Originally known as Buckingham House, the building at the core of today's palace was a largetownhouse built for theDuke of Buckingham and Normanby in 1703 on a site that had been in private ownership for at least 150 years. It was acquired byGeorge III in 1761 as a private residence forQueen Charlotte and became known as The Queen's House. During the 19th century it was enlarged by architectsJohn Nash andEdward Blore, who constructed three wings around a central courtyard. Buckingham Palace became the London residence of the British monarch on the accession ofQueen Victoria in 1837.
The last major structural additions were made in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including the East Front, which contains the balcony on which theroyal family traditionally appears to greet crowds. A German bomb destroyed the palace chapel during theSecond World War; theKing's Gallery was built on the site and opened to the public in 1962 to exhibit works of art from theRoyal Collection.
The original early-19th-century interior designs, many of which survive, include widespread use of brightly colouredscagliola and blue and pinklapis, on the advice ofCharles Long. KingEdward VII oversaw a partial redecoration in aBelle Époque cream and gold colour scheme. Many smaller reception rooms are furnished in the Chineseregency style with furniture and fittings brought from theRoyal Pavilion atBrighton and fromCarlton House. The palace has 775 rooms, andthe garden is the largest private garden in London. The state rooms, used for official and state entertaining, are open to the public each year for most of August and September and on some days in winter and spring.
In theMiddle Ages, the site of the future palace formed part of the Manor of Ebury (also calledEia). The marshy ground was watered by the riverTyburn, which still flows below the courtyard and south wing of the palace.[3] Where the river was fordable (at Cow Ford), the village of Eye Cross grew. Ownership of the site changed hands many times; owners includedEdward the Confessor andEdith of Wessex in late Saxon times, and, after theNorman Conquest,William the Conqueror. William gave the site toGeoffrey de Mandeville, who bequeathed it to the monks ofWestminster Abbey.[b]
In 1531,Henry VIII acquired the Hospital of St James, which becameSt James's Palace,[4] fromEton College, and in 1536 he took the Manor of Ebury from Westminster Abbey.[5] These transfers brought the site of Buckingham Palace back into royal hands for the first time since William the Conqueror had given it away almost 500 years earlier.[6] Various owners leased it from royal landlords, and thefreehold was the subject of frenzied speculation during the 17th century. By then, the old village of Eye Cross had long since fallen into decay, and the area was mostly wasteland.[7] Needing money,James VI and I sold off part of the Crown freehold but retained part of the site on which he established a four-acre (1.6 ha)mulberry garden for the production ofsilk. (This is at the north-west corner of today's palace.)[8]Clement Walker inAnarchia Anglicana (1649) refers to "new-erected sodoms and spintries at the Mulberry Garden at S. James's"; this suggests it may have been a place of debauchery. Eventually, in the late 17th century, the freehold was inherited from the property tycoonHugh Audley by the great heiress Mary Davies.[c]
Possibly the first house erected within the site was that of William Blake, around 1624.[9] The next owner wasGeorge Goring, 1st Earl of Norwich, who from 1633 extended Blake's house, which came to be known as Goring House, and developed much of today's garden, then known as Goring Great Garden.[10][11] He did not, however, obtain the freehold interest in the mulberry garden. Unbeknown to Goring, in 1640 the document "failed to pass theGreat Seal beforeCharles I fled London, which it needed to do for legal execution".[12] It was this critical omission that would help the British royal family regain the freehold underGeorge III.[13] When the improvident Goring defaulted on his rents,[14]Henry Bennet, 1st Earl of Arlington was able to purchase the lease of Goring House and he was occupying it when it burned down in 1674,[11] following which he constructed Arlington House on the site – the location of the southern wing of today's palace – the next year.[11] In 1698,John Sheffield acquired the lease. He later became the firstDuke of Buckingham and Normanby.[15] Buckingham House was built for Sheffield in 1703 to the design ofWilliam Winde. The style chosen was of a large, three-floored central block with two smaller flanking service wings.[16] It was eventually sold by Buckingham's illegitimate son,Charles Sheffield, in 1761[17] to George III for £21,000.[18][d] Sheffield'sleasehold on the mulberry garden site, the freehold of which was still owned by the royal family, was due to expire in 1774.[19]
Under the new royal ownership, the building was originally intended as a private retreat forQueen Charlotte, and was accordingly known as The Queen's House. Remodelling of the structure began in 1762.[20] In 1775, an Act of Parliament settled the property on Queen Charlotte, in exchange for her rights to nearbyOld Somerset House,[21] and 14 of her 15 children were born there. Some furnishings were transferred fromCarlton House and others had been bought in France after theFrench Revolution[22] of 1789. WhileSt James's Palace remained the official and ceremonial royal residence,[21][e] the name "Buckingham Palace" was used from at least 1791.[23]
After his accession to the throne in 1820,George IV continued the renovation, intending to create a small, comfortable home. However, in 1826, while the work was in progress, the King decided to modify the house into a palace with the help of his architectJohn Nash.[24] The façade was designed with George IV's preference forFrench neoclassical architecture in mind. The cost of the renovations grew dramatically, and by 1829 the extravagance of Nash's designs resulted in his removal as the architect. On the death of George IV in 1830, his younger brotherWilliam IV hiredEdward Blore to finish the work.[25][26] William never moved into the palace, preferringClarence House, which had been built to his specifications and which had been his London home while he was heir presumptive. After thePalace of Westminster was destroyed by fire in 1834, he offered to convert Buckingham Palace into a new Houses of Parliament, but his offer was declined.[27]
Buckingham Palacec. 1837, showingMarble Arch at left, a ceremonial entrance. It was moved next toHyde Park to make way for the new east wing in 1847.
Buckingham Palace became the principal royal residence in 1837, on the accession of Queen Victoria,[28] who was the first monarch to reside there.[29] While thestate rooms were a riot ofgilt and colour, the necessities of the new palace were somewhat less luxurious. The chimneys were said to smoke so much that the fires had to be allowed to die down, and consequently the palace was often cold.[30] Ventilation was so bad that the interior smelled, and when it was decided to install gas lamps, there was a serious worry about the build-up of gas on the lower floors. It was also said that the staff were lax and lazy and the palace was dirty.[30] Following the Queen's marriage in 1840, her husband,Prince Albert, concerned himself with a reorganisation of thehousehold offices and staff, and with addressing the design faults of the palace.[31] By the end of 1840, all the problems had been rectified. However, the builders were to return within a decade.[31]
By 1847, the couple found the palace too small for court life and their growing family[32] and a new wing, designed by Edward Blore, was built byThomas Cubitt,[33] enclosing the central quadrangle. The work, carried out from 1847 to 1849, was paid for by the sale of Brighton Pavilion in 1850.[34] The large East Front, facingThe Mall, is today the "public face" of Buckingham Palace and contains the balcony from which theroyal family acknowledge the crowds on momentous occasions and after the annualTrooping the Colour.[35] The ballroom wing and a further suite of state rooms were also built in this period, designed by Nash's studentJames Pennethorne.[36] Before Prince Albert's death, in addition to royal ceremonies, investitures and presentations Buckingham Palace was frequently the scene of lavish costume balls[37] and musical entertainments.[38] The most celebrated contemporary musicians entertained there; for exampleFelix Mendelssohn is known to have played there on three occasions,[39] andJohann Strauss II and his orchestra played there when in England.[40]
Widowed in 1861, the grief-stricken Queen withdrew from public life and left Buckingham Palace to live atWindsor Castle,Balmoral Castle andOsborne House. For many years the palace was seldom used, even neglected. In 1864, a note was found pinned to the fence, saying: "These commanding premises to be let or sold, in consequence of the late occupant's declining business."[41] Eventually, public opinion persuaded the Queen to return to London, though even then she preferred to live elsewhere whenever possible. Court functions were still held at Windsor Castle, presided over by the sombre Queen habitually dressed in mourning black, while Buckingham Palace remained shuttered for most of the year.[42]
The east wing public façade, enclosing the courtyard, was built between 1847 and 1850; it was remodelled to its present form in 1913.
In 1901, the new king,Edward VII, began redecorating the palace. He and his wife,Queen Alexandra, had always been at the forefront of London high society, and their friends, known as "theMarlborough House Set", were considered to be the most eminent and fashionable of the age. Buckingham Palace—the Ballroom, Grand Entrance, Marble Hall, Grand Staircase, vestibules and galleries were redecorated in theBelle Époque cream and gold colour scheme they retain today—once again became a setting for entertaining on a majestic scale but leaving some to feel Edward's heavy redecorations were at odds with Nash's original work.[43]
The last major building work took place during the reign ofGeorge V when, in 1913,Aston Webb redesigned Blore's 1850 East Front to resemble in partGiacomo Leoni'sLyme Park in Cheshire. This new refaced principal façade (ofPortland stone) was designed to be the backdrop to theVictoria Memorial, a large memorial statue of Queen Victoria created by sculptorThomas Brock, erected outside the main gates on a surround constructed by architect Aston Webb.[44] George V, who had succeeded Edward VII in 1910, had a more serious personality than his father; greater emphasis was now placed on official entertainment and royal duties than on lavish parties.[45] He arranged a series ofcommand performances featuring jazz musicians such as theOriginal Dixieland Jazz Band (1919; the first jazz performance for a head of state),Sidney Bechet andLouis Armstrong (1932), which earned the palace a nomination in 2009 for a (Kind of) Blue Plaque by theBrecon Jazz Festival as one of the venues making the greatest contribution to jazz music in the United Kingdom.[46][47]
During theFirst World War, which lasted from 1914 until 1918, the palace escaped unscathed. Its more valuable contents were evacuated to Windsor, but the royal family remained in residence. The King imposedrationing at the palace, much to the dismay of his guests and household.[48] To the King's later regret,David Lloyd George persuaded him to go further and ostentatiously lock the wine cellars and refrain from alcohol, to set a good example to the supposedly inebriated working class. The workers continued to imbibe, and the King was left unhappy at his enforced abstinence.[49]
George V's wife,Queen Mary, was a connoisseur of the arts and took a keen interest in theRoyal Collection of furniture and art, both restoring and adding to it. Queen Mary also had many new fixtures and fittings installed, such as the pair of marbleEmpire style chimneypieces byBenjamin Vulliamy, dating from 1810, in the ground floor Bow Room, the huge low room at the centre of the garden façade. Queen Mary was also responsible for the decoration of the Blue Drawing Room.[50] This room, 69 feet (21 metres) long, previously known as the South Drawing Room, has a ceiling designed by Nash, coffered with huge gilt console brackets.[51] In 1938, the northwest pavilion, designed by Nash as a conservatory, was converted into a swimming pool.[52]
During theSecond World War, which broke out in 1939, the palace wasbombed nine times.[53] The most serious and publicised incident destroyed the palace chapel in 1940. One bomb fell in the palace quadrangle whileGeorge VI andQueen Elizabeth (the future Queen Mother) were in the palace, and many windows were blown in and the chapel destroyed.[54] The King and Queen were filmed inspecting their bombed home, and the newsreel footage shown in cinemas throughout the United Kingdom to show the common suffering of rich and poor. AsThe Sunday Graphic reported:
By the Editor: The King and Queen have endured the ordeal which has come to their subjects. For the second time a German bomber has tried to bring death and destruction to the home of Their Majesties ... When this war is over the common danger which King George and Queen Elizabeth have shared with their people will be a cherished memory and an inspiration through the years.[55]
It was at this time the Queen famously declared: "I'm glad we have been bombed. Now I can look theEast End in the face".[56]
On 15 September 1940, known asBattle of Britain Day, an RAF pilot,Ray Holmes ofNo. 504 Squadron, rammed a GermanDornier Do 17 bomber he believed was going to bomb the palace. Holmes had run out of ammunition to shoot down the bomber and made the quick decision to ram it. He bailed out and the bomber crashed into the forecourt ofLondon Victoria station.[57] Its engine was later exhibited at theImperial War Museum in London. Holmes became aKing's Messenger after the war and died at the age of 90 in 2005.[58]
OnVE Day—8 May 1945—the palace was the centre of British celebrations. The King, the Queen,Princess Elizabeth (the future queen) andPrincess Margaret appeared on the balcony, with the palace's blacked-out windows behind them, to cheers from a vast crowd in The Mall.[59] The damaged palace was carefully restored after the war by JohnMowlem & Co.[60]
Many of the palace's contents are part of theRoyal Collection; they can, on occasion, be viewed by the public at theKing's Gallery, near theRoyal Mews. The purpose-built gallery opened in 1962 and displays a changing selection of items from the collection.[61] It occupies the site of the chapel that was destroyed in the Second World War.[15] The palace was designated a Grade Ilisted building in 1970.[62] Its state rooms have been open to the public during August and September and on some dates throughout the year since 1993. The money raised in entry fees was originally put towards the rebuilding of Windsor Castle after the1992 fire devastated many of its staterooms.[63] In the year to 31 March 2017, 580,000 people visited the palace, and 154,000 visited the gallery.[64] In 2004, the palace attempted to claim money from the community energy fund to heat Buckingham Palace, but the claim was rejected due to fear of public backlash.[65]
The palace used toracially segregate staff. In 1968,Charles Tryon, 2nd Baron Tryon, acting as treasurer to QueenElizabeth II, sought to exempt Buckingham Palace from full application of theRace Relations Act 1968.[66][67] He stated that the palace did not hire people of colour for clerical jobs, only as domestic servants. He arranged with civil servants for an exemption that meant that complaints of racism against the royal household would be sent directly to theHome Secretary and kept out of the legal system.[67]
The palace, like Windsor Castle, is owned by the reigning monarch in right ofthe Crown. Occupied royal palaces are not part of theCrown Estate,[68] nor are they the monarch's personal property, unlikeSandringham House andBalmoral Castle.[69] TheGovernment of the United Kingdom is responsible for maintaining the palace in exchange for the profits made by the Crown Estate.[70] In 2015, the State Dining Room was closed for a year and a half because its ceiling had become potentially dangerous.[71] A 10-year schedule of maintenance work, including new plumbing, wiring, boilers and radiators, and the installation of solar panels on the roof, has been estimated to cost £369 million and was approved by the prime minister in November 2016. It will be funded by a temporary increase in theSovereign Grant paid from the income of the Crown Estate and is intended to extend the building's working life by at least 50 years.[72][73] In 2017, theHouse of Commons backed funding for the project by 464 votes to 56.[74]
Buckingham Palace is a symbol and home of the British monarchy, an art gallery and a tourist attraction. Behind the gilded railings and gates that were completed by theBromsgrove Guild in 1911,[42] lies Webb's famous façade, which was described in a book published by theRoyal Collection Trust as looking "like everybody's idea of a palace".[42] It has not only been a weekday home of Elizabeth II and Prince Philip but was also the London residence and office of theDuke of York until 2023.[75]Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh andSophie, Duchess of Edinburgh continue to have a private apartment in the palace for use when they are in London. The palace also housestheir offices, as well as those of thePrincess Royal andPrincess Alexandra, and is the workplace of more than 800 people.[76][77][better source needed]Charles III lives atClarence House while restoration work continues, although he conducts official business at Buckingham Palace, including weekly meetings with the prime minister.[78][better source needed] Every year, some 50,000 invited guests are entertained at garden parties, receptions, audiences and banquets.Three garden parties are held in the summer, usually in July.[79] The forecourt of Buckingham Palace is used for theChanging of the Guard, a major ceremony and tourist attraction (daily from April to July; every other day in other months).[80]
Piano nobile of Buckingham Palace. The areas defined by shaded walls represent lower minor wings.Note: this is an unscaled sketch plan for reference only. Proportions of some rooms may differ slightly in reality.
The front of the palace measures 355 feet (108 m) across, by 390 feet (120 m) deep, by 80 feet (24 m) high and contains over 830,000 square feet (77,000 m2) of floorspace.[81] There are 775 rooms, including 188 staff bedrooms, 92 offices, 78 bathrooms, 52 principal bedrooms and 19state rooms. It also has a post office, cinema, swimming pool, doctor's surgery,[76] and jeweller's workshop.[82] The royal family occupy a small suite of private rooms in the north wing.[83]
The principal rooms are contained on the first-floorpiano nobile behind the west-facing garden façade at the rear of the palace. The centre of this ornate suite of state rooms is the Music Room, its large bow the dominant feature of the façade. Flanking the Music Room are the Blue and the White Drawing Rooms. At the centre of the suite, serving as a corridor to link the state rooms, is the Picture Gallery, which is top-lit and 55 yards (50 m) long.[84] The Gallery is hung with numerous works including some byRembrandt,van Dyck,Rubens andVermeer;[85] other rooms leading from the Picture Gallery are theThrone Room and the Green Drawing Room. The Green Drawing Room serves as a huge anteroom to the Throne Room, and is part of the ceremonial route to the throne from the Guard Room at the top of the Grand Staircase.[84] The Guard Room contains white marble statues of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, in Roman costume, set in atribune lined with tapestries. These very formal rooms are used only for ceremonial and official entertaining but are open to the public every summer.[86]
Directly underneath the state apartments are the less grand semi-state apartments. Opening from the Marble Hall, these rooms are used for less formal entertaining, such as luncheon parties and privateaudiences. At the centre of this floor is the Bow Room, through which thousands of guests pass annually to the monarch'sgarden parties.[87] When paying a state visit to Britain, foreignheads of state are usually entertained by the monarch at Buckingham Palace. They are allocated an extensive suite of rooms known as the Belgian Suite, situated at the foot of the Minister's Staircase, on the ground floor of the west-facing Garden Wing. Some of the rooms are named and decorated for particular visitors, such as the 1844 Room, decorated in that year for the state visit ofNicholas I of Russia, and the 1855 Room, in honour of the visit ofNapoleon III of France.[88] The former is a sitting room that also serves as an audience room and is often used for personal investitures. Narrow corridors link the rooms of the suite; one of them is given extra height and perspective bysaucer domes designed by Nash in the style of Soane.[89] A second corridor in the suite has Gothic-influencedcross-over vaulting.[89] The suite was named afterLeopold I of Belgium, uncle of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. In 1936, the suite briefly became the private apartments of the palace whenEdward VIII occupied them.[76] The original early-19th-century interior designs, many of which still survive, included widespread use of brightly colouredscagliola and blue and pinklapis, on the advice of Charles Long.Edward VII oversaw a partial redecoration in aBelle Époque cream and gold colour scheme.[90]
Queen Elizabeth II's final appearance on the balcony during herPlatinum Jubilee celebrations in 2022
Between 1847 and 1850, when Blore was building the new east wing, theBrighton Pavilion was once again plundered of its fittings. As a result, many of the rooms in the new wing have a distinctly oriental atmosphere. The red and blue Chinese Luncheon Room is made up of parts of the Brighton Banqueting and Music Rooms with a large oriental chimneypiece designed byRobert Jones and sculpted byRichard Westmacott.[91] It was formerly in the Music Room at the Brighton Pavilion.[91] The ornate clock, known as theKylin Clock, was made inJingdezhen,Jiangxi Province, China, in the second half of the 18th century; it has a latermovement byBenjamin Vulliamy circa 1820.[92] TheYellow Drawing Room has hand-painted Chinese wallpaper supplied in 1817 for the Brighton Saloon,[34] and a chimneypiece which is a European vision of a Chinese chimneypiece. It has noddingmandarins inniches and fearsome wingeddragons, designed by Robert Jones.[93]
At the centre of this wing is the famous balcony with the Centre Room behind its glass doors. This is aChinese-style saloon enhanced by Queen Mary, who, working with the designerCharles Allom, created a more "binding"[94] Chinese theme in the late 1920s, although thelacquer doors were brought from Brighton in 1873. Running the length of thepiano nobile of the east wing is the Great Gallery, modestly known as the Principal Corridor, which runs the length of the eastern side of the quadrangle.[95] It has mirrored doors and mirrored cross walls reflectingporcelain pagodas and other oriental furniture from Brighton. The Chinese Luncheon Room and Yellow Drawing Room are situated at each end of this gallery, with the Centre Room in between.[96]
ThePrincess Royal conducting an Investiture in the Throne Room in 2023
Investitures for the awarding ofhonours (which include the conferring ofknighthoods by dubbing with a sword) usually take place in the palace'sThrone Room.[97] Investitures are conducted by the King or another senior member of the royal family: a military band plays in the musicians' gallery, as recipients receive theirhonours, watched by their families and friends.[98]
A state banquet held in the Ballroom in 2011, when QueenElizabeth II hosted PresidentBarack Obama
Statebanquets take place in the Ballroom, built in 1854. At 120 feet (36.6 m) long, 60 feet (18 m) wide and 45 feet (13.5 m) high,[76] it is the largest room in the palace; at one end of the room is a throne dais (beneath a giant, domed velvet canopy, known as ashamiana orbaldachin, that was used at theDelhi Durbar in 1911).[99] State Banquets are formal dinners held on the first evening of a state visit by a foreign head of state.[98] On these occasions, for up to 170 guests in formal "white tie and decorations", including tiaras, the dining table is laid with the Grand Service, a collection of silver-gilt plate made in 1811 for the Prince of Wales, later George IV.[100]
The largest and most formal reception at Buckingham Palace takes place every November when the King entertains members of thediplomatic corps.[101] On this grand occasion, all the state rooms are in use, as the royal family proceed through them,[102] beginning at the great north doors of the Picture Gallery. As Nash had envisaged, all the large, double-mirrored doors stand open, reflecting the numerous crystal chandeliers andsconces, creating a deliberate optical illusion of space and light.[103]
Smaller ceremonies such as the reception of new ambassadors take place in the "1844 Room". Here too, the King holds small lunch parties, and often meetings of thePrivy Council. Larger lunch parties often take place in the curved and domed Music Room or the State Dining Room.[104] Since the bombing of the palace chapel in World War II, royal christenings have sometimes taken place in the Music Room. QueenElizabeth II's first three children were all baptised there.[105] On all formal occasions, the ceremonies are attended by theYeomen of the Guard, in their historic uniforms, and other officers of the court such as theLord Chamberlain.[104]
PresidentNixon with members of the royal family in the ground-floor Marble Hall
Formerly, men not wearingmilitary uniform wore kneebreeches of 18th-century design. Women's evening dress included trains andtiaras or feathers in their hair (often both). The dress code governing formalcourt uniform and dress has progressively relaxed. After theFirst World War, whenQueen Mary wished to follow fashion by raising her skirts a few inches from the ground, she requested alady-in-waiting to shorten her own skirt first to gauge the King's reaction. KingGeorge V disapproved, so the Queen kept her hemline unfashionably low.[106] Following his accession in 1936, KingGeorge VI andQueen Elizabeth allowed the hemline of daytime skirts to rise. Today, there is no official dress code.[76] Most men invited to Buckingham Palace in the daytime choose to wearservice uniform orlounge suits;[76] a minority wearmorning coats, and in the evening, depending on the formality of the occasion,black tie orwhite tie.[107]
Débutantes were aristocratic young ladies making their first entrée into society through a presentation to the monarch at court. These occasions, known as "coming out", took place at the palace from the reign of Edward VII. The débutantes entered—wearing full court dress, with three ostrich feathers in their hair—curtsied, performed a backwards walk and a further curtsey, while manoeuvring a dress train of prescribed length. The ceremony, known as an evening court, corresponded to the "courtdrawing rooms" of Victoria's reign.[108] After World War II, the ceremony was replaced by less formal afternoon receptions, omitting the requirement of court evening dress.[109] In 1958, Queen Elizabeth II abolished the presentation parties for débutantes,[110] replacing them withGarden Parties,[f] for up to 8,000 invitees in the Garden. They are the largest functions of the year.[112]
At the rear of the palace is the large and park-like garden, which together with its lake is the largest private garden in London.[113] There,Elizabeth II hosted her annual garden parties each summer and also held large functions to celebrate royal milestones, such as jubilees. It covers 17 ha (42 acres) and includes a helicopter landing area, a lake and a tennis court.[76]
The Mall, a ceremonial approach route to the palace, was designed byAston Webb and completed in 1911 as part of a grand memorial to Queen Victoria. It extends fromAdmiralty Arch, acrossSt James's Park to theVictoria Memorial, concluding at the entrance gates into the palaceforecourt.[117] This route is used by the cavalcades and motorcades of visiting heads of state, and by the royal family on state occasions—such as the annualTrooping the Colour.[118]
The lawn and west façade, faced inBath stone, of Buckingham Palace
The boy Jones was an intruder who gained entry to the palace on three occasions between 1838 and 1841.[119][120] At least 12 people have managed to gain unauthorised entry into the palace or its grounds since 1914,[121] includingMichael Fagan, who broke into the palace twice in 1982 and entered Queen Elizabeth II's bedroom on the second occasion on 9 July. At the time, news media reported that he had a long conversation with her while she waited for security officers to arrive, but in a 2012 interview withThe Independent, Fagan said she ran out of the room, and no conversation took place.[122] It was only in 2007 that trespassing on the palace grounds became a specific criminal offence.[123][g]
^By tradition, theBritish Royal Court is officially resident atSt James's Palace, which means that, while foreignambassadors assuming their new position are received by theBritish sovereign at Buckingham Palace, they are accredited to the "Court of St James's Palace". This anomaly continues for the sake of tradition, as Buckingham Palace is to all intents and purposes theofficial residence. SeeHistory of St James's Palace (Official website of the British Monarchy).
^The topography of the site and its ownership are dealt with in Wright, chapters 1–4.
^Audley and Davies were key figures in the development of Ebury Manor and also the Grosvenor Estate (seedukes of Westminster), which still exists today. They are remembered in the street names North Audley Street,South Audley Street, and Davies Street, all inMayfair.
^The purchase price is given by Wright p. 142 as £28,000.
^The tradition persists of foreign ambassadors being formally accredited to "theCourt of St James's", even though it is at Buckingham Palace that they present their credentials and staff to the monarch upon their appointment.
^Princess Margaret is reputed to have remarked of the débutante presentations: "We had to put a stop to it, every tart in London was getting in."[111]
^Under section 128(1) of theSerious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005, "A person commits an offence if he enters, or is on, any designated site in England and Wales or Northern Ireland as a trespasser".[124] Buckingham Palace is a designated site under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 (Designated Sites under Section 128) Order 2007.[125]
^Robinson (Page 9) asserts that the decorations, including plaster swags and other decorative motifs, are "finicky" and "at odds with Nash's original detailing".
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