Palace sights in London
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Buckingham Palace
With so many imposing buildings in the capital, the Queen’s palatial London pad can come as a bit of an anticlimax. Built in 1703 for the Duke of Buckingham, Buckingham Palace replaced St James's Palace as the monarch's official London residence in 1837. When she’s not giving her famous wave to far-flung parts of the Commonwealth, Queen Elizabeth II divides her time between here, Windsor and Balmoral. To know if she’s at home, check whether the yellow, red and blue standard is flying.
Nineteen lavishly furnished State Rooms – hung with artworks by the likes of Rembrandt, van Dyck, Canaletto, Poussin and Vermeer – are open to visitors when HRH (Her Royal Highness)…
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Hampton Court Palace
Built by Cardinal Thomas Wolsey in 1514 but coaxed from him by Henry VIII just before Wolsey (as chancellor) fell from favour, Hampton Court Palace is England's largest and grandest Tudor structure. It was already one of the most sophisticated palaces in Europe when, in the 17th century, Wren was commissioned to build an extension. The result is a beautiful blend of Tudor and 'restrained baroque' architecture.
Take a themed tour led by costumed historians or, if you're in a rush, visit the highlights: Henry VIII's State Apartments, including the Great Hall with its spectacular hammer-beamed roof; the Tudor Kitchens, staffed by 'servants'; and the Wolsey Rooms. You could…
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Kensington Palace
Kensington Palace (1605) became the favourite royal residence under the joint reign of William and Mary and remained so until George III became king and moved across the park to Buckingham Palace. It still has private apartments where various members of the royal extended family live. In popular imagination it's most associated with three intriguing princesses: Victoria (who was born here in 1819 and lived here with her domineering mother until her accession to the throne), Margaret (sister of the current queen, who lived here until her 2002 death) and, of course, Diana. More than a million bouquets were left outside the gates following her death in 1997.
The building is…
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Banqueting House
This is the only surviving part of the Tudor Whitehall Palace, which once stretched most of the way down Whitehall and burned down in 1698. It was designed as England’s first purely Renaissance building by Inigo Jones after he returned from Italy, and it looked like no other structure in the country at the time. Apparently, the English hated it for more than a century.
A bust outside commemorates 30 January 1649 when Charles I, accused of treason by Cromwell after the Civil War, was executed on a scaffold built against a 1st-floor window here. When the monarchy was reinstated with Charles II, it inevitably became something of a royalist shrine. In a huge, virtually…
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Clarence House
After his beloved granny the Queen Mum died in 2002, Prince Charles got the tradespeople into her former home and spent £4.6 million of taxpayers’ money reshaping Clarence House to his own design yet the public have to pay to have a look at five official rooms when royal residents are on holidays.
The highlight is the late Queen Mother’s small art collection, including one painting by playwright Noël Coward and others by WS Sickert and Sir James Gunn. The house was originally designed by John Nash in the early 19th century, but – as Prince Charles wasn’t the first royal to call in the decorators – has been modified much since. Admission is by timed tickets, which must…
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St James’s Palace
The striking Tudor gatehouse of St James’s Palace, the only surviving part of a building initiated by the palace-mad Henry VIII in 1530, is best approached from St James’s St to the north of St James’s park. This was the official residence of kings and queens for more than three centuries.
Foreign ambassadors are still formally accredited to the Court of St James, although the tea and biscuits are actually served at Buckingham Palace. Princess Diana, who hated this place, lived here until her divorce from Charles in 1996, when she moved to Kensington Palace. Prince Charles and his sons stayed on at St James’s until 2004, before decamping next door to Clarence House,…
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Changing of the Guard
This is a London ‘must see’ – if you actually get to see anything from among the crowds. The old guard (Foot Guards of the Household Regiment) comes off duty to be replaced by the new guard on the forecourt of Buckingham Palace, and tourists gape – sometimes from behind as many as 10 people – at the bright red uniforms and bearskin hats of shouting and marching soldiers for just over half an hour. The official name for the ceremony is Guard Mounting, which, dare we say, sounds more interesting.
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Winchester Palace
All that remains of a huge palace complex, built by the powerful and corrupt bishops of Winchester in the early 12th century, is a 14th-century rose window carved in a wall from the Great Hall, and parts of the flooring, both visible from the street. The rose window was discovered in a Clink St warehouse in 1814.
The palace was built in 1109 and remained the bishops' home for more than 500 years, before being converted into a prison for royalists under the puritanical Oliver Cromwell in 1642.
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