The East Wing of Buckingham Palace in London will be open to visitors for the first time this summer, when special guided tours of the Principal Floor will take place in July and August. 

Centre Room © Royal Collection Enterprises Limited 2024 | Royal Collection Trust (Photographer: Peter Smith)

Buckingham Palace is the official London residence of King Charles III and is the focus of national and royal celebrations in the United Kingdom.

The East Wing encompasses the front façade of the historic building and features the famous central balcony, where the Monarch and members of the Royal Family have gathered for public appearances during special occasions or historic moments since 1851.

Access this year has been made possible due to the conclusion of more than five years of improvement works to the East Wing. The essential works are part of the Buckingham Palace Reservicing Programme to upgrade the historic building’s infrastructure, improve access and preserve it for future generations.

Yellow Drawing Room © Royal Collection Enterprises Limited 2024 | Royal Collection Trust (Photographer: Peter Smith)

Led by expert guides, small groups of visitors will be able to visit spectacular rooms on the Principal Floor, furnished with highlights from the Royal Collection. Visitors will discover the history of the Wing, first occupied by Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and their children and still used by the Royal Family today for official meetings and events.

At the request of Queen Victoria, the architect Edward Blore was commissioned to draw up plans for alterations to Buckingham Palace, in order to increase the accommodation for her growing family. Between 1847 and 1849, the East Wing was added, enclosing what had previously been an open, horseshoe-shaped courtyard, following George IV’s conversion of Buckingham House into a Palace to the designs of John Nash.

Franz Xaver Winterhalter, Queen Victoria with the Prince of Wales, 1846 © Royal Collection Enterprises Limited 2024 | Royal Collection Trust

The build of the East Wing was financed through the sale of George IV’s seaside retreat in Brighton, the Royal Pavilion, in 1850. The style of the architecture and interiors of the Pavilion reflected the King's love of Asian art and design and upon the sale of the building, its contents, including some of the finest ceramics and furniture in the Royal Collection, were transferred to the Wing and inspired the Chinese-themed décor of its principal rooms. 

Tours will take visitors through rooms and spaces including the Principal Corridor, which runs the length of the Wing, where paintings by artists such as Thomas Gainsborough, Sir Thomas Lawrence and Franz Xaver Winterhalter are on display. In the Yellow Drawing Room, decorated with recently restored Chinese hand-painted wallpaper from the 18th century, visitors will see two hexagonal, nine-tiered Chinese porcelain pagodas and the Kylin Clock, which incorporates two turquoise Chinese lions.

The Kylin Clock, 1700—1822 © Royal Collection Enterprises Limited 2024 | Royal Collection Trust

Tours will conclude in the Centre Room, which leads on to the balcony, where highlights include a newly restored glass chandelier, shaped to resemble a lotus flower, and two Chinese 18th-century Imperial Silk wall hangings, presented to Queen Victoria by Guangxu, Emperor of China on the occasion of her Diamond Jubilee in 1897.

The summer Opening of the State Rooms at Buckingham Palace is from Thursday 11 July to Sunday 29 September 2024. The Palace will be open for seven days a week during July and August for the first time since 2019, returning to five days a week during September.

If you or your group would like to enjoy a visit to Buckingham Palace this summer as part of a tailor-made tour of London or the United Kingdom, please do contact our friendly team today. Or perhaps you would like to start planning a tour of the United Kingdom's royal castles palaces in 2025? If so, we can help!