Hotels near Buckingham Palace in London
Buckingham Palace is not only the official London residence of The Queen but also the busy administrative headquarters of the British monarchy and has probably the most famous and easily recognisable façade of any building in the world. The Palace is a working building and the centrepiece of Britain's 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. Buckingham Palace is one of the world's most familiar buildings and more than 50,000 people visit the Palace each year as guests to banquets, lunches, dinners, receptions and the Royal Garden Parties. During the summer, the Changing of the Guard takes place at the front of the Palace and is a popular event for visitors to the capital from 1st April to Early July and on alternate days at other times. Since 1660, Household Troops have guarded the Sovereign and the Royal Palaces. The Queen's Guard usually consists of Foot Guards in full-dress uniform of red tunics and bearskins.
Originally Buckingham House, it was built for John Sheffield, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Normanby, in 1703, and was purchased from his descendant Sir Charles Sheffield in 1762 by King George III. This comparatively new royal residence has subsequently been substantially rebuilt, extended, and refurbished. In 1826, King George IV commissioned John Nash to remodel the palace; however, the heavily gilded present interiors were not completed until the reign of William IV and his wife, Queen Adelaide, though the King never lived there. Many of the smaller reception rooms are furnished in the Chinese regency style, because many of the fireplaces, decorations, and furniture were brought from the Royal Pavilion at Brighton and from Carlton House, the palaces of George IV, following his death. It finally became the principal Royal residence in 1837 on the accession of Queen Victoria. The large wing facing east towards The Mall (today the 'public face' of Buckingham Palace) was constructed after the marriage of Queen Victoria to Prince Albert. By 1847, the couple had found the palace too small for court life and their growing family. As a result the new wing, designed by Edward Blore, was built. This enclosed the quadrangle which is the centre of the palace. This new wing contains the balcony from which the Royal Family acknowledge the crowds on momentous occasions. The ballroom wing was also built at this time, and Marble Arch, the former state entrance to the palace, was moved to its present position near Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park. The last major building work was during the reign of King George V when, in 1912, Sir Aston Webb redesigned the principal Victorian facade to resemble in part Giacomo Leoni's Lyme Park in Cheshire. This new refaced principal facade (of Portland stone) was designed to be the backdrop to the Victoria Memorial
We have a large selection of quality hotels accommodation within easy reach of Buckingham Palace and other London attractions