The Queen’s Gallery, which displays artworks from the Royal Collection, is to be renamed, although indications earlier this year were that it would stick with the name given when it first opened.
The Queen’s Gallery (c) ianVisits
There’s no set rule about whether something should be renamed when a monarch changes, although generally, they tend to retain the name given to them during the lifetime of the monarch who opened the venue. The most famous exemption is not even a royal building, but the recently renamed His Majesty’s Theatre, which has a long tradition of swapping His and Her whenever needed.
Although I was told earlier this year that there’s no known plan to change the name of the Queen’s Gallery, the Royal Collection has now confirmed that the name will change sometime next year.
The Queen’s Gallery stands on the site of what was once Queen Victoria’s private chapel, which was destroyed in an air raid in 1940. At the suggestion of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, the ruined chapel was redeveloped as a gallery for the Royal Collection in 1962.
It was redesigned and expanded between 1997 and 2002, and is open to the public, typically hosting three exhibitions a year. At the moment, it’s showing their collection of Holbein sketches and paintings.
The galleries will be renamed in 2024, with further details and future exhibition programming to be announced in due course.
The renaming of the Queen’s Gallery in London will also see the Queen’s Gallery in Edinburgh renamed as well.
You might be interested to know that in Kew there is a primary school which is the only one in London ( and possibly in the UK ) whose name changes on the change of gender of the monarch.
It is now the King’s School, Kew.
Indeed that was its name until Queen Victoria visited and insisted a name change to The Queen’s School, Kew. After her death it reverted to being the King’s School, Kew until Queen Elizabeth came to the throne. It is now again the King’s School, Kew