Buckingham Palace to open secret room that only Royals have ever been allowed in
Buckingham Palace’s famous room where the royal family gather before appearances on the balcony is to open to the public for the first time.
Visitors will soon be able to take guided tours of the royal residence’s east wing, the front façade which faces The Mall where crowds assemble on major occasions to see the royals.
The palace’s east wing was built between 1847-49 to accommodate Queen Victoria’s growing family, and enclosed the former open horseshoe-shaped royal residence.
The wing will be open in July and August after more than five years of improvements, part of the ongoing £369million reservicing programme to update the palace’s electrical cabling, plumbing and heating system.
King George IV’s opulent seaside palace, the Royal Pavilion in Brighton, was sold to finance the building work and its contents.
Some of the finest ceramics and furniture in the Royal Collection were moved to the east wing and inspired the Chinese-themed décor of its principal rooms.
East wing tours are available only as part of a visit to the palace’s state rooms – which costs £75 for adults.
Admission to state rooms only is £35, with a £3 discount if booked in advance.
Tours will take visitors through rooms and spaces including the principal corridor, which runs the length of the wing, where paintings by artists such as Thomas Gainsborough are hung.
They will conclude in the centre room which leads on to the balcony, but the public will not be able to step onto the famous open-air space.
Highlights in this room include a newly restored glass chandelier, shaped to resemble a lotus flower, and two Chinese 18th century imperial silk wall hangings, presented to Queen Victoria by Guangxu, emperor of China, to mark her Diamond Jubilee in 1897.
Tickets for a limited number of East Wing Highlights Tours, which will run daily from July 15 to August 31, go on sale from April 9.
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