London Guide
St James's
Buckingham Palace
The graceless colossus of Buckingham Palace, popularly known as "Buck House", has served as the monarch's permanent London residence only since the accession of Victoria in 1837. It began its days in 1702 as the Duke of Buckingham's city residence, built on the site of a notorious brothel, and was sold by the duke's son to George III in 1762. The building was overhauled by Nash in the late 1820s for the Prince Regent, and again by Aston Webb in 1913 for George V, producing a palace that's about as bland as it's possible to be.
For ten months of the year there's little to do here, with the Queen in residence and the palace closed to visitors – not that this deters the crowds who mill around the railings all day, and gather in some force to watch the Changing of the Guard in which a detachment of the Queen's Foot Guards marches to appropriate martial music from St James's Palace (unless it rains, that is). If the Queen is at home, the Royal Standard flies from the roof of the palace; if not, the Union Jack flutters aloft.
Traditionally, unless you were one of the select thirty thousand invited to attend one of the Queen's three annual garden parties – the replacements for the society debutantes' "coming out" parties, which ceased to be royally sanctioned in 1958 – you had little chance of ever seeing inside Buckingham Palace. Since 1993, however, the hallowed portals have been grudgingly opened for two months of the year. Opening time: Aug & Sept daily 9.30am–3.45pm Price: £16.50 
020/7766 7300 
www.royal.gov.uk