HIGHLIGHTS OF A ROYAL DAY OUT

A ROYAL DAY OUT ITINERARY

From regal robes and crown jewels to sumptuous state apartments and ceremonial carriages, you simply won’t get a proper taste of royal London without visiting at least one of these places. Or you can live like a king or queen for the whole day with this one-day itinerary to visit the best of London’s royal sights.

10:00 AM  |  BUCKINGHAM PALACE

If you’ve always wanted to walk in the footsteps of the Queen, then you’ll love the first stop on this Royal Day Out itinerary – Buckingham Palace.

In 1761, King George III bought Buckingham Palace, but it wasn’t made into an actual palace into King George IV asked the famous architect, John Nash, to work his magic. And did he ever do an amazing job. It is stunning!

Even though it wasn’t quite finished in 1837 when Victoria became Queen, she moved in anyway and it has been the official London residence of the monarch ever since. It’s really quite modern, relatively speaking in terms of palaces and castles and very much worth a visit.

Buckingham Palace is lavishly decorated with lots of gold gilding, gorgeous chandeliers, Old Master paintings, and furniture and porcelain from the Royal Collection. All of this is set on an understated palate of yellows and creams to match Queen Elizabeth II’s taste and comes together beautifully. You’ll have a hard time knowing which way to look next and which detail to examine. Take your time to take it all in because, unfortunately, you aren’t allowed to take any photos inside and it is a one-way stroll through the palace.

Although there are 775 rooms in Buckingham Palace only 19 of them – the State Rooms – are open to the public for the tours. Some of the rooms you’ll be able to visit the Picture Gallery, Ballroom, Music Room, the White Drawing Room, and the Throne Room. This might be one of those ‘pinch me’ moments when you enter the Throne Room, the site of so many famous royal wedding portraits over the years and you’ll know you are literally walking in the footsteps of your favourite members of the Royal Family.

As you tour the top royal attraction in London, you will be able to imagine the life of a monarch, but her home is only open during the summer months, usually July to September when the Queen is away for her summer holiday, so this visit will need to be planned in advance.

Tickets are booked on a timed entry system and there is limited availability, so we highly recommend you book your tickets well in advance of your visit to ensure you’ll be able to visit. We also recommend you use the audio guide (that is included with your ticket) as it is a wealth of information about the rooms you’ll visit and the artefacts within them.

SAVE TIME AND MONEY

• Because the tickets are timed entry there isn’t any need to show up early to wait in line before your tour. When you arrive, check with the person monitoring the queue to see if it is time for your group to enter. If it is, they will let you in. If you are a little early for your time slot, they will ask you to wait in the line and then you’ll be let in promptly when it is your time slot’s turn to enter.
• Buckingham Palace is not available for savings on either the London Pass or the 2For1 offers with National Rail like many other attractions in London are. But if you are interested in the Royal Family and want to visit Buckingham Palace, don’t let the price deter you. This is a first-rate attraction in London that is very well organised, and I think you’ll find it is worth the admission price.

ALTERNATE IDEA: TOWER OF LONDON

If you are visiting London when Buckingham Palace isn’t open to the public, you can still visit a royal palace, albeit a much older one – the Tower of London.

Built by William the Conqueror almost 1,000 years ago you can discover the history of the Tower of London which has been used as a royal palace and prison. Take a tour with a Beefeater to hear about some of the most gruesome events of London’s history. Besides ghoulish tales, some highlights of this royal fortress include the Crown Jewels, the king’s medieval bedchamber and the White Tower.

Learn more to plan your visit with this complete guide to visiting the Tower of London.

12:00 PM  |  PICNIC LUNCH IN ST. JAMES’ PARK

Founded as a deer park for the Royals living in St. James’s Palace, St. James’s Park was also remodelled by James Nash at the request of King George IV.

With fantastic views of Buckingham Palace, a central lake home to many species of waterfowl including pelicans, and many other animals such as squirrels scurrying around, St. James’s Park is a wonderful place for a picnic lunch.

If you didn’t bring lunch with you, you’re in luck! Nearby you’ll find a pub called ‘The Old Star’ where you can order lunch for take-out to bring back to eat in the park. We recommend their sliders and fries which are easy to eat in the park and pretty tasty!

Once you’ve picked up your lunch, head back to the park and find a nice spot under a tree to enjoy a few quiet moments in the city and a picnic lunch you’ll remember for quite some time. After lunch, lay back on the grass, look up to the sky and just daydream. Does lunch get any better than this?

1:00 PM  |  STROLL AROUND ST. JAMES’ PARK

After lunch and a little rest, it is time to head out for a walk around the park to see several sights. You can start your walk anywhere you like that is close to where you chose for your picnic spot, but for the sake of guiding you around, we’ll start at the Queen Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace that is easy to find.

PLEASE NOTE: Click here to go to the Google map of the walking route.

The Queen Victoria Memorial was dedicated in 1911 by George V and his cousin Wilhelm II of Germany, the two senior grandsons of Queen Victoria. The memorial has a large statue of Queen Victoria facing northeast, a bronze statue of the Angel of Justice facing northwest, the Angel of Truth facing southeast, and Charity facing Buckingham Palace.

From here head south towards Birdcage Walk. Turn left onto that street and walk along.

Along this street, you’ll pass the Guard’s Museum which is a military museum located in Wellington Barracks, home to the five regiments of Foot Guards. The museum gives the history of the regiments from the 17th century to the present day.

In 2014 the Flanders Fields’ Memorial Garden was added and honours all those who fought and died in the Great War, along with being a symbol of hope and a better future for all. One of the most special things about this garden is that it was created with soil from the Flanders Fields battlefield cemeteries.

At Horse Guards Road turn left again and continue walking.

Along this road, you’ll walk along in front of Her Majesty’s Treasury which houses the Churchill War Rooms in the same building. This underground bunker is where Sir Winston Churchill and his cabinet directed military operations during WWII and is worth coming back for a visit if you are interested in war history.

Next, you’ll come to the Horse Guards Parade, which was once an old palace’s jousting yard but is now the site used for ceremonies such as Trooping the Colour to celebrate the Queen’s birthday.

As you continue walking, you’ll come to the Mall which is the tree-lined royal processional route in honour of Queen Victoria leading from Trafalgar Square to Buckingham Palace. It is known for ceremonial events like royal weddings, state visits, and parades.

Walk up the Mall back towards Buckingham Palace.

Along the way, pop into a little lane called Stable Yard if you’d like to take a peek at the exterior of Clarence House which is the home of Charles, Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall.

Once you are back to the Queen Victoria Memorial, walk to your right to go through Green Park. On the other side of the park look for the Green Park/ Constitution Hill (Stop E) bus stop where you can catch the #9 bus to go to Kensington Palace. The bus takes about 20 minutes and you’ll get off at the Royal Albert Hall (Stop RC) bus stop. This will put you directly across the road from Kensington Gardens and the Albert Memorial.

3:00 PM  |  KENSINGTON PALACE AND GARDENS

For nearly 150 years, Kensington Palace was the royal residence before Buckingham Palace became the official London home of the monarch. King William III and Queen Mary II bought the handsome red brick mansion in 1689 and Sir Christopher Wren then redesigned it to meet their royal standards. Since then it has been the home of royalty from Queen Victoria to the current residents, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (Will and Kate) and their children.

Kensington Palace sits primly on its pleasant park side grounds and features exhibits designed to appeal to all ages.

Highlights of the palace include:

• The King’s Staircase which is painted with figures from the court of King George I and lead to the state apartments and royal bedrooms where Queen Victoria was born and, 18 years later, told of her accession to the throne.
• Sunken Gardens that are based on those at Hampton Court Palace and provide terraces and a café in the Orangery.
• Explore Princess Diana’s sense of style in a permanent fashion display of her gowns and sketches from the design process.
• The King’s and Queen’s State Apartments which feature exquisite paintings from the Royal Collection and are beautifully designed.

The gardens surrounding the palace have much to offer from the formal gardens commission by Queen Mary, to the Diana Memorial Playground, the Serpentine Galleries, the Italian Gardens, and the Peter Pan Statue.

Also, if you have taken the bus from the last stop on the itinerary you would have gotten off by the impossible-to-miss gold-plated Albert Memorial which was dedicated to Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert, who died in 1861 and is one of London’s most ornate monuments.

PLEASE NOTE: If you are following this itinerary in the summer (March 1 – October 31), the last admission to the palace is 17:00 and it closes at 18:00 which will give you enough time for your visit if you arrive at 15:00.

If, however, you are visiting during their winter hours (November 1 – February 28/29) then you might want to switch the itinerary around to visit Kensington Palace directly after lunch because the last admission is at 15:00 and it closes at 16:00.  You could then go back to St. James’s Park to explore the sights around it later in the day after the palace closes.

EVENING  |  DINNER AT THE GORING HOTEL

In the heart of Belgravia near Buckingham Palace, you’ll find the Goring Hotel with its Michelin starred dining room where you can dine like royalty, like the Queen and Queen Mother.

Photo by Matt Brown | CC BY 2.0

 Their dining room is elegantly decorated featuring Swarovski chandeliers and serves traditional British food made with ingredients sourced from suppliers across the British Isles. Perhaps you could try one of the dishes the Queen Mother enjoyed called ‘Eggs Dumkilbo’ which is a lobster and egg-based dish.

With over a century of luxury service, the Goring Hotel is London’s last family-owned luxury hotel and the only hotel to have been awarded a Royal Warrant for hospitality services.

ROYAL SIGHTS NEAR LONDON

If you have more time and want to see more royal attractions near London a couple of good options for day trips are Hampton Court Palace and Windsor Castle.

HAMPTON COURT PALACE

Sitting serenely on the Thames, Hampton Court Palace is London’s best-preserved Tudor palace and the favourite royal residence of King Henry VIII. Originally it wasn’t built for the monarchy at all but instead, in 1515, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, Lord Chancellor of England, built the palace for himself in keeping with his sense of self-importance. Unfortunately, even he couldn’t persuade the pope to grant Henry VIII a divorce from his first wife, so when the relationship between Wolsey and Henry VIII soured, he felt obligated to give it to King Henry.

For almost 200 years Hampton Court was the centre of English court life, politics and national history and today we can walk in the footsteps of Henry VII and all of his six wives that stayed here.

On your visit, you can follow the costumed guides as they bring the palace’s 500 years of royal history to life. You can explore the Tudor kitchens, state apartments, the Haunted Gallery where it’s rumoured the ghost of Catherine Howard roams, and the famous Great Hall complete with an intricately hand-carved timber roof.

 If the weather is nice, you can stroll the Hampton Court gardens, internationally renowned for being among the most beautiful gardens in the world, or have fun getting lost in the palace’s maze!

For something a little different, consider taking a riverboat from the Westminster Pier for a wonderful scenic cruise to the castle. The journey does take a few hours but what a day that would be – a riverboat cruise following by an afternoon in a palace!

WINDSOR CASTLE

If you’d like to walk in the footsteps of modern royalty a visit to Windsor Castle is a must. As the oldest and largest occupied castle in the world, it is the only royal residence in continuous use by the Royal Family and has been since the Middle Ages with the current Queen, Elizabeth II, spending her private weekends here.

 William the Conqueror began work on the castle in the 11th century with other monarchs, of the 39 that have called this castle home, leaving their mark on it over the centuries. Edward III modified and extended it in the 1300s with the largest contribution being the distinctive Round Tower. In the 1800s George IV updated the essentially medieval castle into the fortified royal palace you see today.

Be sure to visit St. George’s Chapel with its elegant stained-glass windows, high vaulted ceilings, and intricately carved choir stalls. It is also here that ten of the kings of England, including Henry VIII, have been laid to rest.

In 1992 some of the State Rooms were destroyed in a fire, but they have been restored to their former beauty and touring the Grand Reception Room, Green and Crimson Drawing Rooms, and the Octagonal Dining Room will allow you to see their priceless furniture, paintings by great masters, and stunning design and architecture.

You can also visit the pretty East Terrace Garden that was created for King George IV in the 1820s or Queen Mary’s Doll House which is a perfect miniature Georgian palace-within-a-palace created in 1923.

Visiting the castle is a wonderful way to spend a day, especially if you include afternoon tea and a stroll along some of the lovely streets of Windsor around the castle.

MAP OF A ROYAL DAY OUT ITINERARY

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RESOURCES | PLAN YOUR TRIP TO LONDON

These are a few tours we would recommend for your Royal Day Out in London.