Pleasure palace ... the extravagant Royal Pavilion.
Margaret Turton joins the eccentrics, the aristocrats and the idlers by the seashore.
People come to Brighton for any number of reasons. The Prince of Wales (later to be Prince Regent and then George IV) came to Brighton to get away from his parents. He stayed on for many years. Today, visitors come to see his Royal Pavilion, the seaside palace that secured the city's prestige. Others come for the sea, or for the famous pier.
Valerie Arkell-Smith (nee Barker), daughter of a much-respected British gentleman, came to Brighton dressed as a man. She caught a cab from Brighton railway station and headed for the Grand Hotel, where Valerie vanished forever and Colonel Victor Barker emerged.
And when the colonel married Elfrida Emma Haward at St Peter's Church, Brighton, on November 14, 1923, the bride believed she was marrying the man of her dreams, or so she always claimed.
Wherever the truth lies, Valerie/Victor remains Brighton's most famous bridegroom.
I have all this first-hand from my guide, Rose Collis, the author of The New Encyclopaedia of Brighton and another ripping yarn, Colonel Barker's Monstrous Regiment: a Tale of Female Husbandry - a tale so extraordinary that it hardly seems plausible and yet it is absolutely true.
This pretty much sets the tone for the Brighton we see today. Some come to sightsee and gawp; others consider Brighton the ideal place to begin a brand new life.
Let's start with the prince.
Son of the mad King George III, the prince arrived in 1783, aged 20. He loved the informal atmosphere of Brighton, which was already quite the place to be, owing to the reputation of Dr Richard Russell's saltwater remedy, both as a drink and - a new concept for the British - immersion. This would involve descending into the sea from a bathing machine and being dipped and pushed through the water in the arms of an attendant.
By 1811, the prince (now the Prince Regent) was ensconced in a fantasy world within his pleasure palace, a structure so bizarre it delights the senses but can also unsettle the nerves. The exterior is that of an opulent Indian-style palace with minarets and onion-shaped domes. Interiors feature the rich red and gold of chinoiserie.
The banqueting room was designed for display and drama. Guests were seated beneath the huge chandelier that dangles from the claws of a gilded dragon. Some guests felt slightly unhinged as the gaslights created an impression that six lower dragons were breathing fire.
Visitors today tend to stop in their tracks. They stand motionless, transfixed by the sight of such breathtaking excess.
The great table is laid with dazzling silver gilt. Multicourse dinners began at 6pm and lasted for hours. It wasn't unusual for the kitchen to prepare 100 different dishes, as was the case when the prince's favourite chef, Antonin de Careme, cooked for Nicholas of Russia's visit in 1817. Careme's culinary concoctions would be familiar to those who saw British chef Heston Blumenthal's attempts to recreate them on his TV series Heston's Feasts.
The prince's lavish entertainment knew no bounds. Nor did his gambling and his passion for horses and horse racing. No matter that Britain had endured an extended period of political and economic instability. Like it or not, the prince was having one long party.
Some say that food, horse racing and pubs were the prince's legacy. With more than 400 restaurants, Brighton is recognised as a culinary hot spot in Britain. As for horse racing, Graham Greene's novel, Brighton Rock (1938), tells of rival gangs and fixed horse racing - and murder at the pier, no less - against a Brighton crowded with thousands of day-trippers arriving by train for the Whit Monday races.
Such was the fascination with Brighton Rock it became a stage play and film-noir classic starring Richard Attenborough in the 1940s. Then came the cult movie Quadrophenia (1979), based on events on May 18, 1964, when rival youth cultures - rockers and mods - descended on Brighton and clashed on the seafront.
Greene's favourite Brighton pub, the Cricketers, ranks among the best of the 900 pubs dotted around Brighton today. The upstairs bar, which commemorates the author, anticipates a big crowd when yet another Brighton Rock is released shortly. This latest adaptation - staring Sam Riley, Helen Mirren, John Hurt and Andy Serkis - shifts Greene's original characters forward to the 1960s, with the clash between the rockers and mods as the backdrop.
But let's back-step a little to when things became edgy at the palace. The prince, (now George IV) had grown morbidly obese. Worse still, satirical prints - now displayed at the palace - depicted him gout-afflicted, absurdly overdressed and engaged in ungainly positions with his favourite mistress, Mrs Fitzherbert.
By 1830 the king was dead and the Royal Pavilion's days as a pleasure palace were over.
The new monarch, Queen Victoria, hated it, especially when the railway came to Brighton in 1841 and gawping day-trippers quickly followed. She sold the Royal Pavilion to the city of Brighton and went off to live in London.
And what of Colonel Victor Barker? Well, living the high life also led to her/his demise. Not content with being just any sort of man, the colonel wanted to be seen as the proper gentleman. Things went a little haywire as the bills mounted. Appearances at the law courts and imprisonment eventually followed.
As for Brighton's fortunes, even as the colonel enjoyed the high life at the Grand, poverty and unemployment were rife. The Lanes, an area of alleys and passageways - a top tourist spot today - was so down at heel that plans were made to demolish it completely. In the end it was saved. Now it's known for fine restaurants, art galleries, pubs and excellent shopping.
Perhaps Colonel Victor Barker and the Prince of Wales wouldn't be surprised to find that Brighton has reclaimed its title as Britain's major seaside destination; again it's a top place to eat, drink and shop and an ideal place to begin a new life.
But how amused would they be to discover that it's now the gay capital of Britain? Brighton can be anything you want it to be, apparently.
Margaret Turton travelled courtesy of VisitBritain, International Rail and Hotel du Vin.
FAST FACTS
Getting there
Brighton is an hour by train from London's Victoria or London Bridge stations. See visitbrighton.com.
Staying there
The Grand Hotel, Brighton, opened on the seafront in 1864. An assassination attempt on former prime minister Margaret Thatcher in 1984 caused significant damage. There are 201 guest rooms. Rates from about $180. See devere.co.uk.
Hotel du Vin is in the Lanes conservation area. Wooden seagulls are suspended from the high-timbered ceilings of the bar and lounge. At mezzanine level, a wine-tasting room has tastings from more than 700 bins. There are 38 guest rooms. Rates from about $200. See hotelduvin.com.
Eating there
The Hotel du Vin Bistro has serious but not stuffy dining in the Lanes area. A three-course meal for two is about $130 ($210). A classic bistro setting with the flicker of candles. 2 Ship Street, phone +44 (0)1273 718 588.
D'Arcy's, also in the Lanes area, has been a seafood restaurant for 40 years. The building is centuries old. Mains from about $25. 49 Market Street, phone +44 (0)1273 325 560.
Sign up for the Traveller Deals newsletter
Get exclusive travel deals delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up now.