A visit to LIz’s house …..

Today was spent exploring the home of Queen Elizabeth II, that is Buckingham Palace and what a fabulous day it has been!

We set off by tube to Victoria station again and walked down to Buckingham Palace, where we bought a day ticket. We began by visiting the Royal Mews – I.e. the Stables. Here we found all the coaches that are used for the different occasions. There were five horse drawn carriages some of which were very very old and included the coach used by the Queen and Prince Philip and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge after their respective weddings. Of course the modern Rolls Royce that Kate used as she went to Westminster Abbey to marry William was also there. We then moved on to the stables where the horses are kept prior to harnessing, though none were in the stalls at the time. They only use two breeds, one white and the other brown and they are used to match specific coaches. It takes two years to train a horse for coach work. Then we moved into a special stall in which the very ornate Golden State Coach was housed. The wheels of this particular coach alone were 7 ft tall and the entire coach was over 12ft, so massive. Every monarch who has used it has complained about how uncomfortable it is and they get coach sick when riding in it!!

After this we then moved on to the Queen’s Gallery to see a special display of Dutch masterpieces. There were paintings,L furniture and sculptures that have been collected by monarchs over the last several hundred years, including a very large Rembrandt painting called “The Shipbuilder and his Wife” which cost 5 thousand Guineas when purchased several hundred years ago. The value of everything in this Gallery would be unimaginable. For anyone who is interested in history and art works, this place would keep them fascinated for hours. We were restricted in taking photos, but I did manage to get some shots.

By now we needed some lunch, so purchased an expensive Buckingham Palace roll and cuppa and sat on the front lawn hoping Liz would come and join us, but although she was home, she was busy!!

After lunch we then went in to the actual Palace and oh boy, was it a fabulous experience! We went on a guided tour of a variety of State Rooms, each of which had a ceiling approximately 10 to 12 metres tall. Every room was different and the decoration was exquisite, from the carpet to the walls, to the ceiling, there were huge chandeliers that were 4 metres tall. We entered the palace through the doors where Diplomats enter when they visit the Queen, then moved on to where William and Kate alighted from their coach and entered the Palace and saw where they went off for dinner and a “rage party” after the Wedding. The walls of every room had massive paintings of early royalty. Then we came to the Ballroom in which I found a wedding dress – this was the dress that Kate wore to her wedding and Jill reckoned it was magnificent!!! She was very pleased to see this up close as she had expressed a desire to see it. To me it was just a dress, so you’ll have to talk to her about it for a better description!! Further on through the rooms we came into the Music Room and the Library where the Queen meets sportspeople and such when they come to visit. The Queen enters the room from her apartment through a secret door which is a bookcase that slides out to allow access. In this room there are a couple of pieces of French furniture dating back to 1340. We then sadly reached the end of our tour and left by the back door that led into the backyard – 30 acres of private grassland and garden. This is where the Queen holds Garden parties and where the royals go walking after dinner ( we think)! We took a stroll through the gardens and finally left the Palace grounds at Hyde Park Corner. This was another exciting day, full of history, magnificent art work and interesting pieces of information and we were so glad we went there.

Tomorrow we are going to Norwich to see Shaun in his play, so we may not be able to blog for a day or so. We’ll see what happens.