Indian Kiosk, Frogmore

Wajid Ali Shah (1832-1887), the last Nawab of Awadh, built the Qaisar Bagh palace complex in his capital city, Lucknow, between 1847 and 1856.[1] It comprised a series of courts, with pools and gardens, surrounding the central palace. The complex was designed in the Mughal style and the gardens were decorated with “many small marble pavilions and kiosks”.[lower-alpha 1][3] Ali Shah was deposed by the British in 1856, and the state of Awadh annexed by the British East India Company. This action caused enormous resentment and the population of Lucknow was enthusiastic in support of the Indian Rebellion which broke out the following year.[4] The siege of the Lucknow Residency lasted almost six months, and the subsequent retaking of the city in March 1858 saw the looting and destruction of the Qaisar Bagh.[lower-alpha 2][6] Charles Canning selected the kiosk as a tribute to Queen Victoria and had it shipped to England in 1858.[7]

Frogmore House and its estate were bought by George III for his wife Queen Charlotte in 1792, although the land had formed part of the Windsor royal hunting ground since the reign of Henry VIII.[8] Charlotte engaged James Wyatt to redesign the house and sought the advice of her Vice-Chamberlain, William Price, regarding the redevelopment of the grounds.[lower-alpha 3][10] Price's brother Uvedale, an early exponent of the Picturesque, clearly influenced the design.[9] In 1840, Frogmore was inherited by the Duchess of Kent and, following her death in 1861, by her daughter, Queen Victoria.[9] The estate became a favoured, almost sacred,[11] retreat; after burying her mother in a mausoleum overlooking the lake, the Queen commissioned another, the Royal Mausoleum, for her husband Albert, Prince Consort and for herself, after Albert's death in 1861.[lower-alpha 4][12]

During her long widowhood, when she rarely visited London, Victoria spent much of her time at Windsor and at Frogmore.[13] She undertook further building work in the gardens, employing Samuel Sanders Teulon to construct a teahouse, and engaging Thomas Willement to redecorate the Gothic Ruin, originally designed by Wyatt and Princess Elizabeth.[12] In this setting Victoria placed the Indian Kiosk, and in her later years would often undertake correspondence in a tent set up nearby, attended by her Indian servant Abdul Karim.[12]

The kiosk is constructed entirely in marble with open arches and an onion dome roof.[14] Geoffrey Tyack, Simon Bradley and Nikolaus Pevsner, in their Berkshire volume of the Buildings of England series, describe it as a “pretty, octagonal domed pavilion of white marble”.[12] The garden historian George Plumptre notes its “exquisite oriental symmetry”.[15] The kiosk is a Grade II listed structure.[14] Teulon's Teahouse also has a Grade II listing[16] while James Wyatt's nearby Gothic Ruin is designated Grade II*.[17]

Frogmore Gardens are opened to the public on a limited number of days each year, under the National Garden Scheme.[18]

• St Aubyn, Giles (1991). Queen Victoria: A Portrait. London: Sinclair-Stevenson. ISBN 978-1-856-19086-2. OCLC 636229918.
• Metcalf, Thomas R. (1989). An Imperial Vision: Indian Architecture and Britain's Raj. London: Faber & Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-15419-7. OCLC 835581414.
• Morris, Jan (1986). Stones of Empire: The Buildings of the Raj. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-192-82036-5. OCLC 473765817.
• Plumptre, George (1981). Royal Gardens. London: William Collins, Sons. ISBN 978-0-002-11871-2. OCLC 833434627.
• Royal Collection Trust (1997). Frogmore House and The Royal Mausoleum. London: Royal Collection. OCLC 57354259.
• Tyack, Geoffrey; Bradley, Simon; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2010). Berkshire. The Buildings Of England. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-12662-4.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Indian Kiosk, Frogmore.

• Frogmore House and Gardens entry on the Royal Collection Trust website