Castles · Tour

Buckingham State Rooms with the Sèvres Porcelain and a Royal Walk

No guard ceremony on this one, which is the point: the time goes on the walk through royal London and then on the palace itself, without the schedule of the Changing of the Guard dictating the morning. The State Apartments of Buckingham Palace open for only two months a year, tickets are limited, and this booking includes entry with an audio guide. The walk starts at the Duke of York Column and goes down The Mall, the ceremonial avenue used for coronations, state visits and processions. It passes the memorial to King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, crosses St James's Park, the oldest of the royal parks, with its lake and its views back to the palace, and takes in St James's Palace, the oldest royal palace in London and still a working residence, Clarence House, the London home of King Charles III and Queen Camilla, and the exterior of Lancaster House, a 19th-century mansion used for state receptions. Inside the palace, after an introduction from the guide, you go round on your own: the rooms used for state occasions and official ceremonies, the chandeliers and the staircases, and the collections most visitors walk past without looking at properly, the Sèvres porcelain and some of the finest English and French furniture anywhere. The meeting point is the Duke of York Column, Waterloo Place, 9 Carlton Terrace, London SW1Y 5AJ.