by I always found St. James’s Palace mysterious. If you drive up the shopping center from the Trafalgar Square, your view is so blind on the glittering stack at the end of the street that it is easy to miss the old red-brick palace, which hides in sight to the right.
Well, the most mysterious royal building was just a little less mysterious. From this week, the 500-year-old palace-site opened the residence of the reigning monarch-sine doors for the general public for centuries. And I was on the first tour of the season.
The tour begins
Our 30-member group, which gathered in front of the side entrance in the Marlborough Road, released the aura of the happy families who had found golden tickets in their chocolate bars. Only instead of a chocolate factory did we want to take a tour of a royal palace as an old oak. Instead of an extravagant, tin -Christian chocolatier, our guide was a royal expert named Sarah, the St.
For many centuries, the St. James’s Palace has been closed to the public, its courtyards and decorated stairs of imagination. But then the palace closed soft little test tours Royal collection Newsletter subscribers in autumn 2022 and 2023. This year, the opening is much larger scale and has been widespread: 2,500 members of the public will go through the doors in April and May.
When we entered, we were enforced a security test and briefing. Photographs and videos would not be allowed during the tour, we were told. No, of course nothing to touch. And somewhat worrying, there would be no toilet stops during the 90-minute hike.
After going through the lower corridor, behind a very defiant looking King Charles I (painted while things didn’t go so well for him), we entered the color, half in sunshine. Here we had a first look at the big gatehouse, which was quite unusually positioned to the side of the courtyard. Why? Because the architects used the original medieval foundations. The palace I have learned is a product of the gradual march of change. And fire.
Next we reached the Grand Stairs. Here was the first thing my attention was made, a wonderful portrait of Queen Elizabeth II by Richard Stone, which was given to the royal collection in 2015 when it became the UK’s oldest monarch. When we climbed the steps, I realized that I went into the footsteps of Royals, which stretched from the tudors to the current era. By Henry VIII after Prince Louis.
The rooms in which history is written
We reached the royal apartments up the stairs, the rooms in which the story is written. In the weapon chamber, part of the old tudor part of the building, the planks creak under thick red carpets.
“I always think that there is an unmistakable smell,” Sarah ponderes and pointed out the geometric representations of weapons, spears and swords that decorate the walls. “The shooting powder must be.”
The proclamation of the access council was made from this room in September 2022: “The queen is dead, live the king.” In the absence of a balcony, however, the glass pane of the window was removed and a provisional balcony was installed. Such an improvisation is necessary for a building that started his life as a leprosy hospital before it was implemented as a hunting lodge and only later as a royal palace.
In the wall carpet room we were amazed at the works designed by Mortlake, which tell the stories of Venus and Mars and a fireplace engraved with “H” and “A”. Then things become bigger and brighter and golden in the Queen Anne room when John Nash’s influence begins. The room is perhaps the best known, recently of popular imagination, when the place where King Charles was invited to connect a ceremonial Samoan dance with a visiting dignitary during a Commonwealth reception.
We entered the throne room due to the imagination in which a take of this tribute tape recently occurred at a Christmas point (a fact that the mysticism has temporarily dissolved). While this is not the throne used during the coronation when we generally speak of “the throne”, this is.
“It has a touch of immortality,” said Sarah when the group looked in silence.
Due to the picture gallery, perhaps one of the more interesting rooms on the tour, since the amount of works of art hangs on the walls, including a fascinating scene, including a lion -made (see below), we reached a balcony with a view of the Chapel Royal. I closed my eyes for a moment and tried to put himself in hand in hand in hand in hand in hand on the day of their marriage 185 years ago.
“According to rumors, Queen Mary’s heart is buried under the choir stands,” said Sarah. Over time, the idea was accepted as little more than folklore until the recent X -rays, which were carried out during the sanitary work, showed that there is actually a coffin down there. The secrets of the past 500 years are still being located today.
A new open era for the royal residences
Unfortunately, the tours of St. James’s Palace are already sold out. However, I have good authority that there will be more in the future. And if you are interested in taking a look behind the scenes at a royal residence, there are now more options than ever.
In 2024, the east wing of the Buckingham Palace, including the room on the famous royal balcony, opened for the first time for the public. And Balmoral Castle, which was understood as the most popular residence of Queen Elizabeth II of Queen, was opened for the first time last year. There are also 1 £ tickets for Windsor Castle, the Palace of HolyRoodhouse and the Buckingham Palace for those who have universal loans.
It feels very much as if King Charles had made it a personal mission to close the gap between the royal family and their subjects. What an enlightened decision this is. And what privilege is to convert the imagination into reality if only 90 minutes or something.
Highlights of the tour
The Grand Stairs
The Grand Stairs is an important part of a ceremonial route through the state apartments. It is these steps in which the guests had risen with a royal audience for more than two centuries.
The Grand staircase looks a little different today than that of Henry VIII in the 16th century. In 2025, the Grand staircase reflects the taste of Edward VII, which was the flower backgrounds preferred by Queen Victoria around the turn of the 20th century.
The color dish and a large gatehouse
The color court is one of four courtyards in St. James’s Palace, named after the flag that was once raised to show which regiment of the budget department of the British army was on duty at that time.
An outstanding feature of the color jury is Henry VIII. Great Gatehouse, whose clock tower is crowned with a bell tower and a weather blade, partly hidden from the parapet on the top of the structure.
The wall carpet
When entering the wall carpet room, her eyes immediately turn to the big fireplace, which comes from Heinrich VIII from the initials “H” and “A” for Henry and his second wife, Anne Boleeyn.
The room is decorated with tapestries that tell the story of Vulcan and Venus of Homer’s Odyssey. Charles I, when Prince of Wales was hung nine wall carpets in this room, although after his execution in 1649 they were sold together with many other works all over Europe. Queen Victoria brought some of them back to the St. James Palace in the 19th century to be cut and hung up by William Morris and his company.
The picture gallery
The picture gallery was built during the reign of Queen Victoria and contains a number of conspicuous portraits, including Sir Edwin Landseer’s Isaac van Burgh and his animals. Amburgh was a lion from the United States, and his extravagant appearances provided the storm in London in Victoria. Queen Victoria herself took part in his shows seven times in 1839.
The room is used for official purposes, for example during the access council: in this room King Charles III. King announced.
The throne room
The heart of the throne room is the exquisite, carved gold -plated and wooden throne, which shows the Cypher and crown of Queen Elizabeth II to the digits. There is a roof of the condition at the top. The Seidlett, which surrounds the throne, is embroidered with national emblems and Queen Victoria’s coat of arms (a lion and unicorn). After King Charles III. On September 10, 2022 king had been announced, she went to the throne room to hold his first meeting of the council member.
The Royal chapel
Right next to the Great Gatehouse is the busy Chapel Royal working band, which was built by Henry VIII in the 1530s. In the chapel you will find a great, headed Tudor ceiling and some great examples of silver-tilting plates, including a set of altar candles that are engraved with the monogram of the Duke of York (later, James II).
The chapel has organized many important royal events over the years. Queen Victoria’s best -known marriage to Prince Albert on February 10, 1840. Royal milestones will continue to be held in the chapel, including Prince Louis’s baptism in 2018.
How it works
Tours for the 2025 season (1 hour 30 m; Fridays and Saturdays from April 11th to May 31st; £ 85 -PP) are sold out. However, the palace plans to open its doors again in the future.
Check rct.uk And the RCT E-newsletter Information on future public tours.
