Buckingham Palace 2007. Photo credit: Leora Chai
Buckingham Palace
 with Burlington Bertie .
Venue: London SW1A 1AA. (entrance in Buckingham Gate).
Access: 2008. Daily 31 July - 29 September. 9.45am-6pm, (last admission 3.45pm). State Rooms and Palace gardens. Wheelchair accessible.
Tickets: Adult £15.50, (Concessions). Tickets are timed. Entry every 15 minutes. 'A Royal Day Out', (joint ticket for Palace, Queen's Gallery and Royal Mews): £28.50, (recommended).
London Transport: Nearest Tubes. Green Park, Hyde Park Corner (Piccadilly Line), Victoria Rail Terminal, (Victoria, Circle and District Lines).
Burlington Bertie's Accommodation Choice:
 Beeston Place, Grosvenor Gardens, SW1W OJW.
Situated almost in the shade of the Palace, this award winning, family run hotel, has a long royal connection dating back almost a century to the reign of Edward VII. It has been a firm favourite ever since with European and Scandinavian Royalty, British nobility, gentry, civic dignitaries and celebrities visiting the Palace for royal functions, investitures, garden parties, dinners, etc.
The covered veranda overlooking the walled garden is the perfect place to enjoy a relaxed English Afternoon Tea after a visit to the Palace. while the paneled bar and its deep seated lounge is a popular evening rendezvous for a cocktail prior to fine dining. The spacious dining room offers the best of English traditional cuisine, (noted for roasts of beef, lamb and game), presented with stylish and leisured silver service.
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uckingham Palace State Rooms used by Sovereign and Royal Family to receive and entertain their guests on State, ceremonial and official occasions are opened to the public each summer, while Her Majesty is in residence at Balmoral Castle in Scotland. Passing through the lavishly decorated State rooms used for receiving guests, official dinners, banquets and receptions, you will see some of the greatest treasures from the Royal Collection held in trust for the nation - landscapes and portraits painted by Rembrandt, Rubens, Poussin, van Dyck, Canaletto, Laurence; sculpture by Canova; exquisite examples of Sèvres porcelain; horological masterpieces and some of the finest English and French furniture. All have been acquired over four centuries by Britain's monarchs, a number of whom were avid and knowledgeable collectors and dedicated patrons of the arts.
Each year, The Royal Collection, (chaired by Prince Charles), mounts a special historical exhibition for visitors in the State Ballroom, much used by Queen Victoria in the early carefree years of her reign.
The 2008 Ballroom exhibition displays the glittering spectacle of a magnificent State Banquet; since the time of William the Conqueror an integral part of Royal ceremonial, pageantry and state diplomacy marking significant events. Today such banquets are normally given to honour a visiting Head of State. In the course of her reign The Queen has held 94 State Banquets, entertaining around 160 specially invited guests on the first evening of a State Visit. Visitors will see the horseshoe-shaped table, traditionally used on such occasions, dressed with a dazzling display of silver-gilt from the magnificent Grand Service, first used to celebrate the birthday of George III in 1811. Lavish buffet arrangements of jewelled cups, ivory tankards and chased dishes, sconces, shields and basins from the Royal Collection will be arranged along each side of the room.
You exit from the Palace though the charmingly understated Bow Room, (pause to admire the collection of porcelain from the now defunct Chelsea Pottery), to find yourself in the Palace gardens, a green oasis of peaceful tranquility and wildlife in the heart of the city. Enjoy a walk by the lake and the rarely seen views of architect Nash's west facade of the palace.
Burlington Bertie's Verdict: The tour is more formal and less geared to straightforward entertainment than a visit to the Tower of London. This is a working palace used by the Head of State and supporting staff, not a museum, although the wealth of fine art and artifacts in situ represent a priceless collection of evolving artistic taste and fashion built up over four centuries by monarchs of the Stuart, Hanover, Saxe-Coburg and Windsor dynasties.
The Palace and Gardens tour offers excellent value for money provided you view at a leisured pace and can cope with visual indigestion from a glut of gilt and gold leaf designed to add pomp and circumstance to Palace protocol. The audio guide is excellent and answers most if not all the questions you may have. The uniformed attendants in each room are both informed and helpful and will answer any additional queries about the rooms, Palace procedure and events. They appear to know all the answers.
Buy the The Royal Day Out ticket. It is a real bargain, enabling you to see Palace, Queen's Gallery and Royal Mews on one ticket, with unlimited admission for one year. If you have the stamina of youth, you will wish to make a full day of it. Lesser mortals may prefer to do the tour in easier stages, visiting the Palace and gardens on one day and returning later to see All The Queen's Horses and The Queen's Gallery.
Click to:
The Queen's Gallery
The Royal Mews
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10 Tips for Enjoying for Palace Visit
1. Buy the combined Royal Day Out discount ticket option if possible. It gives you unrestricted access for 12 months to both Palace and Gardens during summer opening times and to the Queen's Gallery and Royal Mews for one year.
2. Ensure you take the excellent audio tour facility on your Palace tour and buy the beautifully illustrated official Palace guidebook. Between them they identify every picture, artifact and design in every room through which you pass.
3. Take your time and view at your leisure. Although you follow a designated route you are not harried by a tour guide. Do not allow yourself to be rushed by sprint visitors: you need time to acclimatize to the visual explosion of colour and imperial grandeur evidenced by the circumstance of each room.
4. Look up as well as around you. The ceilings are in all cases remarkably ornate stucco or glasswork, or both. Pause to identify the many marbles you see. They have fascinating histories or symbolic meaning, reflecting the mutual tastes of Queen Victoria and her beloved Albert
5. Pause in the gardens after your Palace tour. Some of the best views of the Palace are from across the lake. The gardens and glades walks are teeming with wildlife and varied flora in this urban oasis.
6. If you plan to see everything in one day on the Royal Day Out ticket, visit the Palace in the morning when it will be less crowded. Lunch at the excellent Goring or Rubens Hotel nearby, (Beeston Place, near the exit), and return in the afternoon to visit the Queen's Gallery and Royal Mews before relaxing over Afternoon Tea at the Goring or the Rubens.
7. Don't forget to visit the Royal Collection Gift Shop. Each year The Queen chooses designs for limited edition china and crystal giftware, Royal Collection facsimiles and other exclusives. The Palace gift wrap and gift boxes add cachet to every gift you buy. Sales tax can be reclaimed by overseas visitors. There is an online buying facility for some items with special pages for buyers in USA and Canada buyers.
8. Allow at least two hours and preferably three for your visit to Buckingham Palace and gardens. Remember that your ticket shows a timed entrance. Tickets are valid on date and time shown. Avoid weekends if possible. They are likely to be crowded.
9. Make use of the excellent new Royal Collection e-Gallery before and after your visit. This is an ever-expanding, multimedia catalogue of some of the greatest works in the Royal Collection, many of which you will see in the Palace or Queen's Gallery.
10. There are toilet facilities in the Palace gardens near the exit.
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