Buckingham Palace is the home of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. It is situated in the heart of London, close to Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral, great shopping, and beautiful parks.

After several years of renovations the new and enlarged Queens Gallery opened in May 2002 to celebrate the Queens Golden Jubilee. It is now a very impressive structure not the small hole in the wall that it used to be. Not that I didn’t love that little whole in the wall and somehow for me this new structure though beautiful is quite cold and the staff much more formal than before.

The exhibit was entitled Royal Treasures and what a treasure it is. You come up the formal stairway and are greeted by a bust of Her Majesty. There was a young man stationed beside it who was more than happy to gush on about it, but I was more interested in getting into the gallery.

The first gallery, the Pennethorne Gallery has bright green walls that make a dramatic back drop for Van Dykes monumental equestrian portrait of Charles I. It grabs your attention as soon as you enter the room. Opposite it stands a magnificent boulle secretaire made of ash, oak, pine, brass, copper, tortoise shell ebony, rosewood etc. from the collection of George IV, I’m sure you can get the picture. A small room off this gallery contains a cabinet of miniatures including three by Holbein that are particularly beautiful. I have to admit that miniatures are a real favorite of mine.

The depth of the Queens Collection is obviously immeasurable. On the right wall you have Vermeer’s Lady at the Virginals with a Gentleman and Cranach’s Apollo and Diana and across from them is George de la Tours St. Jerome. In a second cabinet room are Grannies Chips the 3rd and 4th largest Cullinan Stones 63 and 94 carats. Also in this cabinet are the necklace that the Queen wore to her coronation and also her collection of Faberge. I am only touching on the surface of what was here. This is truly magnificence on a magnificent scale.

The Nash Gallery has bright red walls and again they are the perfect backdrop for the paintings chosen for display here. Hogarth, Copley, Stubbs, Zoffany, and Viger LeBrun. It is however Sir Joshua Reynolds portrait with the red jacket, Sr. Thomas Lawrence’s Pope Pius VII with his red cape and chair and Thomas Gainsborough’s Johann Christian Fisher in a maroon suit that really play to the room’s color. These three paintings are all on one wall for maximum affect.

There is a room of sketches that includes a DaVinci, a Michaelangelo and a Raphael. I was impressed. The only jarring moment came when confronted by the hideous Lucien Freud portrait of the Queen.

Even the bathrooms here are luxurious. Make sure you pay them a visit. The gift shop is extensive and expensive. This time I chose to look but didn’t buy.

This particular exhibit will be on through January 3, 2003. But if the past is any indication this is just one of many that the Gallery will have to offer.

After viewing Westminster Abbey, we walked along up Storey's Gate Road and made a left onto Birdcage Walk, which runs along St. James's Park. As you approach the Palace, turn right and enter the courtyard through the gate. The courtyard has a large statue memorial for Queen Victoria and you will find many opportunites for interesting photos. If you're lucky, you'll find yourself there on a day where the Changing of the Guard happens. Our guidebook told us that in September, it happens on odd days at 11:30am. However, it did not commence on the 15th of September this year. We were very disappointed. Please call 0839-123411 to find out when the Changing of the Guard occurs on the days you are in town.

You can tour the Palace's State Apartments for about £10.50. However, our guidebook had this to say, "Many people find the visit overpriced and disappointing." Also, the queues were very long for the tour. We also decided to save some time and we skipped the tour.

Buckingham Palace is one of the most famous buildings in the world (not very impressive though). The palace was built in the 18th century for the Duke of Buckingham, later taken by George IV and became Britain’s royal residence in 1837. Changing of the Guard takes place at 11:30.

Buckingham Palace is the official London residence of her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. You are able to tell when she is in residence by her personal standard on the flagpole which flies when she is home.

Originally this building was the London home of the Duke of Buckingham, hence the name, but it was bought by King George III and Queen Charlotte in 1762. It has been renovated several times over the past centuries with the East Front being built in 1847. That's the area which you would most likely see, being the side which faces the Mall.
Several areas are open to the public including the Royal Mews which houses the state carriages. One such one being the gold state coach used for coronations.
You might want to see the Changing of the Guard which takes place from April to July at 11:30 and on alternate days from August to March.