The Royal Hospital Chelsea - Dan Cruickshank

The scarlet-coated Chelsea Pensioners are recognised and held in great affection throughout the world. This first ever single-volume book tells their story and also that of the hospital building - one of the architectural wonders of London.

This beautifully illustrated book talks about Wren and his particular influential style of architecture, about the benevolent Sir Stephen Fox and the devious Lord Ranelagh, and about the life of the Pensioners on the Long Wards, and in the Great Hall and the Chapel. The author also gives a vivid account of some of the more frivolous aspects of 18th century Chelsea that contrast with the tribulations of the 19th century and the structural damage caused by the wars of the 20th.

"We have a book of which we can be justifiably proud." Major General J.M.F.C. Hall CB OBE, Royal Hospital Chelsea

"....a superb book and a fitting tribute to the Veterans, the staff who work there and to Sir Christopher Wren's influential style of architecture." The Guards Magazine

Written by Dan Cruickshank, with a Foreword by HRH The Prince of Wales

Specifications: hardback, 192 pages, 275 x 235 mm, 200 illustrations, c. 55,000 words, ISBN: 9781903942277, publication: June 2011, published price: 45