The gates are 35 metres wide and 15 metres high and they open exactly at 10.45am. The guards march in step, the bearskin hats tilted slightly to the right, the red tunics pressed and precise. The Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace has happened nearly every day since 1660 and it draws 4,000 spectators in summer. But the palace behind the gates is a working royal residence, 775 rooms spread across four floors, and only the State Rooms are open to the public. Here is what the building actually contains.
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In This Article
The State Rooms: 19 Rooms of Diplomacy
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Buckingham Palace was originally a townhouse built for the Duke of Buckingham in 1703. George III bought it in 1761 for 21,000 pounds as a private residence for Queen Charlotte. John Nash, the architect who transformed it into a palace between 1820 and 1830, designed the Marble Hall, the Grand Staircase, and the State Rooms. The 19 State Rooms open to visitors every summer for ten weeks, from July to September, when the King is at Balmoral. The Throne Room, the Ballroom (36 metres long, the largest room in the palace), and the Picture Gallery, which holds works by Rembrandt, Rubens, and Vermeer, are the highlights. The ticket price is 30 pounds for adults. The rooms are dressed with chandeliers of 30,000 crystal pieces each.
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The Palace Gardens: 39 Acres in Central London
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The gardens behind the palace cover 39 acres, making them the largest private garden in London. The lake, the Rose Garden, the helicopter landing pad. The garden was used for the Queen’s annual garden parties, which host 30,000 guests each summer across three events. The Mulberry Tree, planted in 1608, is the oldest tree in the garden. The garden also contains a tennis court, a formal herbaceous border, and the summerhouse where the royal family watches the flypast on Trooping the Colour. The garden is not normally open to visitors, but the Summer Opening of the State Rooms includes a garden access supplement in the ticket price.
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The Royal Mews and the Queen’s Gallery
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The Royal Mews, on the southern edge of the palace grounds, houses the royal fleet of vehicles. The Gold State Coach, built in 1762 for George III, weighs four tonnes and requires eight horses to pull it. It has been used for every coronation since 1821. The Diamond Jubilee State Coach, built in 2014, has wood from HMS Victory and Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace built into its structure. The Queen’s Gallery, on the western side, exhibits items from the Royal Collection, one of the world’s largest art collections with over 7,000 paintings, 40,000 watercolours, and 3,000 drawings. The current exhibition schedule is listed on the official website.
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What would you most want to see inside Buckingham Palace if you had access to any room for one hour?
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