Castles · Tour

Buckingham Palace State Rooms and Windsor Castle in One Day

The only day out here that puts both royal residences on the same ticket, and it starts at one of them: the meeting point is outside the entrance to The Queen's Gallery on Buckingham Palace Road, 9am for a 9.15 departure. Buckingham Palace is the official London residence of His Majesty The King and one of the few working royal palaces left anywhere. In summer, when the palace is not in official use, the 19 State Rooms open to visitors. These are the rooms used for ceremonial occasions and official entertaining: the White Drawing Room, with a crystal chandelier and a fair claim to being the finest of them; the Music Room, where guests are presented during a State Visit; and the Throne Room, where the formal photographs were taken after the wedding of the Prince and Princess of Wales. Windsor Castle takes the rest of the day. It has been a family home to British kings and queens for almost 1,000 years, which makes it the oldest and largest inhabited castle in the world, and it remains an official residence of the King. Its 10.5 hectares take in the State Apartments, hung with the Royal Collection much as Charles II and George IV arranged it, and St George's Chapel, where Prince Harry married Meghan Markle in 2018 and where Henry VIII and Charles I are buried. A free multimedia guide covers the self-guided route, and from October to March the Semi-State Apartments open as well, the private rooms of George IV. When the King is at Windsor during your visit, the Royal Standard flies from the flagpole of the Round Tower.