Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The first house to stand on this site was built by the Duke of Buckingham in 1702.
It was acquired by George II in 1761 and expanded and renovated throughout the
19th century, first by the flamboyant John Nash for George IV, and later by the more
dour Edward Blore (dubbed “Blore the Bore”) for Victoria. A new facade—including
the famous balcony from which the royal family waves to the masses on major royal
occasions—was added in 1913.
Although the exterior is no great shakes, the interior has a lot more going on. For
8 weeks in August and September, while the royals are holidaying elsewhere, you
can look for yourself. Tours visit a small selection of the palace's 600-plus rooms,
including the Grand Staircase, the Throne Room, the Picture Gallery (which dis-
plays masterpieces by Van Dyck, Rembrandt, Rubens, and others) and the lavish
State Rooms, where the Queen entertains heads of government with grand formal
banquets. You can also take a walk along a 3-mile path through 40 acres of land-
scaped gardens.
Outside of the summer months, the only parts of the palace open to the public are
the
Queen's Gallery
(p. 91) and the
Royal Mews
(p. 91).
Buckingham Palace is also the setting for a daily dose of public pageantry, the
Changing of the Guard.
Pretty much every guidebook says the same thing about
the ceremony—it's terribly British and a bit dull, and who are we to buck the
trend? The needlessly elaborate ceremony for changing the 40 men guarding
Buckingham Palace with another contingent from Wellington Barracks only exists
for the benefit of visitors these days. It's actually interesting for about 5 minutes—
with bearskin-wearing, red-coated soldiers, music from the marching band,
shouted orders, complicated marching patterns. The trouble is the whole thing
lasts for around 40 minutes—and if you want a decent vantage point, you'll need
to turn up at least 1 hour early.
A much more accessible piece of pageantry can be seen at nearby
Horse Guards
Parade
(p. 97) in Whitehall.
At end of The Mall.
&
020/7766-7300.
www.royalcollection.org.uk. Palace tours £17.50 adults, £16
seniors and students, £10 children 5-16, £46 family ticket, free for ages 4 and under; Changing of the
Guard free. Aug 1-Sept 25 (dates can vary), and additional dates may be added. Daily 9:45am-6pm.
Changing of the Guard daily May-July at 11:30am and alternating days for the rest of the year at 11am.
Tube: St. James's Park, Green Park, or Victoria.
Cartoon Museum
MUSEUM Just around the corner from the British
Museum, this is the capital's first and only museum dedicated to the great British
traditions of cartooning, caricaturing, and comics. Displays are arranged chronologi-
cally, beginning in the early 18th cen-
tury with the first British attempts at
the new art form of “
caricatura,
”
recently imported from Italy. From
here it traces the development of the
great cartoonists of the age, such as
William Hogarth and George Crui-
kshank, whose work helped shine a
light on the political and social hypoc-
risies of the day. The displays then
take in the great magazine boom of the
19th and 20th centuries, which saw
publications such as
Punch
setting the
4
The Guard Doesn't
Change Every Day
The ceremony begins at 11:30am sharp
every day between May and July, and on
alternate days for the rest of the year—in
theory, anyway. However, it's often can-
celed in bad weather, which shows just
what an unnecessary ceremony it is. If it
looks like it's going to rain, it's probably
best to head somewhere else instead.
