10 Things You May Not Know About Buckingham Palace

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my Disclosure Policy for details.

Buckingham Palace, home to Queen Elizabeth II and the Royal Family, serves as the centerpiece of the monarchy and a venue for many functions. The massive structure is often the focal point for celebrations and commemorations.

On our girls’ trip to the UK in 2017, we stopped by for a visit. We discovered when we arrived in London that Buckingham Palace was open to the public, since the Queen was not in residence. Unfortunately, no tour times remained available.

However, we enjoyed walking around outside the black iron gates and snapping photos. I’ve since learned fun facts about this palatial residence.

Check out these 10 things you may not know about Buckingham Palace.

10 Things You May Not Know About Buckingham Palace title meme

Buckingham Palace Background

The palace didn’t begin life as one. In fact, a village once occupied the spot. Edward the Confessor owned that plot of land and the village. Henry VIII claimed the land for the Crown in 1531. In the 1600s James I intended to raise silkworms there. He planted mulberry trees on the property, however he planted the wrong variety of trees and his plans failed.

John Sheffield, the Duke of Buckingham, built Buckingham House on the land so that he had a place to stay during his visits to London. In 1820 the house received a palatial makeover by architect John Nash. Buckingham fired him for going way over budget!

George III paid 21,000 pounds for the palace in 1761, as a gift for his wife, Queen Charlotte. She birthed all but one of their 15 children there. However, Queen Victoria first named it as her official residence when she moved there after her coronation in 1837.

10 Things You May Not Know About Buckingham Palace

A Sneaky Visitor

Teenager Edward Jones, known as “the Boy Jones”, sneaked into the palace multiple times during Victoria’s reign. He stole food and the Queen’s underwear…naughty boy…and boasted about sitting on the throne.

Eventually authorities caught him and sent him to Brazil. After he escaped and returned to London, they imprisoned him on a ship for six years and then packed him off to Australia. Jones died there on Boxing Day, 1893.

10 Things You May Not Know About Buckingham Palace queen victoria
10 things you may not know about Buckingham Palace – Queen Victoria attracted  a determined admirer

It’s a Palace, It’s a City

While the Royal Family calls Buckingham Palace home, many other people live there as well. Over 800 staff members dwell within the palace. With a post office, pool, police station, cinema and health clinic, Buckingham behaves as a town more than a palace. It even has its own zip code.

One of the residential staff members, a clock maker, maintains over 350 clocks and watches. Two horological conservators wind the clocks up every week.

The Largest Room

In the palace, the largest room is the Grand Ballroom. It measures  36.6 meters long, 18 meters wide and 13.5 meters high. A party celebrating the end of the Crimean War in 1856 marked the first event held in the grand ballroom.

When electricity came to Buckingham Palace in 1883, the ballroom received illumination first. It took four years to wire the entire structure. Now over 40,000 light bulbs shine bright in the palace.

10 Things You May Not Know About Buckingham Palace
10 Things You May Not Know About Buckingham Palace – it possesses its own post office and zip code

So Many Windows and Rooms

Buckingham Palace features 775 rooms tucked within 77,000 square meters of floor space. The palace’s 760 windows get washed every six weeks.

Of the rooms, there are 188 staff bedrooms, 92 offices, 78 bathrooms, 52 royal and guest bedrooms and 19 state rooms.

The Royal Family famously uses the balcony, located on the East Front, to greet large crowds that congregate outside the palace. Queen Victoria first stepped onto the balcony, making a public appearance in 1851. What a tradition she started!

Is the Queen Home?

When the Queen’s royal standard flag flies above the palace, the Queen is in residence. When the Union Jack billows in the wind, this signals that the Queen is elsewhere. She typically spends summers in her castle in Scotland.

The Union Jack indicated the Queen’s absence when we visited.

10 Things You May Not Know About Buckingham Palace flag
10 things you may not know about Buckingham Palace – the Union Jack means the Queen is away

Why Do the Guards Wear Red?

The iconic red uniforms that the guards wear were chosen intentionally. When first created, red for the uniforms proved one of the cheapest dyes to manufacture. Concerning military strategy, red is the most difficult color to distinguish from a distance. The enemy experienced difficulty identifying the number of soldiers present.

King Henry VII made the Royal Body Guard a permanent fixture of the Royal Family over 500 years ago.

Secret Tunnels

A series of secret tunnels runs beneath Buckingham Palace. When King George VI and the Queen Mother explored the tunnels, they discovered a man from Newcastle living in them.

10 Things You May Not Know About Buckingham Palace seal
10 Things You May Not Know About Buckingham Palace – symbolism on the gates

Symbolic Gates

In 1905 the  Bromsgrove Guild of Applied Arts received their most important commission to date…building the wrought iron fence that surrounds the palace and the beautiful gates.

Those gates do more than create a barrier. They tell a story.

On the gate is the Royal Coat of Arms, featuring a crowned Lion symbolizing England and a Unicorn symbolizing Scotland. Diagonally opposite each other on the shield, three walking lions represent England, from the reign of King Richard I. The harp symbolizes Ireland and the upright, or rampart, lion stands for Scotland.

At the bottom of the crest St. George battles the dragon, a mythical nod to King George V.

Party Time

Queen Elizabeth II hosts at least three parties every year at London’s royal residence. Forget fine dining. Guests consume about 20,000 sandwiches at each of these parties, typically held in July.

10 Things You May Not Know About Buckingham Palace gates
Buckingham Palace gates

First US President to Visit

On the way to a Paris conference, President Woodrow Wilson and First Lady Edith Wilson visited the UK in December 1918. King George V threw a banquet in their honor at Buckingham Palace, beginning a long tradition of entertaining US heads of state at the royal residence.

In 1977, President Jimmy Carter infamously broke protocol by giving The Queen Mother an unexpected kiss on the lips!

Where to Find Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace is located between Green Park and St James’s Park in Central London. This iconic structure doesn’t have an actual street address. Rather, it’s located at the juncture of two processional roads, Constitution Hill and The Mall.

The nearest London Underground stations are Victoria, Hyde Park Corner and St James’s Park.

We took the underground and walked across Hyde Park to reach the palace and then visited nearby Piccadilly Square afterward.

Although sad that we couldn’t go inside, we enjoyed seeing Buckingham Palace. It’s a landmark checked off my list of “must sees”.

Besides, I feel like I’ve seen inside the palace, thanks to the series, The Crown! Another fun fact…The Crown never actually filmed inside Buckingham Palace. Instead they recreated the palace in several estates throughout England.

Perhaps on my next trip to London I’ll get a tour.

Have you visited Buckingham Palace?

10 Things You May Not Know About Buckingham Palace group
Group shot in front of the gates.

Check out other Tales from England:

Daring Escapes from the Tower of London

The Tower of London Ravens

 


 

Cindy Goes Beyond is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. This affiliate program provides a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com, all at no extra cost to you.

 

 

Exploring London

What fun we had today, exploring the busy, high energy city of London. There was never a moment when we weren’t surrounded by people. Whether they were crowded with us on the underground tube, touring the London Dungeon alongside us, or milling about at Buckingham Palace, we had companions, curious travelers all of us.

The highlight of our morning was the London Dungeon Tour. This high quality experience, a cross between a walking tour and an amusement park ride, offers performers in period costumes portraying characters from London’s murky past. We saw executioners and Sweeney Todd’s lady friend, Mrs Lovett, a physician’s assistant during the bubonic plague and Mary Jane Kelly, Jack the Ripper’s final victim. The tour was a fascinating and well done look at the dark underside of London.

While photographs were not allowed, we had three pics taken during the tour that we purchased at the end, primarily because of my good natured mom’s hysterical expressions! The final ride features an unexpected element of surprise, and they snap a pic to capture the moment. We have giggled all evening, over the look on Mom’s face.

Mom-I’m supposed to be doing what?? Ashley is ready, though, to take off a head!

The London fire. Mom looks like she’s thinking Fire? What fire? And Debbie’s smile makes me think she started it!

What can I say?! Mom’s precious face…

After the dungeons, it was good to walk in the sunshine and fresh air, grateful for life!

Here are highlights of our wanderings:

The London Eye, on the Thames River.

Big Ben, undergoing repairs.

Buckingham Palace-the queen is not in residence currently. The palace is beautiful. There were a couple of uniformed guards on duty in their characteristic red coats and tall black hats.

Group photo in front of the palace gates.

The Lion and the Unicorn.

A piper on Westminster Bridge.

Exploring London today, I wore a t shirt from Solgave Clothing that felt very appropriate. Across the front of the shirt it proclaims, in bold letters, LOOK FOR THE HELPERS. In light of recent terrorist attacks in this city of 8.8 million people, I was very aware of the need for people who help, for souls who see beyond race and color and nationality and gender and age.

Walking across the bridge where an attack killed 5 people in March of this year, I didn’t feel fear. I felt compassion and a strong surge of desire for humanity to heal its rifts and open its collective heart. Tears came to my eyes as I watched the throngs of people walking along both sides of the bridge, as a lone piper played the bagpipes. The world was represented there, among those journeyers, from countries around the globe. They spoke many languages, dressed in a wide variety of clothes, had beautiful complexions in endless hues, and smiled when I made eye contact. I loved each person.

I was affected by those words on my shirt. I became more aware of being a helper. When we left the hotel, we almost immediately walked past a man begging on the street. He sat on the sidewalk, quietly asking for help as we walked by. I am never quite sure what to do for the multitude of homeless and destitute who beg for money. I’ve given cash…and I’ve looked the other way.

I had walked 20 or 30 steps past this man, when I looked down at my shirt. LOOK FOR THE HELPERS. How could I walk on by, wearing such a statement? Was it simply a sentiment on a shirt…or a belief to live by?

I went back, and gave him the cash in my pocket. Looking for the helpers meant looking within today, and then offering hope and love and a spirit of kinship.

Exploring London became a deeper exploration of my own heart.