Last December, I received an email from the Royal Collections about an upcoming tour of Buckingham Palace's East Wing. Tours were scheduled for late January through March. We were also given an opportunity to purchase tickets before the general sale. I hemmed and hawed for several days before a friend reminded me: we go around the sun only once.
Oops ... I hit the Order button - February 20 at 1:45 p.m. My credit card was charged, which meant three things: cash in air miles; book a hotel, and the Heathrow Express.
I flew out of National Airport (rather than Dulles on American Airlines to JFK on February 18, arriving at 6:30 in the morning. First stop was Cafe Nero (Terminal 3) for an extra-strong coffee and a pain au chocolat. Check in at The Hub by Premier Inn at Camden Town, which was not too far from where I stayed in June at an Airbnb.
Camden Town is by Regent's Canal, and is a cool, edgy place with pubs, breweries (Camden Pale Ale is one of my favorite beers), and restaurants. It is on the Northern Line.
Heathrow Express to Elizabeth Line (Tottenham Court Road), changed to the Northern Line to Camden Town. A few minutes' walk to the hotel, which offers early check-in for £15.00. Thank goodness.
Turn on the TV in my room: Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested. Definitely not on my bingo card. Thursday was a quiet day, so I spent a few hours riveted by the coverage before heading out to Fortnum & Mason for lunch and Hatchards, where I bought several new books.
I have endured brutally cold, subfreezing temperatures for weeks, combined with a snowstorm that turned into icy rain. It took 2 1/2 weeks for the ice to melt on my skylights. Snow can be shoveled. Ice can't. Four days after the storm, a friend dug my car out. I was not permitted to do such things, as I had fallen off a ladder on my balcony a week earlier. The ladder had two steps. I am fine. No bruises, no fractures, but no one wanted me trying to dig out the ice. It was an order from several friends.
There are still remnants of icebergs (piled ice/snow) in parking lots, even with warmer temperatures, though they did not last long. More freezing temperatures, a little more snow, but it could hit nearly 80 degrees on Saturday.
It was lovely to see color and cute ducks and geese.
In the evening, I had dinner at Belushi's on Borough High Street, near London Bridge, where I was able to watch the Long Program (Ladies' Figure Skating). A group of students from George Washington University was at the next table watching the Women's Gold Medal Game. The two Gold Medals were less than 50
The trip to Buckingham Palace was on Friday, February 20th. I visited the Palace for the State Apartments in September 2023.
https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2023/10/day-3-and-4-its-time-for-palace.html
Before my tour, I spent time communing with nature in St. James's Park, enjoying crocuses, daffodils, and ducks.
My ticket was for 1:45 p.m. The entrance is through the North Gate to the Forecourt. If you are facing the Palace (the East Wing), the entrance is on the right. You go through the gate, passing several friendly policemen with rather large weapons, and walk across a path to a door on the right. A member of Buckingham Palace staff checked my name off on the tour list.
Only 20 people per tour. We went into a temporary coat room to hang up our coats and put our bags, cameras, and phones away in a secure place until the end of the tour. There is no opportunity to take pictures,
Our guide, who wore the Buckingham Palace uniform, was well-informed and funny. The coat room, which I think is an office on the non-tour days, has a desk in the corner. A painting by the desk caught my attention. It was of the future Edward VII's baptism.
We walked up the stairs, and the first portrait I spotted was a young Victoria by Franz Xaver Winterhalter.
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| @Royal Collection |
Queen Victoria financed the building of Buckingham Palace by selling King George IV's Brighton Pavilion. Before the sale, the queen took possession of the palace's furniture, art, fittings, and wallpaper, as she expected her uncle's folly to be torn down. It wasn't. The East Wing is filled with Uncle George's chinoiserie and Chinese treasures.
The first room on the tour is the Chinese Dining Room. The dining table is now in the Yellow Drawing Room, which is also on the tour. The King often uses the Chinese Drawing Room for meetings. Four chairs were set up for a meeting. Our guide pointed to a clock on a table. The king will sit in a chair facing that clock to keep time during the meeting and know when to end it.
Most of the tour was spent in the Principal Corridor. We were told that if staff or others come through, we need to stand to the side. That makes sense -- and it did happen several times. The Principal Corridor is long. The walls feature numerous family portraits, including one I wanted to take home: the Duchess of Cambridge (Princess Augusta of Hesse-Cassel) and her two elder children, Prince George and Princess Augusta.
There were also portraits of King Leopold I, the Duke of Cambridge, King George V, and Queen Mary. One of the most interesting paintings was William Powell Frith's The Marriage of the Prince of Wales with Princess Alexandra of Denmark, which was recently conserved and restored.
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| The Marriage of the Prince of Wales with Princess Alexandra of Denmark @Royal Collection Trust |
Queen Victoria is quite conspicuous at the top right of the portrait.
Leaving the Principal Corridor, we entered the penultimate room: the Yellow Drawing Room. More of George IV's collection is on display here, including the dining room table from the Chinese Dining Room, the first room on the tour. The room is named for the Yellow Silk, which was on the original walls in 1850. In the late 1920s, Queen Mary replaced the yellow silk with Chinese wallpaper from the palace's storage, which had once been used in the Brighton Pavilion's Saloon. Today, the curtains and upholstered chairs are made of yellow silk.
The guide brought us back into the Principal Corridor to the middle, where he and a young girl on the tour opened the door to the Centre Room. This room was one known as the Tapestry Drawing Room. In the 1920s, Queen Mary redecorated the room in a "Chinese vein," and it was renamed the Centre Room.
The Centre Room is where members of the Royal Family go to the balcony. There are three doors.
We were allowed to walk right up to the doors and peek out, but were reminded not to touch the security curtains. We can see out, but the tourists cannot see us. Looking through the windows offered an interesting perspective as the royals walked out to the balcony. It is not very big, which makes you wonder how so many members of the family fit comfortably to watch the Flyover after the Trooping.
The Victoria Memorial blocks the King and his family's view of the crowds walking toward the Palace for the balcony appearance. It offers a different perspective.
When I am there in June, standing outside the Palace, I am going to look up to see the chandelier which can be seen from the middle door.
The Centre Room was the end of the tour. Our guide brought us back down to the room with the coat racks and the bag check. I spotted a painting and asked the guide if I could see it up close. He moved one of the coat racks so I could have a better view of Sir George Hayter's The Christening of The Prince of Wales. I smiled and said thank you.
Yes, I waved from the window .... as did everyone else on the tour. No one outside could see us waving due to the security curtains. A walk across the courtyard and out the gate. Several tourists were interested in the people leaving the palace. One asked me why I was in the palace. Oh, I was on a tour of the East Wing, including seeing the balcony.
https://www.rct.uk/event/east-wing-exclusive-guided-tour-10-2025 . The link includes a video highlighting the East Wing.
Those of us on the tour were told that our tickets would get us a 10% discount in the Buckingham Palace shop (on the same day). I walked to the shop and bought a new guidebook, which does not include the East Wing.
Ashley Hicks' Buckingham Palace: The Interiors is perhaps the only recent book to include photographs of the East Wing (taken before the restoration began).
https://royalbooknews.blogspot.com/2019/02/buckingham-palace-interiors-by-ashley.html
After lunch and before the tour, I spent some time in St. James's Park -- and it was a true clusterduck:
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| First two photos - Hatchards |
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| The crocuses brought a smile to my face -- |
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| a determined squirrel |
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| I am sure I buried the nut here |
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| Success |
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| Taken before I went inside |
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| You can have afternoon tea on a bus! |
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| Elizabeth Tower, which hosts the Great Bell (Big Ben) |
Afterward, I headed back to the hotel in Camden Town, stopping at M&S for a salad, dessert, and a bottle of water. I ate dinner in my room and then went to the theatre to see a wonderful production of The Producers at the Garrick Theatre.
I also saw the Marie Antoinette exhibit at the V&A on Saturday. More about that visit in another post.
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