Trivial Trivia - taking trivia to new levels

[Laurie Verge]

Skipping back to the subject of Mary liking purple, here's a factoid for you:

The Prince of Wales Room in the Northwest corner of the White House acquired its name because the prince had occupied that bedroom during an 1860 visit to the White House. It was extensively redecorated under Mary Lincoln with light purple wallpaper, heavy purple drapes and purple and yellow bedspreads for the rosewood bed that now occupies the "Lincoln Bedroom." The elaborately carved bed, which was adorned with representations of flora and birds, replaced a broken bedstead the Lincolns found when they moved in. The bed "was draped to suggest an antique French state bed or lit de parade, the head surmounted by a gilded half coronet emblazoned with the American shield. The coronet was suspended from high on the walls, just inches below the ceiling. From it hung curtains of purple satin trimmed with yellow-gold fringe over long, full panels of glistening gold lace drawn back with cord and tassels. Bolster and spread were of figured satin in purple and gold; deep purple and gold fringe formed a valance along the sides of the bed," wrote White House historian William Seale.1

White House expert Carl Sferrazza Anthony wrote: “When the Prince of Wales came to stay with the Buchanan family, he slept in the suite, and it was christened the ‘Prince of Wales Room.’ Here in 1861 Mary Lincoln placed an ornately carved rosewood bed and matching marble-topped table from the Philadelphia firm of William Carryl. She had the bed, which would forever after be known as the Lincoln bed, crowned with a gold American shield, from which gilt lace, overlaid by rich purpose satin curtains fringed in gold, flowed to the floor, covering the bed’s perimeter. The bedspread was also purple and gold.”2

This is the room that Willie Lincoln died in and the room in which President Lincoln's autopsy was performed. Anyone want to take a guess as to how long the Lincoln bed is?