What To Learn About 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. The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh live in the private apartments on the north side of the Palace, while 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 staff. The principal State Rooms used for court ceremonies and official entertaining occupy the main west block facing the gardens. The Queen receives a large number of formal and informal visitors to the Palace. To be received by The Queen privately is to be granted an Audience. The Prime Minister has a weekly Audience with The Queen when both are in London, and before presenting a Budget, the Chancellor of the Exchequer always has an Audience. The Queen often receives members of the Privy Council, foreign and British Ambassadors and High Commissioners, bishops, senior officers of the Armed Services and the Civil Service. Over 50,000 people visit the Palace each year as guests at occasions of all sizes, from small lunches to large-scale receptions. Some receptions have a theme, such as ‘The British Clothing Industry’, ‘Women in Business’ or ‘Maritime Britain’. At other times, the guests may be a successful sporting team or Commonwealth teams who are competing in the UK. The Queen’s Garden Parties are held three times each summer and are attended by roughly 30,000 guests. The Diplomatic Reception is the main diplomatic social event of the year in London and reflects The Queen’s importance in the country’s diplomatic relations. It is the largest reception held at Buckingham Palace and takes place annually in early November. Over 1,500 people are invited from around 130 countries, including members of the British government, past Prime Ministers, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York and other public figures. Members of the public who are awarded an honour in either the New Years Honours List or The Queens Birthday Honours List receive their award at a ceremony known as an Investiture. Around 25 Investitures are held each year and are attended by about 120 people who are receiving their Order, decoration or medals. The majority take place in the Ballroom at Buckingham Palace. The highpoint of royal entertaining at Buckingham Palace today is the State Banquet, given by The Queen in the Ballroom on the evening of the first day of a State Visit of a foreign Head of State to the United Kingdom. The Ballroom is specially decorated for the occasion with flowers from the royal gardens and plate and porcelain from the Royal Collection. Buckingham Palace has served as the official London residence of Britains sovereigns since 1837 and today is the administrative headquarters of the Monarch. Although in use for the many official events and receptions held by The Queen, the State Rooms at Buckingham Palace are open to visitors every year. For visitor information, please visit the Royal Collection website. Buckingham Palace has 775 rooms. These include 19 State rooms, 52 Royal and guest bedrooms, 188 staff bedrooms, 92 offices and 78 bathrooms. In measurements, the building is 108 metres long across the front, 120 metres deep (including the central quadrangle) and 24 metres high. The Palace is very much a working building and the centrepiece of Britains constitutional monarchy. It houses the offices of those who support the day-to-day activities and duties of The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh and their immediate family. The Palace is also the venue for great Royal ceremonies, State Visits and Investitures, all of which are organised by the Royal Household. Although Buckingham Palace is furnished and decorated with priceless works of art that form part of the Royal Collection, one of the major art collections in the world today. It is not an art gallery and nor is it a museum. Its State Rooms form the nucleus of the working Palace and are used regularly by The Queen and members of the Royal Family for official and State entertaining. More than 50,000 people visit the Palace each year as guests to banquets, lunches, dinners, receptions and the Royal Garden Parties. For those who do receive an invitation to Buckingham Palace, the first step across the threshold is into the Grand Hall and up the curving marble stairs of the Grand Staircase. Portraits are still set in the walls, as they were by Queen Victoria. The Throne Room, sometimes used during Queen Victorias reign for Court gatherings and as a second dancing room, is dominated by a proscenium arch supported by a pair of winged figures of victory holding garlands above the chairs of state. It is in the Throne Room that The Queen, on very special occasions like Jubilees, receives loyal addresses. Another use of the Throne Room has been for formal wedding photographs. George IVs original palace lacked a large room in which to entertain. Queen Victoria rectified that shortcoming by adding in 1853-5 what was, at the time of its construction, the largest room in London. At 36.6m long, 18m wide and 13.5m high, the Ballroom is the largest multi-purpose room in Buckingham Palace. It was opened in 1856 with a ball to celebrate the end of the Crimean War. It is along the East Gallery that The Queen and her State guests process to the Ballroom for the State Banquet normally held on the first day of the visit. Around 150 guests are invited and include members of the Royal Family, the government and other political leaders, High Commissioners and Ambassadors and prominent people who have trade or other associations with the visiting country. Today, it is used by The Queen for State banquets and other formal occasions such as the annual Diplomatic Reception attended by 1,500 guests. This is a very formal occasion during which The Queen will meet every head of mission accredited to the Court of St Jamess. For the diplomats it is perhaps the highlight of the annual diplomatic social calendar. The Ballroom has been used variously as a concert hall for memorial concerts and performances of the arts and it is the regular venue for Investitures of which there are usually 21 a year - nine in spring, two in the summer and ten in the autumn. At Investitures, The Queen (or The Prince of Wales as Her Majestys representative) will meet recipients of British honours and give them their awards, including knighting those who have been awarded knighthoods. From the Ballroom, the West Gallery, with its four Gobelin tapestries, leads into the first of the great rooms that overlook lawn and the formal gardens - setting for the annual Garden Parties introduced by Queen Victoria in 1868. The State Dining Room is one of the principal State Rooms on the West side of the Palace. Many distinguished people have dined in this room including the 24 holders of the Order of Merit as well as presidents and prime ministers. Before the Ballroom was added to the Palace in the 1850s, the first State Ball was held in the Blue Drawing Room in May 1838 as part of the celebrations leading up to Queen Victorias Coronation. The Music Room was originally known as the Bow Drawing Room and is the centre of the suite of rooms on the Garden Front between the Blue and the White Drawing Rooms. Four Royal babies - The Prince of Wales, The Princess Royal, The Duke of York and Prince William - were all christened by the Archbishop of Canterbury in the Music Room. One of its more formal uses is during a State Visit when guests are presented to The Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh and the visiting Head of State or for receptions. The last of the suite of rooms overlooking the gardens on the principal floor is the White Drawing Room. Originally called the North Drawing Room, it is perhaps the grandest of all the State Rooms. The Room also serves as a Royal reception room for The Queen and members of the Royal Family to gather before State and official occasions. The Bow Room is familiar to the many thousands of guests to Royal Garden Parties who pass through it on their way to the garden. It was originally intended as a part of George IVs private apartments - to be the Kings Library - but it was never fitted up as such. Instead, it has become another room for entertaining and is where The Queen holds the arrival lunch for a visiting Head of State at the start of a State visit.
Posted on: Fri, 12 Sep 2014 12:45:05 +0000
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