A watercolour of the Queen's Gallery at Hampton Court, with figures visible at the far end of the room.

The Queen's Gallery or Ballroom, occupying the southern end of the Queen's State Apartment of Hampton Court Palace, was begun to the designs of Christopher Wren in 1689 for Queen Mary II. After the Queen's sudden death in 1694, when the fitting-out of her new rooms was only partially finished, all work was suspended. Six years later, in 1700, William III decided to take over the Queen's Gallery for his own use and by the middle of the following year the room was substantially complete. The elaborately carved overmantel by John Nost in the centre of the west wall was removed from the King's Great Bedchamber and new furnishings were ordered from Jean Pelletier, including a pair of pier tables and two pairs of torchères. In George I's reign the Queen's Apartment was taken over by the Prince and Princess of Wales (the future George II and Queen Caroline) and it was probably in this period, c.1715-16, that the fine set of early eighteenth-century Brussels tapestries depicting the History of Alexander was set up. Over the last two decades these tapestries have been washed and conserved at the Textile Conservation Studio at Hampton Court Palace.

Catalogue entry from Royal Treasures, A Golden Jubilee Celebration, London 2002