What are facts about the buckingham palace?

Answer 1

1. Buckingham Palace is The Queen's official London residence, but St. James's Palace is the ceremonial Royal residence. Even today foreign ambassadors are formally accredited to 'the Court of St. James's'.

2. Buckingham Palace has 775 rooms. These include 19 State rooms, 52 Royal and guest bedrooms, 188 staff bedrooms, 92 offices and 78 bathrooms.

3. Vital statistics: Buckingham Palace is 108 metres long across the front, 120 metres deep (including the quadrangle) and 24 metres high. The total floor area of the Palace, from basement to roof, covers over 77,000 square metres.

4. The site where Buckingham Palace now stands was originally a mulberry garden planted by King James I (r. 1603-25) to rear silkworms. Unfortunately, he chose the wrong kind of mulberry bush, and silk production never took off in Britain.

5. Buckingham Palace gets its name from an eighteenth-century Tory politician. John Sheffield, 3rd Earl of Mulgrave and Marquess of Normanby, was created Duke of Buckingham in 1703. He built Buckingham House for himself as a grand London home.

6. In 1761, George III bought Buckingham House for his wife, Queen Charlotte, to use as a comfortable family home close to St James's Palace. Buckingham House became known as the Queen's House, and 14 of George III's 15 children were born there.

7. Buckingham House was transformed into Buckingham Palace in the 1820s by the architect John Nash for George IV. But the first monarch to use Buckingham Palace as their official residence was Queen Victoria, who moved there in 1837. The previous monarch - William IV - had preferred to live at Clarence House and to use St. James's Palace for State functions.

8. Buckingham Palace is an office for the Head of State, as well as a home for The Queen. Today over 800 members of staff are based at Buckingham Palace. Their jobs range from housekeeping to horticulture, catering to correspondence. Some of the more unusual jobs include fendersmith, clockmaker and flagman.

9. The forecourt of Buckingham Palace, where Changing the Guard takes place, was not created until 1911, when it was added as part of a scheme to commemorate Queen Victoria. The gates and railings were also completed in 1911.

10. The Palace gained its familiar white Portland stone facade in 1913, because the original soft French stone had decayed due to pollution. Architect Sir Aston Webb created the new design. People at the time were surprised by the transformation of the front from grimy black to gleaming white.