Marked by a mix of eccentricity, humour, ‘Britishness’, tradition and a love of the monarchy, the Goring Hotel in Belgravia has remained a favourite of The Queen and the Royal Family since its opening in 1910.
The only hotel to hold a Royal Warrant for hospitality services (which it was awarded in 2013) the Goring has been the hotel of choice of illustrious royal guests from around the world for more than a century. It played host to international royals for both the coronations of King George VI and Her Majesty The Queen and in 1937 the Crown Prince of Norway was quoted as saying, ‘I’d much prefer to stay at the Goring; I don’t have a bathroom to myself at Buckingham Palace’.
A Royal Suite, which stretches the length of the hotel’s top floor, was commissioned to celebrate the hotel’s 100th anniversary in 2010, and it was completed just in time for the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in April 2011. Three days before the ceremony the Middleton family and their guests took up residence in the hotel, taking in the views from the private balcony overlooking the Goring Gardens and, no doubt, admiring the unique collection of royal artefacts including a life-sized portrait of Queen Victoria which stands (protected by glass) in the shower of the master bedroom of the Royal Suite.
On the morning of 29 April 2011, Kate departed for Westminster Abbey from the Goring and she returned to celebrate the hotel’s official reopening in 2015 after a monthlong closing to complete the final phase of a complete refurbishment – the first time the hotel had been closed since it was opened.
Well known for her sense of humour, The Queen is clearly fond of the hotel’s managing director, David Morgan-Hewitt who has become an institution at the hotel and who was spotted escorting Her Majesty down the hotel’s marble front steps following a Christmas lunch for royal staff earlier this week. His unique style, overseen by his boss, owner Jeremy Goring, has made the Goring London’s ‘most characterful’ location. It’s no wonder it has long remained a firm favourite of The Queen and her family.
