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Buckingham Palace
 Besides
being the official London
residence of The Queen, Buckingham
Palace is also the busy administrative headquarters of the monarchy and has
probably the most famous and easily recognizable façade of any building in the
world.
The Palace is a working
building and the centerpiece 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 organized 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.
Visitors are allowed
access by and organized tour to some areas of the Palace
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.
The Changing of the Guard takes place in the
forecourt of Buckingham Palace at 11.30 every day in summer, every other day in
winter, and lasts about 45 minutes. The New Guard marches to the Palace from
Wellington Barracks with a Guards band, the Old Guard hands over in a ceremony
during which the sentries are changed and then returns to barracks. The New
Guard then marches to St James's Palace leaving the detachment at Buckingham
Palace.
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