Castles · Tour

The Royal Mews: the Working Stables and the State Coaches

This is not a museum with horses in it. The Royal Mews is a working stable, and it still handles every road journey made by the King and the rest of the Royal Family. The Windsor Greys and the Cleveland Bays live here, and they are the horses that pull the carriages you see at state occasions. The royal collection of historic coaches and carriages is kept in the same building. Road transport for the sovereign has been based here since 1760, when George III moved his carriage collection closer to his new home at Buckingham Palace. Successive monarchs have rebuilt and updated it since, as what they needed to travel in changed. Among the coaches on display are the Diamond Jubilee State Coach and the Australian State Coach, a gift to Queen Elizabeth II from the Australian people, which has central heating fitted.