The official London residence of the British monarch since 1837, Buckingham Palace is one of the world’s most recognisable landmarks. Just like the Queen, King Charles views the palace as his ‘flat above the shop’ and it will continue to be a working and entertaining hub as well as a tourist attraction. While extensive renovations are being carried out across the property, the palace will still provide a crucial backdrop for the coronation celebrations in May. However, security at the palace recently came under question when top-secret documents revealing the building's floor plan and covert spaces were accidentally leaked online. Click or scroll on to find out more...
In April 2023, Metro reported that confidential documents revealing the inner workings of Buckingham Palace had been released online. Unredacted files and photographs detailing the palace's layout and security features were among material uploaded to Westminster City Council's planning portal. While most of the documents were removed by 7 April, the incident has been referred to as a 'massive blunder' by security specialist Will Geddes. Some of the information that was uploaded included details about sensitive, non-public areas of the palace, sparking serious security concerns.
Among the mistakenly uploaded records were details concerning the locking mechanisms in the palace's 'secure' area, which isn't open to the general public. Worryingly, descriptions of the building's floor plan, which were part of a heritage statement, also revealed the possible locations of King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort's private quarters. The files, thought to be architects' documents, were marked 'confidential' in red and related to a planning application to replace 'life expired' heavy-duty doors in a service room.
Among the details in the leak was the location of the royal family's swimming pool, which is considered one of the palace's closest guarded secrets. King George VI commissioned its construction in 1938, with architect James Jack Roberts drawing up plans for the conversion of the palace's northwest pavilion. While there are no publically available images of the pool, a letter from Sir Philip Sassoon of the Ministry of Works to King George VI when the pool was being designed requested that the walkway around the pool be made of vitreous mosaic tiles. In keeping with tradition, it's where Prince George, Prince William's eldest son, reportedly learnt to swim.
As the coronation of King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort approaches, a security scandal of this magnitude will have no doubt unnerved the royal household. Buckingham Palace will be a key location for the royals' celebrations on the coronation weekend. On Saturday 6 May, the King and Queen Consort will take part in the 'King's Procession', which begins at Buckingham Palace and ends at Westminister Abbey where the coronation service will take place. After the service, the newly crowned King and Queen will participate in the 'Coronation Procession' as they return to Buckingham Palace.
King Charles III and Queen Camilla will then make an appearance on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, accompanied by other members of the royal family. The Coronation Concert, which will be televised, will take place the following day on Sunday 6 May at Windsor Castle. Rehearsals for the coronation are already well underway, with the Household Cavalry seen parading down the procession route just outside Buckingham Palace. Prince Harry is expected to attend the coronation, while Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex will remain in California with their two children.
Read on to discover the fascinating history of Buckingham Palace and King Charles' plans for its future
The story of Buckingham Palace starts hundreds of years ago and spans generations of British rulers. It was built by the Duke of Buckingham in 1703 as a neo-classical townhouse, before it was acquired by King George III in 1762. It was lavishly enlarged in the 18th century, with Queen Victoria being the first monarch to take up residence here in 1837. It has 775 rooms, stretching across an area of 39 acres – and if the monarch's royal standard is billowing high above the roof, you know he’s in. When the Union Jack is flown instead – as seen here – he is elsewhere.
In February 1845, Queen Victoria wrote to the Prime Minister, Sir Robert Peel, about the "urgent necessity of doing something about Buckingham Palace". The first monarch to occupy the palace, she wasn’t too keen on the place, so it was agreed that Edward Blore should prepare plans for a new east wing. Scaffolding went up and work began.
Although completed relatively quickly by 1847, Blore had used soft Caen stone, which rapidly blackened and deteriorated in London’s polluted air. Just 20 years later, the state of Buckingham Palace's stonework was so poor that the sentries often had to shelter in their boxes from falling fragments of masonry.
Here is the palace as it looked in 1873. Due to the ongoing problems with the masonry, Queen Victoria commissioned another refacing and remodelling by Sir Aston Webb. Webb, who had worked previously on the Victoria and Albert Museum, used Giacomo Leoni's Lyme Park in Cheshire as a basis for the palace’s new look. Webb's obituary in The Times said he "replaced the 'dingy meanness' of the previous frontage with exceptional speed and aplomb”.
Another result of Queen Victoria’s desire to enlarge the palace was that Marble Arch had to be moved. It stood as a formal gateway to Buckingham Palace for seventeen years but was overshadowed by Blore’s Buckingham Palace design. In 1850 Marble Arch was dismantled and moved beside Hyde Park’s Cumberland Gate. The plan was to make the arch a grand point of entry to the royal park, in time for the Great Exhibition of 1851. The stone-by-stone removal and reconstruction of the Arch was overseen by architect Thomas Cubitt who completed the entire process in just three months. Here it is In January 1904.
You might be surprised to learn that the sovereign doesn't own the palace. The Crown Estate website explains: "The Crown Estate belongs to the reigning monarch 'in right of The Crown'… it is owned by the monarch for the duration of their reign… but it is not the private property of the monarch”. While the late Queen Elizabeth ll lived in the private quarters of Buckingham Palace for much of her 70-year reign, she always thought of it more as her office and the headquarters of the British monarchy. The palace has been the epicentre of many of the most prestigious royal events of our time…
The late Queen Elizabeth’s move into Buckingham Palace with her family took place when her father was crowned King George VI on 12 May 1937, following King Edward VIII’s abdication in 1936. As her nanny Marion Crawford observed, life in the palace brought down “a glass curtain between you and the outer world,” and the Princess spent hours gazing out of the window, wondering about the lives of the “real people”.
When the Second World War broke out in 1939, Elizabeth and her sister Princess Margaret were evacuated to Windsor Castle while her parents remained at the palace to show solidarity with their subjects. The palace was bombed on seven occasions during the war. The King and Queen are seen here inspecting the damage following a German bombing raid on 11th September 1940, which destroyed the chapel. The Queen said at the time: “I'm glad we have been bombed. Now I can look the East End in the face."
During the war, Buckingham Palace was in fact used as a communications centre. As it has its own Court Post Office, this was set up to aid wartime correspondence. Here you can see post office workers work at typewriters whilst the counter clerk deals with an enquiry in 1941. Fast forward to modern times and it’s also been revealed that Buckingham Palace now has its own cash machine and doctor’s office too, according to Channel 5 series Secrets of the Royal Palaces.
The palace has supported war veterans and soldiers with charity events like the one pictured here. This photo, taken on 17th December 1942 is of The Not Forgotten Association holding a Christmas party at Buckingham Palace, with large tables set up for everyone to enjoy food and of course, Christmas cheer during a difficult time.
The palace was again the backdrop when peace came to Europe on 8th May 1945. Huge crowds converged on Buckingham Palace for the VE Day celebrations, when the King and Queen and Winston Churchill waved to them from the balcony. That night Princess Elizabeth, dressed in her army uniform, slipped unobserved into the crowds with her sister, to enjoy the festivities. “I think it was one of the most memorable nights of my life,” she later recalled.
Happy times were here again, and it was just two years later, on 9th July 1947, that 21-year-old Elizabeth and Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten confirmed their engagement at a photocall in the White Drawing Room of Buckingham Palace, alongside her mother, Queen Elizabeth, and her father, King George VI. Prince Philip had proposed the previous year, but the couple had agreed to wait another year before making the announcement.
Wearing a Norman Hartnell gown in duchesse satin, Elizabeth and Philip married at Westminster Abbey on 20th November 1947, before a wedding breakfast and official photographs at the palace. The newlyweds are seen here waving to the crowds from the iconic balcony – but you won’t find any shots of them kissing, since it was not royal tradition to do so back then.
Princess Elizabeth was reluctant to move back into Buckingham Palace after she was crowned Queen Elizabeth II on 2nd June 1953. She and Prince Philip and their two children, Prince Charles and Princess Anne (seen here on the balcony at Buckingham Palace after the Coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey), had been enjoying a relatively normal family life at Clarence House and in Malta, where the Prince was stationed with the Navy.
On 25th December 1957 Buckingham Palace was where Queen Elizabeth II gave her first Christmas Day television speech to the nation, from her private rooms seen here. Up until her permanent move to Windsor Castle, the Queen resided during the week in the nine-room private apartment but according to royal author Penny Junor's book The Firm, the Queen wanted to remain in nearby Clarence House. She was persuaded to move into Buckingham Palace by Sir Winston Churchill.
The palace has seen numerous visits from important people, including President John F Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, who are seen here ahead of a dinner given by the Queen in their honour at the palace in June 1961. There were fourteen US Presidents during the late Queen's reign, and with the exception of President Johnson, she met each one.
Apart from Princess Anne, who was born at Clarence House, all the Queen’s children were born at Buckingham Palace, King Charles in the nursery and Princes Andrew and Edward in the Belgian Suite, now guest rooms. The family are seen here in one of the private living rooms at the palace in 1972, on the occasion of the Queen and Prince Philip’s silver wedding anniversary. From left to right: Princess Anne, Prince Andrew, Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth, Prince Edward and Prince Charles.
King Charles III spent a great deal of his early childhood at Buckingham Palace. He stayed here when he was on leave from serving in the armed forces between 1971 and 1977, and Princess Diana lived at the world-famous royal address while preparations were underway for what was set to be one of the biggest royal weddings in history.
Prince Charles, as he was known back then, and the late Princess Diana started a new royal tradition when they kissed on the balcony of Buckingham Palace on 29th July 1981. According to The Daily Mirror, the Prince forgot to kiss his bride after saying his vows at St Paul's Cathedral, so decided to make up for it on the balcony afterwards. The fairytale wedding was watched by a global audience of around 750 million people, while more than half a million people lined the streets of London to catch sight of the princess in her glorious gown.
Continuing in his father’s footsteps, Prince William kissed his new wife Catherine on the iconic balcony on 29th April 2011. Despite having never lived at Buckingham Palace, it has been a constant throughout his life, from his regular appearances on the balcony as a child to its starring role in his wedding. As well as a formal lunch for 600 guests at the palace, hosted by his grandmother the Queen, there was a dinner for 300, hosted by his father, the then Prince Charles.
Not long after Charles and Diana’s wedding, the worst security breach in Buckingham Palace history took place on 9 July 1982, when unemployed decorator Michael Fagan shimmied up a drainpipe and gained access to the bedroom of Queen Elizabeth II, undetected by cameras or staff. He is seen here in 1985 in front of the Tower of London. Buckingham Palace wasn’t open to the public at this time, which is possibly what drove so many people’s desires to see inside, but it wasn’t long before that would all change…
The palace was opened to the public in 1993 and quickly became one of London’s most popular tourist destinations. Although not all open to the public, there are 775 rooms in total, which include 19 state rooms, 52 royal and guest bedrooms, 188 staff bedrooms, 92 offices, and 78 bathrooms, along with architect John Nash’s Grand Staircase, seen here. There are a staggering 760 windows and 1,514 doors at Buckingham Palace, plus, as mentioned, it has its own post office, cinema and ATM machine, installed by royal bank of choice, Coutts. Let’s explore some of the most iconic rooms and some surprising features.
Tourists can visit the palace and see the famous Changing the Guard Ceremony from 22nd July to 2nd October 2022. Other highlights include the Throne Room, seen here, which was designed by John Nash. Central to the room is a pair of throne chairs known as Chairs of Estate, which were used for the Queen’s Coronation ceremony in 1953.
This photograph of King George VI, Queen Elizabeth and their daughters Elizabeth and Margaret Rose was taken in the doorway into the Blue Drawing Room by Marcus Adams in December 1938. On the far wall behind the King is a painting of the original owner of the house, the Duke of Buckingham, and his family from c.1628, by Gerrit von Honthorst, which is now on display in the King’s Drawing Room at Windsor Castle.
Also in the Throne Room is this stunning gilt-bronze mantel clock, reflecting the fashion in late eighteenth and early 19th-century interior design for great heroic narratives. It tells the story of the three Horatii brothers’ oath of loyalty to Rome. There are in fact 600 clocks in Buckingham Palace and Royal Collection Trust staff spend over 40 hours changing clocks across the official residences of His Majesty as British Summer Time begins and ends. A team of Horological Conservators are needed to adjust the clocks.
King George IV, who extended the palace in the 19th century at significant expense, was big on bling. The White Drawing Room, seen here, is perhaps the grandest of all the State Rooms, with lavish gilded furniture that could put Trump Tower to shame. When not open to the public, it serves as a royal reception room for the King and members of the royal family to gather before official occasions. It has a secret door, disguised as a mirror cabinet, which the late Queen used to use to enter the room from her private apartments. You can see it in action here, courtesy of Good Morning Britain.
Also open to the public and used as a reception room by the royal family, the Green Drawing Room owes its name to the green and gold silk wall coverings that were installed in 1834 at the behest of Queen Adelaide, who was moved by the plight of the impoverished silk workers in Ireland who produced them. Originally, the flooring, ornaments and curtains were a similar shade of green, but a ruby red rug has since been laid to break up the block colour.
While there is a piano in the Music Room, it is more usually used as a space where guests can be presented to the King before dinner. It is also a popular spot for royal christenings, including that of the late Queen’s three eldest children, who were all baptised here in water brought from the River Jordan. Originally known as the Bow Drawing Room, the Music Room at Buckingham Palace was completed in 1831 and has not been altered since.
Not open to the public and often used for portrait sitting, The Yellow Drawing Room (seen here in this watercolour by James Roberts) features objects from the Royal Pavilion at Brighton, George IV’s seaside retreat, including the magnificent chimneypiece. The room was redecorated and hung in richly figured yellow silk for the State visit of Emperor Napoleon III and Empress Eugénie in 1855. This was later replaced by Chinese wallpaper discovered by Queen Mary after the First World War.
Of course, you would expect a royal garden to be just as sophisticated as the interior of a palace, and Buckingham Palace lives up to this expectation. Described as ‘a walled oasis in the middle of London’, it is the largest private garden in the capital boasting 325 wild-plant species, 30 species of breeding birds, and over 1,000 trees, including 98 plane trees and 85 different species of oak. It also has a lake at its centre, created in the 19th century and originally fed from the overflow from the Serpentine in Hyde Park. Visitors can tour the gardens and even picnic on the sweeping lawns.
In fact, the grounds of Buckingham Palace are so large, helicopters can land in them. A helicopter was first landed in the garden just before the Queen’s Coronation in 1953, not on an official helipad, but in a helicopter landing area, which continued to be used for many years. In 2000, the royal family built an official helipad to save the lawns being destroyed, however, a concrete helipad was considered unsightly, so the Royal helipad is created from a layer of matting underneath grass according to the Londonist. Pictured is Marine One, the United States Marine Corps Helicopter, carrying US President Donald Trump and Melania Trump ahead of their ceremonial welcome in June 2019.
In other modes of royal transport, the late Queen travelled in the Gold State Coach three times: for the Coronation in 1953, the Silver Jubilee procession to St Paul's Cathedral in 1977, and again to St Paul's for the Golden Jubilee procession in 2002. It also starred in the pageant for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, featuring a hologram of the Queen waving to the crowds. The Gold State Coach will now be used in King Charles' upcoming coronation on 6 May 2023.
In June 2022, crowds gathered at the palace gates to cheer the late Queen during her Platinum Jubilee celebrations, as she appeared on the balcony alongside the then Duchess of Cornwall and Prince Charles, now King Charles and Camilla, Queen Consort, along with Prince George, Prince William, Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis and the Duchess of Cambridge, who is now known as the Princess of Wales. The celebrations lasted from 2nd to 5th June 2022, marking the 70th anniversary of the Queen's reign. The Platinum Party also took place at the palace, which featured Alicia Keys, Elton John, Rod Stewart and Diana Ross, and culminated in an epic light show featuring 400 drones.
When Queen Elizabeth ll passed away on 8 September 2022, tributes poured in from across the globe. While the late monarch had made Windsor Castle her permanent official residence during the pandemic, Buckingham Palace remained the focus of attention following her death. Multitudes of her admirers descended on the iconic landmark in the days leading up to her state funeral to pay their respects.
Following the Queen's passing, her son, King Charles III ascended the throne. However, unlike his late mother, Charles has not yet made Buckingham Palace his full-time residence. Instead, the King and Queen Consort are living at nearby Clarence House while the palace is undergoing an extensive renovation. The project is expected to last until at least 2027 and the cost is said to be a staggering £369 million ($456m). The building's infrastructure is in urgent need of a complete overhaul to prevent long-term damage to the building and its contents. The palace's electrical cabling, plumbing and heating have not been updated since the 1950s so this will be a huge undertaking.
Removing the oldest electrical wiring is the first stage. Electricians have worked across different parts of the palace, pulling up cables through ceilings and floorboards, ready to replace them. Another urgent and costly replacement are the palace's boilers, all over 30 years old. They will be replaced by a new energy centre, which is anticipated to make carbon emission savings of 300 tonnes per year. Meanwhile, in the palace basement, which houses workshops and catering facilities, amongst other services, 60-year-old heating pipework has also been replaced to help to keep the building running.
Although the exterior of Buckingham Palace looks familiar, inside, changes are afoot. The East Wing is the first section of the estate to undergo renovations, which means everything inside its 200 rooms will need to move or be protected. That's 200 paintings, 40 chandeliers, 1,100 items of ceramics and glass, 100 mirrors, 30 clocks, 200 books, 300 items of fine furniture, 560 items of everyday furniture and 40 historic textiles. “Moving historic works of art in a historic interior is always complex but this is really on a very grand scale,” Caroline de Guitaut, senior curator of decorative arts at the Royal Collection Trust, said.
Beyond the renovations, according to some reports, the new King has ambitious plans to make Buckingham Palace more 'inclusive' to a modern nation. The King and Queen Consort are keen to open up the palace more to the nation, hosting more receptions and public events. One of their rumoured plans is to open the doors of the ballroom, where State Banquets are held, to the BBC show Strictly Come Dancing, according to reports. The royal couple, who are big fans of the programme, may even have a dance together according to the Daily Mail. However, the palace has also been the subject of scandal in recent months...
In January 2023, King Charles' younger brother, Prince Andrew, was told to vacate his suite of rooms at Buckingham Palace, according to The Sun. His possessions, which were rumoured to include his collection of some 72 teddy bears, were said to have been discretely removed, and he was reportedly forced to close his office at the residence too. Their source said: “The King has made it clear that Buckingham Palace is no place for Prince Andrew." The move comes just less than a year after Andrew reached an out-of-court settlement with Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre, ending the sexual assault case she brought against him. The civil settlement is not an admission of guilt and Prince Andrew has always maintained his innocence.
With coronation plans afoot at the palace and a long-term renovation project well underway, we can rest assured that Buckingham Palace will remain an iconic royal landmark under King Charles III's reign, whether he intends to make the palace home in the future or not. This photo taken in the Throne Room of the palace of the late Queen and three royal heirs, King Charles III, the Prince of Wales and Prince George, symbolises the continuity of the royal residence and of the monarchy, too.
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