As you may know, my grandmother, Olave B-P, used to live in a grace and favour apartment at Hampton Court Palace. She moved there when she returned to England during the war, after her husband died.

During Coronation Year, 1953, she converted the rooms in her "annexe" into sparsely furnished "dormitories" where she put up about 400 guides (not all at once, you understand !) from all over the world. The rooms she named after the countries - there was New Zealand, Canada, Australia, etc...

So somewhere in Australia there will be perhaps a dozen elderly women (well, they were probably about twenty- something in 1953, so would now be about seventy- something !) who may remember having stayed there, and who just may have photographs of those rooms.

My sister, my daughter and I visited the palace a year or so ago, and they asked if we had any photographs - but we don't !

So I wonder if perhaps you could put up an appeal for photographs / memoirs, etc. on your WebSite ?

Some of your visitors' Grannies may be among those visitors ....

If you can help identify the location and approximate date of this photo, please email