) with the body of a monkey; Henry Dundas (1742-1811) standing guard; The treaty document, which had been the centrepiece of works by Alexander, Daniell, Brown, and others, is converted into a phallic displayof national "credentials." )

© Bridgeman Images