The tour now continues up the formal Staircase from the Long Gallery to the first floor rooms. The iron banisters designed to look like bamboo with serpents. Like the Long Gallery, the pale pink walls are painted with a design of bamboo, rocks, trees and birds.
The stairs are lit by a hand painted ceiling window. On the far wall are three painted windows with Japanese figures.
The stairs lead to the South Gallweries which gave access to the rooms on the first floor. The rooms on the east side were used by the Prince until ill health forced him to move downstairs.
The galleries served as lobbies to adjacent bedrooms and were also used as a breakfast area by guests of George IV. They have been restored to their original design with turquoise blue walls which have cut out strips of bamboo printed paper, forming a trellis pattern. The only lighting is from a decorative glass skylight. The floral carpeting is used throughout the first floor rooms.
The South Galleries are connected to the North Galleries by a lobby with another skylight window.
The smaller rooms off the galleries contain information about the history of the building, problems caused by the method of construction and on going repairs to the fabric. There is also a display with a lot of pictures about the time the building was used as a military hospital in “World War One.”:https://www.silvertraveladvisor.com/review?id=210631
