According to the official royal website, Buckingham Palace has been the London home of the reigning monarch since 1837, most recently to Queen Elizabeth, who resides in the palatial home when not at one of her country estates such as Balmoral or Sandringham. Because it is a private residence for one of the world's most important people, it always feels a little special when fans get a peek at Buckingham Palace from the inside.
In the past, some areas of the palace have been open to visitors in the summer, but that's not happening this year because of the global health situation. Instead, we've compiled 20 times that the royal family gave us a look inside the walls of this impressive palace.
The royal website says that Buckingham Palace is made up 775 rooms — including 19 state rooms (these are the ones that are often open to the public), 52 royal and guest bedrooms (decidedly not open to the public), 92 offices, and 78 bathrooms. Many members of the Queen's staff also live at the palace, so they're easily on hand. (There are 188 staff bedrooms on the premises.)
… and that's just inside the building!
Behind the palace are expansive gardens with all kinds of trees, flowers, wildlife, and even a lake. The Queen is kind enough to share access to the grounds during her annual garden parties. She also uses them to host family functions, such as private wedding receptions. Princess Beatrice was going to have her reception in the Buckingham Palace gardens until she postponed her May ceremony.
Over the years, the Queen's social media channels have shared a lot about the palace for fans to see. Everything from the state rooms to the east wing, to the grounds have been documented, and now's the perfect time to go on a virtual tour.
Recent Instagram Tour
Usually, parts of Buckingham Palace are open for tourists to see for themselves, but this summer is a little bit different. With many people staying home and unable to travel, the Royal Family Instagram page brought Buckingham Palace to all of its followers via a virtual Instagram Stories tour. The account shared several photos of the interior of the palace — including the White Drawing Room, Ballroom, Throne Room, and Picture Gallery.
Peek Inside Queen Elizabeth's Office
In March, with many people working from home, the Queen shared that she was also conducting business from her residence. The Royal Family Instagram posted this image of the Queen's home office, which is lovingly decorated with lots of corgi figurines and some horse statues. There's such a personal touch here that we love.
Going All Out for Christmas
Fans can always count on getting an inside peek at the palace during the holiday season. The royal family's social media pages usually share the annual decorations, like in this video from 2018. The palace gets dressed to the nines for Christmas with garlands, multiple Christmas trees, and tons of specially made crown ornaments.
The Throne Room
To kick off a new decade, the current reigning monarch (the Queen) and her heirs gathered in the Throne Room for a January 2020 photo together. At some point, all of the people in this photo will rule the UK from that very room. Prince Charles is next in line, followed by Prince William, and then Prince George, who likely won't take over for many years.
The Queen's Breakfast
Daily Mirror journalist Ryan Parry went undercover in 2003 as a footman for the Queen, and he was able to snag this photo of the monarch's breakfast setup. She eats in one of the grand palace rooms on a table adorned with fresh flowers, a silver fruit bowl, and gorgeous china dishes. But she also apparently eats cereal out of Tupperware containers.
Impressive Grounds
In April, to celebrate National Gardening Week, the Royal Family Twitter page shared a video of the impressive Buckingham Palace grounds. It's such a serene place with gorgeous green foliage, bright flowers, and chirping birds underneath a bright blue sky. The Queen is so lucky that this is just casually also her backyard.
So Many Flowers
In addition to sharing a video of the grounds, the Royal Family Twitter page also made a post dedicated to the pretty flowers that bloom on the property. Among the flowers that can be seen there are speckled camellia, wisteria, flowering cherry, and bluebells — a favorite of Princess Charlotte's. These gorgeous images were snapped by Head Gardener Mark Lane.
Palace Beehives
In May, for World Bee Day, the Royal Family Twitter shared a fun fact about Buckingham Palace: It's apparently home to four beehives. Makes sense, considering all the flowers around the grounds that need pollinating. The beehives live on their own island in the palace gardens, surrounded by the lake and native and exotic plants.
Quite the life for a bee.
Bustling Royal Kitchens
In 2011, Australian chef Bill Granger brought cameras with him as he toured the royal kitchens, giving fans a peek at how things are run. It's a pretty large, bustling area, with lots of industrial appliances. It looks more like a restaurant's kitchen than a home kitchen, which makes sense because there are a lot of people to feed at Buckingham Palace.
Audience Room
When the Queen holds audiences with foreign dignitaries and heads of state, she usually greets them in the 1844 Room. According to Vogue, it's named after the year that Russian Tsar Nicholas I visited the palace. He was considered such an important guest that he got this whole room and even once had his portrait hanging on the wall. Now, the Queen uses it to greet her most distinguished guests and to hold her annual Christmas broadcasts at times.
The Yellow Drawing Room
This room was named for the time it was decorated in yellow silk for Emperor Napoleon III and Empress Eugénie's 1855 visit. Nowadays, it's decorated in wallpaper from the 1800s that recently had to be refreshed to keep it looking stately. A video of the room's wallpaper restoration process is available on the Royal Family Youtube channel.
Infamous East Wing
The East Wing also recently underwent a renovation, which required moving all the precious artifacts to new temporary homes. The East Wing is best known as the part of the palace with the balcony — where the royal couples kiss after weddings and where the Queen and her family can be seen during the annual Trooping the Colour ceremony. The wing was created in the 1840s for Queen Victoria to have more living space.
State Rooms
Usually — although not this year, because of the global health situation — the Buckingham Palace State Rooms are open to the public every summer. They'll often be turned into mini exhibits with clothing or other royal artifacts displayed for fans to see. In lieu of being able to go in person, Google has a 3-D tour of the State Rooms.
Buckingham Palace Garden
The Queen is famous for her Buckingham Palace garden parties held on the grounds of the palace. But beyond the lawn where the guests can talk to each other and eat, there's a lake to look at, statues, a summer house, and tons of wildlife and horticulture. Get a glimpse in this video of what the parties are like for the guests who attend.
Ballroom Transformation for a Banquet
The ballroom is one of the largest rooms in the palace, so it makes the perfect place for a banquet. This video, posted to the Royal Family YouTube channel in 2015, shows the hard work that goes into turning the magnificent ballroom into a place for important state dinners for more than 100 guests. On this particular occasion, the staff was setting up for the visit of the president of Singapore in October 2014.
Hosting Investiture Ceremonies
When it's not hosting dinners, the ballroom serves another special purpose: It's the investiture room, where the royal family bestows awards — like the Order of the British Empire — and performs knighting ceremonies. Prince William knighted Beatles dummer Ringo Starr in the ballroom in 2018. With its grand, gilded walls and plush red carpet, there's really no nicer place to be honored.
Picture Gallery
The Picture Gallery gets its name from the fact that it is the hosting site for a number of paintings from the Royal Art Collection. It's usually open to the public, but it also serves as an important room for the royal family. Sometimes, the family holds dinners there, and it's also where Princess Eugenie took her engagement photos with then-fiancé, now-husband, Jack Brooksbank.
The Queen's Gallery
The Queen's Gallery also displays paintings from the Royal Art Collection, which the Queen presides over. The gallery was built from what was once Queen Victoria's private chapel. The chapel was destroyed in a 1940 air raid, so the Queen rebuilt it as a sort of chapel of her own — one dedicated to great works of art.
West Terrace
Snow is not a common occurrence in London, which is more known for its rainy weather, but a fresh snowfall in 2018 caught everyone by surprise. The Royal Family Twitter account documented the rarity with a stunning photo of the Buckingham Palace grounds blanketed in white. The picture was taken looking at the West Terrace, where the Queen holds her garden parties when the weather warms up.
Take a Virtual Reality Tour
In 2016, the Royal Family YouTube page created a virtual reality tour of the palace. Thanks to the special technology, viewers can get a 360-degree look at the rooms by clicking and dragging the video on a computer or moving a mobile device around while watching on a phone or tablet. It's the next best thing to getting to see the palace in person.
