Around Britain
present perfect/past simple/conjunctions
Buckingham Palace If you’ve visited London, then you can’t have missed the most famous palace in the world. It stands very majestically at the end of the tree lined avenue ‘The Mall’. But did you know you can also go inside and visit this magnificent building? Let’s go on a ‘virtual tour’ of this iconic building in the heart of London.
Its origins
Buckingham Palace has been around for quite a long time. It started life as Buckingham House and was originally built for the Duke of Buckingham in 1703. In 1761, it was bought by King George III as a private house for his wife, Queen Charlotte. It then became known as the Queen’s House. After some years, in 1837, it was bought by Queen Victoria as her official royal palace. From that year on, it has been the official London home of the British monarchy.
Decline
During Queen Victoria’s era, the palace hosted many costume balls and musical events. The German composer Felix Mendelssohn played there a few times and also Johann Strauss played there when he was in London. However, after the death of her husband, Prince Albert, Queen Victoria left Buckingham Palace to go and live outside London in Windsor Castle. The palace was hardly
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ever used and fell into decline until Victoria was persuaded by the public to return to her life in London.
Expansion
During the 19th century the palace was expanded but the original Buckingham House makes up* the main part of the palace. Nowadays, the building consists of 775 rooms, including 19 state rooms and 52 royal bedrooms and guest rooms. The staff who work inside the palace occupy 188 bedrooms, 92 offices and 78 bathrooms.
Open House
In 1993, Buckingham Palace was opened for the first time to the general public and visitors can visit parts of the palace during the summer months until September. If you’re lucky enough you may be able to visit the palace as the Queen’s guest as she holds a large number of lunches, receptions and garden parties during the year with
more than 50,000 people attending every year.
Virtual Tours
If you aren’t able to go to London in person and visit the palace, why not do it virtually. In fact, Buckingham palace is the first British landmark* to become part of an innovative virtual reality project in collaboration with Google.
