Description
Buckingham Palace is the British monarch's London residence and workplace, at the end of the Mall in Westminster: a Portland stone façade 108 meters wide, the famous balcony where the royal family greets the crowds, and 775 rooms behind it.
It is the stage of royal London: weddings, jubilees and mourning all gather crowds at its railings. For most of the summer, and on some days in winter and spring, its grandest rooms open to visitors.
Out front, the Changing of the Guard takes place in the forecourt: a grand military ceremony, and one of the free shows of London that draw the biggest crowds. Before the gates stands the Victoria Memorial, Thomas Brock's great statue of the queen, at the head of the Mall that runs from Admiralty Arch across St James's Park.
Inside, the 19 State Rooms are where the monarch receives and entertains. They glow with colored scagliola, cream and gold, and run along the garden side around the Music Room, with the Throne Room and the White and Blue Drawing Rooms nearby.
At their heart is the Picture Gallery, 50 meters long and lit from above, hung with paintings by Rembrandt, van Dyck, Rubens and Vermeer from the Royal Collection.
Next to the palace, the Royal Mews houses the royal carriages and horses. The star is the Gold State Coach, a gilded Rococo carriage of 1760, used at every coronation since William IV. More of the Royal Collection is shown in the King's Gallery, built where a German bomb destroyed the chapel.
It was not even meant to be a palace. In 1703 it was a townhouse for the Duke of Buckingham, and George III bought it in 1761 for Queen Charlotte. Then George IV decided it should become a palace, and John Nash's bills grew so fast that he was dismissed in 1829.
Victoria was the first monarch to live here, from 1837. Widowed in 1861, she withdrew to Windsor, Balmoral and Osborne and left it shuttered; in 1864 someone pinned a note to the railings: "These commanding premises to be let or sold, in consequence of the late occupant's declining business."
In the Second World War the palace was bombed nine times. "I'm glad we have been bombed," said Queen Elizabeth, the future Queen Mother. "Now I can look the East End in the face." Charles III lives at nearby Clarence House, but this is where he works.
Don't miss
• The Changing of the Guard.
• The State Rooms and the Picture Gallery.
• The Royal Mews and the Gold State Coach.
• The Victoria Memorial.
Did you know?
• The garden, 16 hectares with a lake, is the largest private garden in London.
• Behind its walls there are a cinema, a swimming pool and a post office.
• A river, the Tyburn, still flows beneath the courtyard.
• In 1982 an intruder, Michael Fagan, got as far as Queen Elizabeth II's bedroom.
It is the stage of royal London: weddings, jubilees and mourning all gather crowds at its railings. For most of the summer, and on some days in winter and spring, its grandest rooms open to visitors.
Out front, the Changing of the Guard takes place in the forecourt: a grand military ceremony, and one of the free shows of London that draw the biggest crowds. Before the gates stands the Victoria Memorial, Thomas Brock's great statue of the queen, at the head of the Mall that runs from Admiralty Arch across St James's Park.
Inside, the 19 State Rooms are where the monarch receives and entertains. They glow with colored scagliola, cream and gold, and run along the garden side around the Music Room, with the Throne Room and the White and Blue Drawing Rooms nearby.
At their heart is the Picture Gallery, 50 meters long and lit from above, hung with paintings by Rembrandt, van Dyck, Rubens and Vermeer from the Royal Collection.
Next to the palace, the Royal Mews houses the royal carriages and horses. The star is the Gold State Coach, a gilded Rococo carriage of 1760, used at every coronation since William IV. More of the Royal Collection is shown in the King's Gallery, built where a German bomb destroyed the chapel.
It was not even meant to be a palace. In 1703 it was a townhouse for the Duke of Buckingham, and George III bought it in 1761 for Queen Charlotte. Then George IV decided it should become a palace, and John Nash's bills grew so fast that he was dismissed in 1829.
Victoria was the first monarch to live here, from 1837. Widowed in 1861, she withdrew to Windsor, Balmoral and Osborne and left it shuttered; in 1864 someone pinned a note to the railings: "These commanding premises to be let or sold, in consequence of the late occupant's declining business."
In the Second World War the palace was bombed nine times. "I'm glad we have been bombed," said Queen Elizabeth, the future Queen Mother. "Now I can look the East End in the face." Charles III lives at nearby Clarence House, but this is where he works.
Don't miss
• The Changing of the Guard.
• The State Rooms and the Picture Gallery.
• The Royal Mews and the Gold State Coach.
• The Victoria Memorial.
Did you know?
• The garden, 16 hectares with a lake, is the largest private garden in London.
• Behind its walls there are a cinema, a swimming pool and a post office.
• A river, the Tyburn, still flows beneath the courtyard.
• In 1982 an intruder, Michael Fagan, got as far as Queen Elizabeth II's bedroom.