Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace stands at the western end of The Mall in the City of Westminster, between Green Park and St James's Park. It began as Buckingham House, a large townhouse built in 1703 for the Duke of Buckingham. King George III bought it in 1761 as a private home for Queen Charlotte.

In the 1820s George IV had the architect John Nash enlarge it into a palace, and Queen Victoria became the first monarch to live there when she moved in in 1837. The east front, facing The Mall, was added in the 1840s and refaced in Portland stone in 1913. Its central balcony is where the royal family appears on national occasions.

The palace has 775 rooms, including 19 State Rooms, 52 royal and guest bedrooms and 78 bathrooms. The State Rooms hold paintings by Rembrandt, Rubens and Vermeer from the Royal Collection, along with fine furniture and porcelain. Behind the palace lies a private garden of about 16 hectares with a lake, the setting for royal garden parties.

In front of the palace, the Victoria Memorial stands at the centre of the roundabout. The Changing of the Guard takes place in the forecourt on set days, with the ceremony and band music lasting about 45 minutes, and when the monarch is in residence the Royal Standard flies from the roof. The Royal Mews and the King's Gallery nearby are open for much of the year.

The State Rooms are open to paying visitors for about ten weeks in summer, usually from July to September, with timed tickets sold by the Royal Collection Trust. Viewing the palace from outside and watching the Changing of the Guard are free. Green Park, St James's Park and Victoria Underground stations are each a short walk away.

The State Rooms have opened to the public every summer since 1993, when ticket income helped pay for repairs at Windsor Castle after the 1992 fire. They are also open on selected dates through the year. The route covers the Grand Staircase, the Throne Room, the Picture Gallery hung with works by Rembrandt, van Dyck, Rubens and Vermeer, the Green Drawing Room and the Ballroom. The cream and gold decoration of the Ballroom, the Marble Hall and the Grand Entrance dates from Edward VII's redecoration in the early 1900s.

The palace is a working building, not only a home. About 50,000 invited guests attend garden parties, receptions, audiences and state banquets each year, and three garden parties are held in the summer on the lawns behind the palace.

The building is in the middle of a long refit. A ten-year programme of maintenance, with new plumbing, wiring, boilers and radiators and solar panels on the roof, was costed at £369 million and approved by the prime minister in November 2016.

Tickets for the summer opening are sold on the Royal Collection Trust website, which lists dates and the current adult, young person and child prices. Allow about two and a half hours, including the walk through the garden at the end.