Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace:

Buckingham Palace is the working headquarters of the monarchy, where The Queen carries out her official and ceremonial duties as Head of State of the United Kingdom and Head of the Commonwealth. It is one of the few remaining working royal palaces in the world today. The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh live in the private apartments on the north side of the Palace. Rooms on the upper floors of the north and east sides are occupied by other members of the Royal Family. Much of the ground floor and the south wing of the Palace are used by Household officials. The State Rooms used for court ceremonies and official entertaining occupy the main west block facing the gardens.

Buckingham Palace

The Queen receives a large number of formal and informal visitors to the Palace, including the Prime Minister at weekly audiences. Investitures regularly take place in the Ballroom and more than 50,000 people visit the Palace each year as guests to banquets, lunches, dinners, receptions and the royal garden parties which are attended by some 30,000 guests.

The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh are the Palace’s longest residents. In 1993 The Queen gave approval for Buckingham Palace to open its doors to the paying public for the first time to raise funds for the restoration of Windsor Castle following the fire of November 1992. The 19 State Rooms are open to the public annually as part of the Buckingham Palace Summer Opening.