Photo: londondrum.comUseful things to know before your visit
Address: Royal Hospital, Royal Hospital Road, Chelsea SW3 4SR. Telephone: 0207 881 5200. Website: chelsea-pensioners.co.uk
How much do the tickets cost?
Adult tickets for the Guided Tour are from £30; Children (14-17) £17.
What are the opening hours?
The Guided Tours are 2pm (Tue-Fri and Sun); 10.30am (Sat).
How much time do you need?
A typical visit to the Royal Hospital takes 2 hours.
Which buses go to the Royal Hospital?
Bus routes 11, 137, 170, 211, 360 and 452 all stop close by.
Which is the closest train station?
The nearest station is Sloane Square, which connects with the Circle and District lines. You can walk the ⅖ mile to the Royal Hospital in about 7 minutes.
Which other attractions are nearby?
Here are four attractions within 15 minutes walk of the Royal Hospital: National Army Museum, Saatchi Gallery, Chelsea Physic Garden and Battersea Park Children’s Zoo.
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Email My review of the Royal Hospital
How do you fancy spending a couple of hours walking around an old people’s home? It’s more interesting than it sounds because this is the Royal Hospital we’re talking about – Charles II’s answer to the Hotel des Invalides in Paris. In order to compete with Louis XIV’s magnificent military hospice he enlisted the help of Sir Christopher Wren to build him a better one in Chelsea.
The last time I came here I’m sure they let you walk around the Great Hall and Chapel for free but you’re only allowed to visit the little museum, cafe and shop in Soane Stable Yard now (it’s not worth coming just for those). If you want to look around the main buildings then you have to book yourself onto a guided tour with one of the residents.
The Chelsea Pensioners
You will almost certainly have heard of these residents before – they’re the famous Chelsea Pensioners, and you can see them shuffling around the grounds with their walking sticks and mobility scooters. It’s hard to imagine them charging through the mud and blood with guns and grenades in the battlefields of France but that’s what they did, wasn’t it? These aren’t your everyday grandads – these are fighting grandads, grandads of war.
If you fancy becoming one yourself then you have to be ex-Army and at risk of spending your final years alone (the Air Force and Navy have their own homes in different parts of the country). You also need to be in reasonably good shape because despite its name this place is not an actual hospital – it’s more like an almshouse offering accommodation, comradeship and a decent level of care.
Soane Stable Yard
Photo: londondrum.comOnce you’ve bought your tour ticket from the shop you mill around with about 20-25 other people until the tour guide arrives in his scarlet coat and tricorne hat, looking like he’s just stepped out of a Napoleonic War. After a quick little introductory video he takes you into one of Christopher Wren’s wings and then he starts explaining what life is like for the residents.
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The bedrooms aren’t exactly what you’d call roomy but everything else seems pretty plush: they get three meals a day, free laundry, a doctor and dentist on call, no energy bills or council tax to pay, and all they have to do in return is surrender their pensions and make sure they behave themselves. They even have their own pub and community room for a library, choir and train set.
Photo: londondrum.comOur tour guide today was very honest with his stories and didn’t mind telling us the pitfalls of living with 300 OAPs. You can imagine the kind of characters they have in here – they’ve got captains, colonels, brigadiers and generals, and even a couple of guys who fought in World War II!
Figure Court and the Great Hall
Photo: londondrum.comAfter walking through Figure Court with its rather bizarre statue of Charles II all gilded in gold and posing as a Roman emperor, looking out over the lawn where they hold the Chelsea Flower Show, he heads into the historic Great Hall with its honour boards and battle flags and huge mural of Charles II by Antonio Verrio.
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175 years ago this was where the Duke of Wellington lay in state before his funeral at St Paul’s and you can still see the table that he rested on, but nowadays they use it as a dining room and the kitchen staff were still busy carrying out the dirty cutlery from lunch, tidying up the bottles of brown sauce and mustard on the tabletops, and preparing the big serving trolleys for dinner.
Christopher Wren’s Chapel
Photo: londondrum.comChristopher Wren’s Chapel has Sebastiano Ricci’s famous painting of the Resurrection in the half dome of the apse.
If you happen to be in the area then they hold a service every Sunday morning that might be worth a try. They open the gates up to the public at half past 10 and you can watch a mini-parade of Chelsea Pensioners walk inside.
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What do you think? (4)
Ask a question, or share your experience of the Royal Hospital
Tony S How long does it take to walk from Sloane Square to Royal Hospital Chelsea. (reply)
Craig It’s only half a mile, so not very long – 10 minutes max. (reply)
MM How do you become a Chelsea Pensioner? Is it open to anyone? (reply)
Craig Hi MM. You must have served in the British Army for at least 12 years and be capable of living on your own with only minor support. It’s not like a nursing home. You can check out the full info on their website – chelsea-pensioners.co.uk/become-chelsea-pensioner (reply)
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