History of Greenwich

rge IV donated nearly 40 paintings to the hospital in 1824, at a stroke creating a gallery in the Painted Hall. These now form the Greenwich Hospital Collection at the National Maritime Museum. Subsequently William IV and Queen Adelaide were both regular donors and visitors to the gallery.

Victorian, Edwardian, modern and the present

Queen Victoria rarely visited Greenwich but in 1845 her husband Prince Albert personally bought Nelson's Trafalgar coat for the Naval Gallery.

George V and Queen Mary both supported the creation of the National Maritime Museum, and Mary presented the museum with many items.

The then Duke of York, laid the foundation stone of the new Royal Hospital School when it moved out to Holbrook, Suffolk. In 1937 his first public act as king (three weeks before coronation) was to open the National Maritime Museum in the buildings vacated by the school. George was accompanied by Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth (Bowes-Lyon) and the Princess Elizabeth.

The then Princess Elizabeth and her consort being the then Philip Mountbatten (who was ennobled Baron Greenwich on marriage in 1947) made their first public and official visit to Greenwich in 1948 to receive the Freedom of the Borough for Philip. In the same year, Philip became trustee of the National Maritime Museum. Philip, now the Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, was a trustee for 52 years until 2000, when he became its first patron. The Duke of Edinburgh has also been a patron of the Cutty Sark (which was opened by Queen Elizabeth in 1957) since 1952.

During the Silver Jubilee of 1977, Queen Elizabeth embarked at Greenwich for the Jubilee River Pageant. In 1987 Queen Elizabeth was aboard the P&O ship Pacific Princess when it moored alongside the Old Royal Naval College for the company's 150th anniversary celebrations.

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