Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace is the official London residence of the British monarch and the largest "working" royal palace remaining in the world. The expression "Buckingham Palace" or simply "The Palace" has become a common way of referring to the source of press statements coming from parts of the British Royal Family. In addition to being the London home of HM Queen Elizabeth II, Buckingham Palace is a setting for state occasions, royal entertaining and base for all officially visiting heads of state, and is a major tourist attraction. It has been a rallying point for the British at times of national rejoicing and crisis.

Court ceremonies

During the current reign court ceremony has undergone a radical change, and entry to the palace is no longer the prerogative of just the upper class. Formal court dress has now been abolished—in previous reigns men not wearing uniform wore knee breeches of an 18th-century design. Ramsay MacDonald in 1924, the Labour Prime Minister, was the first man to be received by a monarch inside the palace wearing a lounge suit; however, this was a one off concession. At a time when ministers of the crown were unpaid, MacDonald and his ministers had not the private wealth to fund their residences and court dress. The King through his Private Secretary, Lord Stamfordham, secretly arranged for his new ministers to be supplied with court dress (suits of Household and Levée Dress comprising trousers, coat, cock-hat and sword) at low cost (£30 as opposed to the normal £73/2/6). A contemporary diary recorded the astonishment of former Conservative and Liberal Party ministers when they attended a Palace function to find the new Labour ministers in brand new full court dress; they had previously joked about the fun they would have mocking the second hand outfits the new ministers which they expected was all the new ministers would be able to afford. A Lady-in-Waiting reported the King erupting in laughter at the sight of Tory ex-ministers, to their embarassment, having their own worn and aged court dress upstaged by the brand up clothes of the new Labour ministers.

Related Topics:
Ceremony - Uniform - Breeches - Ramsay MacDonald - 1924 - Labour - Prime Minister - Suit - Conservative - Liberal Party - Lady-in-Waiting

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In the evenings women wore dresses with obligatory trains, and tiaras or feathers often both in their hair. So rigid was the palace dress code that after World War I when Queen Mary wished to follow fashion by raising her skirts a few inches from the ground, she asked a Lady-in-Waiting to shorten her skirt first to gauge the King's (her husband's) reaction. King George V was horrified and Queen Mary's hemline remained unfashionably low. While King George VI and Queen Elizabeth were slightly more fashionable, and daytime skirts were allowed to rise, prescribed evening court dress remained obligatory until World War II. Today, most men invited to Buckingham Palace in the daytime choose to wear service uniform or morning coats, and in the evening, depending on the formality of the occasion, black tie or white tie. If the occasion is 'white tie' then women, if they possess one, wear a tiara, although no dress code is officially demanded.

Related Topics:
Tiara - World War I - Fashion - King George VI - Black tie - White tie

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One of the first major changes was in 1958 when the Queen abolished the presentation parties for debutantes. These court presentations of aristocratic girls to the monarch took place in the Throne Room, where debutantes, in full court dress, with three tall ostrich feathers held precariously in their hair, entered the palace Throne Room, curtsied and then performed a choreographed backwards walk and a further curtsey, simultaneously skilfully, and often perilously, manoeuvring a dress train of a prescribed length. The Queen felt this ceremony, which corresponded to the "Drawing Rooms" of earlier reigns, to be elitist and antiquated, and replaced the presentations with large and frequent palace garden parties, to which a more varied cross section of British society is invited. The late Princess Margaret is reputed to have said of the debutante presentations: "We had to put a stop to it, every tart in London was getting in" (Blaikie). The Throne Room today is used for the reception of formal addresses such as that given to the Queen on her jubilees. It is here on the throne dais that royal wedding photographs are taken.

Related Topics:
1958 - Debutante - Aristocrat - Throne Room - Ostrich - Feather - Princess Margaret - Dais

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Investitures, which include the conferring of knighthoods by dubbing with a sword, and other awards take place in the palace's Victorian Ballroom, built in 1854. At 37 m by 20 m (123 ft by 60 ft), this is the largest room in the palace. It has replaced the Throne Room in importance and use. During investitures the Queen does not sit on the throne, but stands on the throne dais beneath a giant, domed velvet canopy, known as a shamiana, used at the coronation Durbar in Delhi in 1911. A military band plays in the musicians' gallery, as the recipients of awards approach the Queen and receive their honours, watched by their families and friends. The Beatles were among the first non-establishment artists to be awarded honours at the palace. They later confessed to smoking cannabis in the palace lavatories with their luxurious fittings, although several members of the band have since dismissed this story as a fabrication.

Related Topics:
Investiture - Knighthood - 1854 - Ft - Throne Room - Velvet - Canopy - Durbar - Delhi - 1911 - Military - Honour - The Beatles - Establishment - Artist - Cannabis - Lavatories

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State banquets also take place in the Ballroom. These formal dinners take place on the first evening of a state visit by a visiting Head of State. On these occasions, often over 150 guests in formal "white tie and decorations" and many women wearing tiaras dine off gold plate. The largest and most formal reception at Buckingham Palace takes place every November, when the Queen entertains members of the foreign diplomatic corps resident in London. On this occasion all the state rooms are in use, as the entire Royal Family process through them, beginning their procession through the great north doors of the Picture Gallery. As Nash had envisaged, all the huge, double mirrored doors stand open, reflecting the numerous crystal chandeliers and sconces causing a deliberate optical illusion of space and light.

Related Topics:
Banquet - Diplomatic

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Smaller ceremonies such as the reception of new ambassadors take place in the '1844 Room'. Here too the Queen holds small lunch parties, and often meetings of the Privy council. Larger lunch parties often take place in the curved and domed Music Room, or the State Dining Room. On all formal occasions the ceremonies are attended by the Yeomen of the Guard in their anachronistic uniforms, and other officers of the court such as the Lord Chamberlain.

Related Topics:
Privy council - Dome - Yeomen of the Guard - Lord Chamberlain

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Since the bombing of the palace chapel in World War II, royal christenings have sometimes taken place in the Music Room. The Queen's first three children were all baptised here, in a special gold font. Prince William was christened in the Music room; however, his brother, Prince Harry, was christened at St. George's Chapel Windsor.

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However, it is the garden parties, when up to 9,000 people attend, taking tea and sandwiches in a series of marquees, that are the largest functions of the year. The guests first assemble, then as a military band plays the National Anthem, the Queen emerges from the Bow Room, and slowly walks through the guests, greeting those previously selected for the honour, to her own more private tea tent. If the guests at these functions do not actually have the opportunity to meet the Queen, they at least have the consolation of being able to admire the manicured gardens.

Related Topics:
National Anthem - Manicure

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