It is announced by the pompous Queen Victoria Memorial, the 27-meter high monument that pays tribute to its first resident, Queen Victoria, who lived there from 1837 although it was purchased almost a century earlier by King George III and the works that transformed it into a royal residence date back to 1926, under the direction of architect Nash.
Buckingham Palace is a city within the city. In some respects, a Real Enterprise, employing several hundred people, including the officials of the Royal Household, who oversee the queen’s public life. If the royal standard flies above the palace facade, it means that Elizabeth II is within its walls and to see her appear from the central balcony and greet her subjects, you have to wait for a very important occasion.
The palace has an exorbitant number of rooms, about 600, of which only 19 are open to the public, along with part of the Gardens, the Queen’s Gallery, which hosts art exhibitions, and the royal stables.
Visits are held annually from late July to late September, when the royal family vacations at Balmoral Castle in Scotland. And it is worth pairing them with the spectacle of the Changing of the Royal Guard ceremony which, from May to late July, takes place daily at 11:30 am, and every other day during the remaining months of the year, weather permitting. A suggestive and picturesque moment, although somewhat lengthy, about 45 minutes, all to the sound of music.
