Named for the old soldiers of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, in their famous scarlet coats – one of the great sights of London
The Chelsea Pensioner holds seven hundred and eight reviews and a 4.3 – a solid score on a good sample – and it is named after one of the great and beloved institutions of London: the Chelsea Pensioners, the old soldiers of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, in their famous scarlet coats, one of the most cherished sights of the city.
The old soldiers
The Chelsea Pensioners are retired soldiers of the British Army who live at the Royal Hospital Chelsea – a magnificent institution founded specifically to care for old and injured soldiers. To become a Chelsea Pensioner, a veteran must have served in the army and be in need of the care and community the Hospital provides. In return, they receive a home, care, comradeship and dignity for the rest of their lives, among fellow old soldiers who understand exactly what they have been through.
They are instantly recognisable by their uniform – the famous scarlet coats, worn on ceremonial occasions and when out and about, a bright and cheerful red that makes them one of the most distinctive and beloved sights in London. In winter they wear scarlet coats; the tricorne hat completes the ceremonial dress. To see a Chelsea Pensioner in his scarlet coat is to see a living link to the whole long history of the British soldier, honoured and cared for in his old age.
The Royal Hospital
The Royal Hospital Chelsea was founded in 1682 by King Charles II – the “Merry Monarch” whom we met throughout the Chelsea survey – as a home for old and injured soldiers. The word “hospital” here carries its older meaning: not a place of medical treatment but a place of hospitality and care, a refuge, in the same sense as the old almshouses and the Hotel des Invalides in Paris (on which it was partly modelled). It was a genuinely enlightened and humane foundation – a recognition that the nation owed its old soldiers care and dignity in their final years.
The magnificent buildings, designed by Sir Christopher Wren – the greatest English architect, builder of St Paul’s Cathedral – are among the finest in London, a serene and dignified home set in beautiful grounds by the Thames. The Royal Hospital has cared for old soldiers continuously for over three hundred years, and remains one of the most admired and beloved institutions in the country, a model of how a nation should honour those who served it.
The Chelsea Flower Show
The grounds of the Royal Hospital host, each year, one of the most famous events in the British calendar: the Chelsea Flower Show, the world’s most prestigious flower show, held every May. For a few days, the Hospital’s grounds become the centre of the horticultural world, thronged with the finest gardens, plants and flowers, attended by royalty and gardeners from across the globe. So the home of the scarlet-coated old soldiers is also, once a year, the greatest flower show on earth – a lovely double association.
The pub
A solid, well-regarded pub doing a fair 4.3 across a good sample, named after the Chelsea Pensioners – the scarlet-coated old soldiers of Wren’s Royal Hospital, one of the great and most humane institutions of London.
Verdict
Solid, well-regarded, and named after the beloved Chelsea Pensioners – the scarlet-coated veterans cared for, with honour and dignity, at Charles II’s Royal Hospital.
Have a pint, and raise it to the Chelsea Pensioners – the old soldiers in scarlet, honoured in their age at one of the most humane institutions any nation ever built.
Alan Nafzger was born in Lubbock, Texas, the son Swiss immigrants. He grew up on a dairy in Windthorst, north central Texas. He earned degrees from Midwestern State University (B.A. 1985) and Texas State University (M.A. 1987). University College Dublin (Ph.D. 1991). Dr. Nafzger has entertained and educated young people in Texas colleges for 37 years. Nafzger is best known for his dark novels and experimental screenwriting. His best know scripts to date are Lenin’s Body, produced in Russia by A-Media and Sea and Sky produced in The Philippines in the Tagalog language. In 1986, Nafzger wrote the iconic feminist western novel, Gina of Quitaque. He currently lives in Holloway, North London. Contact: [email protected]
My mate said “The London Prat is anti-British. It’s undermined respect for institutions society depends on. It’s irresponsible.”