Buckingham Palace from inside Exclusive SHOTS.flv
Buckingham Palace has served as the official
London residence of
Britain's sovereigns since 1837 and today is the administrative headquarters of the
Monarch.
Although in use for the many official events and receptions held by
The Queen, the
State Rooms at Buckingham Palace are open to visitors every year. For visitor information, please visit the
Royal Collection website.
Buckingham Palace has 775 rooms. These include 19
State rooms, 52
Royal and guest bedrooms, 188 staff bedrooms, 92 offices and 78 bathrooms. In measurements, the building is
108 metres long across the front,
120 metres deep (including the central quadrangle) and 24 metres high.
The Palace is very much a working building and the centrepiece of Britain's constitutional monarchy. It houses the offices of those who support the day-to-day activities and duties of The Queen and
The Duke of Edinburgh and their immediate family.
The Palace is also the venue for great Royal ceremonies,
State Visits and Investitures, all of which are organised by the
Royal Household.
Although Buckingham Palace is furnished and decorated with priceless works of art that form part of the Royal Collection, one of the major art collections in the world today. It is not an art gallery and nor is it a museum.
Its State Rooms form the nucleus of the working
Palace and are used regularly by The Queen and members of the
Royal Family for official and State entertaining.
More than 50,
000 people visit the Palace each year as guests to banquets, lunches, dinners, receptions and the
Royal Garden Parties.
For those who do receive an invitation to Buckingham Palace, the first step across the threshold is into the
Grand Hall and up the curving marble stairs of the
Grand Staircase.
Portraits are still set in the walls, as they were by
Queen Victoria.
The Throne Room, sometimes used during Queen Victoria's reign for
Court gatherings and as a second dancing room, is dominated by a proscenium arch supported by a pair of winged figures of 'victory' holding garlands above the 'chairs of state'.
It is in the
Throne Room that The Queen, on very special occasions like
Jubilees, receives loyal addresses. Another use of the Throne Room has been for formal wedding photographs.
George IV's original palace lacked a large room in which to entertain. Queen Victoria rectified that shortcoming by adding in 1853-5 what was, at the time of its construction, the largest room in London.
At 36.6m long, 18m wide and 13.5m high, the
Ballroom is the largest multi-purpose room in Buckingham Palace. It was opened in 1856 with a ball to celebrate the end of the
Crimean War.
It is along the
East Gallery that The Queen and her State guests process to the Ballroom for the State
Banquet normally held on the first day of the visit.
Around 150 guests are invited and include members of the Royal Family, the government and other political leaders,
High Commissioners and
Ambassadors and prominent people who have trade or other associations with the visiting country.
Today, it is used by The Queen for State banquets and other formal occasions such as the annual Diplomatic
Reception attended by 1,
500 guests.
This is a very formal occasion during which The Queen will meet every head of mission accredited to the
Court of St James's. For the diplomats it is perhaps the highlight of the annual diplomatic social calendar.
The Ballroom has been used variously as a concert hall for memorial concerts and performances of the arts and it is the regular venue for Investitures of which there are usually 21 a year - nine in spring, two in the summer and ten in the autumn.
At Investitures, The Queen (or
The Prince of Wales as
Her Majesty's representative) will meet recipients of
British honours and give them their awards, including knighting those who have been awarded knighthoods.
From the Ballroom, the
West Gallery, with its four Gobelin tapestries, leads into the first of the great rooms that overlook lawn and the formal gardens - setting for the annual
Garden Parties introduced by Queen Victoria in 1868.