Private Royal Palace: the Crown, the Sceptre and the Tiepolo Ceiling

Two and a half hours in the Royal Palace, privately, with the queue skipped.

The palace is the largest royal residence in Europe and the official home of the Spanish royal family, who use it only for state receptions, which is why the rooms are open at all.

The route has three things worth naming. The main staircase, designed by Sabatini, which runs to more than seventy steps and was built to make an arrival take a long time. The Throne Room, with the ceiling painted by Giambattista Tiepolo, one of the last great fresco cycles anyone attempted. And the crown and sceptre of the Spanish monarchy, which can be looked at closely rather than glimpsed through a crowd.

There is also the Hall of Alabarderos, named after the palace guards, and paintings by Goya, Mengs and Giaquinto along the way, plus the complete set of stringed instruments made by Antonio Stradivari and kept here.

Being private, the pace is yours, and in rooms this dense that is the difference between seeing them and passing through them.

The group meets at the Petrvs statue of Saint Peter on the Plaza de la Armería, opposite the main entrance.