08/01/2023
The Queen’s Hotel is considered today as a historic building to be conserved and held for all time as a part of the history of Sri Lanka’s Central Province.
The Queen’s was originally a Governors Mansion with a small structure of buildings constructed to house troops. This was later to become the main complex of the Ceylon Riffle Regiment.
Today the Queen’s Hotel which is one of Kandy’s prime properties set on an extent of 217.5 perches of land is one of the finest and grandest architectural buildings of its kind in Kandy, along with its 54 spacious rooms, and emphasis on its superb outlets the Queen’s Hotel boasts of the King Narendrasinghe Hall (Mini Ball Room), the Queen of Hearts restaurant, the Lord Mountbatten Lounge Bar, Royal Ball Room and The Pub Royal, the latter being the only British Pub in the city that offers service with true colonial flavour.
What’s significant about Queen’s Hotel is, its location both in the city and in Splendid surroundings alongside the Kandy Lake, and the world renowned “Temple of the Tooth Relic of the Buddha”. Kandy which has the world famous “Kandy Esala Perahera Pageant” which is held annually. This pageant proceeds along side the Queen’s Hotel’s East & West wings, providing the most magnificent viewing facilities for the guests who are patronizing the hotel.
From its inception as the Queen’s in 1895, the hotel has been a magnet to visitors. Henry Cave, in his book “Picturesque Ceylon – Kandy & Peradeniya”. (Published in London in 1894) ”Not a week passes without scores of fresh visitors from every part of the world visiting this historical town. They come here to the home of the latter Singhalese kings, the famous strong hold that was the last part of Ceylon to have fallen into the hands of the British. The lovely setting of the city; the most beautiful walks in the tropics, and the magnificent botanical gardens of Peradeniya