Buckingham Palace Reopens To The Public

Happy news! Buckingham Palace has confirmed that it will open to the public for the first time in as many months. Fancy a walk through royal history? Then you’ve got to hit the Palace because the royal collection isn’t going to admire itself.

This Summer, Buckingham Palace Visitors Will Explore “Rare” Historic Pieces

Visitors will get a chance to see the Ball Supper Room where magnificent jewels from the Queen’s personal collection, including photographs taken during her early years as Queen, will be displayed. The palace is a major tourist attraction and draws visitors from all over the UK and the world, especially in the summer months.

The summer opening will especially allow the public to explore the historic Staterooms first used by Queen Victoria.

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Caroline de Guitaut, deputy surveyor of The Queen’s Works of Art at the Royal Collection Trust said: “It’s a really wonderful opportunity for our visitors at Buckingham Palace to get up really close to these jewels.

“They are very rarely displayed in public, but Her Majesty does wear them quite rarely so it’s a wonderful opportunity to see them and to see the detail in these historic pieces.”

In case you haven’t been clued in on the excitement, yet, twenty-four official portraits of the Queen by photographer Dorothy Wilding, some only a weeks old from the day of Accession, will be part of the tour. The pics were used to depict the now 96-year-old on stamps and coins over the next two decades.

Other things on display include the Diamond Diadem, worn by Her Majesty during her Coronation and used during State Openings of Parliament, which is set with 1,333 diamonds.

Another highlight of the exhibition include The Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara, presented to the then Princess Elizabeth as a wedding gift from her grandmother Queen Mary.

The Delhi Durbar necklace, featuring an 8.8 carat diamond pendant cut from the largest diamond ever found, Cullinan diamond, and the South Africa necklace, which was a 21st birthday gift to the Queen from the Government of South Africa in 1947, is also available for the public to view.

The Summer Opening At Buckingham Palace Is The Highlight Of The Year’s Palace Tour

Last year, the Royal Collection Trust faced a £15 million loss, according to its annual report, as a result of the traditional Summer Opening at Buckingham Palace being cancelled for the second year in a row due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The gradual easing of the coronavirus restrictions allowed the public to visit Windsor Castle and other royal buildings, although social distancing rules were still enforced.

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While the visitor numbers soared by more than half a million to 737,000 in 2021/22 as opposed to 155,000 in 2020/21, it was still way below pre-pandemic numbers of 3.3 million people a year.

However, for this year, the Platinum Jubilee celebrations provided a much needed income boost by supplementing it with income from the number of souvenirs sold.

The Platinum Jubilee souvenirs sold online brought in an astounding £4.3million, compared with £900,000 before the pandemic.

“Platinum Jubilee: the Queen’s Accession” will be included in the visit during the the Summer Opening of State Rooms at Buckingham Palace. It will run from Friday, 22 July until Sunday, 2 October 2022.

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Editorial credit: David Steele / Shutterstock.com