Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ton's hair and a whole load of war booty, from Dervish prayer mats plundered from Sudan
in 1898 to items taken from an Iraqi POW during the 1990 Gulf War.
BUCKINGHAM PALACE
Buckingham Gate Green Park.
royalcollection.org.uk
.Aug daily 9.30am-7pm; Sept daily
9.30am-6pm.Advance booking on 020 7766 7300.£19.75.
MAP
The graceless colossus of Buckingham Palace, popularly known as “Buck House”, has
served as the monarch's permanent London residence only since Queen Victoria's reign.
Bought by George III in 1762, the building was overhauled in the late 1820s, and again in
time for George V's coronation in 1913, producing a Neoclassical monolith that's about as
bland as it's possible to be.
For two months of the year, the hallowed portals are grudgingly nudged open to the public;
timed tickets are sold from the box office on the south side of the palace. The interior,
however, is a bit of an anticlimax: of the palace's 775 rooms, you're permitted to see around
twenty, and there's little sign of life as the Queen decamps to Scotland every summer. If the
decor is disappointing, at least the art on display is top-notch, with several van Dycks, two
Rembrandts, two Canalettos, a Poussin, a de Hooch and a wonderful Vermeer hanging in the
Picture Gallery.
For the other ten months of the year, the palace is closed to visitors - not that this deters
the crowds who mill around the railings and gather in some force to watch the Foot Guards'
Changing of the Guard
ceremony (April-July daily 11.30am; Sept-March alternate days;
no ceremony if it rains). If the Queen is at home, the Royal Standard flies from the roof of
the palace and four guards patrol; if not, the Union flag flutters aloft and just two guards
stand out front.
