London. 6 September 08
Apparently... Buckingham Palace serves as both the office and London residence of Her Majesty The Queen, as well as the administrative headquarters of the Royal Household. It is one of the few working royal palaces remaining in the world today.
A Royal Day Out... We took advantage of this special ticket option that allowed us to explore the State Rooms, the Royal Mews + the Queen's Gallery and Buckingham Palace + grounds!
...Betty and the kids like to hang out at Balmoral during August and September which conveniently leaves Buck House at the mercy of the great British public and hoards of global tourists... How nice!
Joking aside, Buckingham Palace truly is one of our National Treasures! The 19 State rooms form the heart of the 'working Palace' and hold some truly breathtaking treasures! The beautiful naturally lit Picture Gallery contains paintings by Rembrandt, Rubens, Poussin Holbein and Canaletto. Here you can also view beautiful examples of early French furniture, sculpture by Canova and exquisite Porcelain.
...We were also lucky to view the grand Ballroom set up for a state banquet, this would have been the Queen's 98th if for real! The first Banquet was held to celebrate the birthday of George III in 1811. On your immediate left as you enter the Ballroom you can't help but notice the impressive Organ! It has entertained many guests since it was moved from the music room at Brighton Pavilion in 1848!
Our tour continues at a leisurely pace along a well planned and rigidly marshaled route. We take in the lavish details of the Throne Room, the Picture Gallery, the State Dining Room, Blue Drawing Room, the beautiful Music Room, the White Drawing Room, Marble Hall, and finally the Bow Room which allows us to pass from Palace to 'back garden'! This 40 acre 'park' is rather disappointing in appearance... Described as a 'walled oasis in the middle of London', the Palace's garden is home to thirty different species of bird and more than 350 different wild flowers, some extremely rare. We end our tour with a walk along the south side of the garden, and stop to take in the splendid views of the west front of the Palace and the famous lake. We also take a quick sashay around the very good gift shop! Fantastic quality items including limited edition china and glass sit alongside ya usual 'glitzy' fake crowns, branded bubbly and smellies. Lovely! All in all a right Royal day out!
The splendid gold State Coach, The opulent Throne Room, The marvelous John Nash Grand Staircase and just some of the lovely sparkly bits available from the well stocked gift shop!
8 out of 10