The Royal Pavilion is regarded by many people as the symbol of Brighton – a beautiful, eccentric building steeped in history.

But that was not the way it was regarded in the 1840s when the Pavilion was very nearly demolished.

The palace was created by King George IV and only a man committed to extravagance could have conceived of such a construction.

Only seven years after his death in 1830, the young Victoria came to the throne and took a very different view.

She only visited the Pavilion a few times, deciding swiftly that she liked neither the oriental design nor the lack of privacy it offered.

Instead Victoria built her country retreat in the Isle of Wight where Osborne House can still be visited.

In 1847 and 1848, Victoria arranged for all the main valuables in the Pavilion to be taken to Windsor Castle or Buckingham Palace.

Clocks, carpets, furniture, porcelain, paintings and other works of art were removed by van in a seemingly endless procession. A few smaller and less valuable items were sold privately.

The Government also had no regard for the Pavilion and a Bill was produced for the House of Commons calling for it to be sold or demolished.

But there was opposition to this move in Brighton. Several town meetings were held and a deputation was sent to Parliament.

Eventually the Government agreed that the Royal Pavilion estate should be offered to the town for the knock down price of £53,000. Builders were offering twice that sum for the site.

Lewis Slight, clerk to the commissioners who ran the town, was determined that the deal should go ahead.

But there was strong opposition, chiefly because Slight’s plain speaking approach antagonised many commissioners.

There was a long and heated meeting to discuss whether to accept a Bill for buying the Pavilion and after more than seven hours the proposal was about to be defeated.

Then in an astonishing move, Slight told his colleagues they were wasting their time since he had already signed the contract, having previously removed the names of all the commissioners.

The commissioners decided to put the proposal to the people and a town poll was held in December 1849. There were 1,343 people in favour of buying the Pavilion and 1,307 against.

So the Pavilion was saved by just 36 votes but there were further indignities to follow. The Government took every last scrap of value from the palace, breaking up floorboards to remove hearths and tearing the wallpaper into pieces.

New decorations were bought so that the Pavilion could be open to the public and Queen Victoria returned some chandeliers she had not found room for elsewhere.

But for a century it languished unloved and used more as a meeting place than a royal palace.

Not until the 1950s were some of the original pieces of furniture sent back by the present Queen and the long work of restoration started.

But if it had not been for the cheek and craftiness of a man called Slight, there would have been housing where the domes and minarets bring delight today.