Buckingham Palace has been the official home of British sovereignty since 1837. Originally known as “Buckingham House”, it had been built in 1705 as a large townhouse for the Duke of Buckingham, John Sheffield. King George III acquired it in 1761 as a private residence for Queen Charlotte, due to which it earned the name “The Queen’s House”. It underwent an expansion in the 19th century before finally becoming the official royal palace in 1837 with Queen Victoria’s ascension to the throne.
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| Photo from the Wikimedia Commons |
Buckingham Palace also serves as the administrative headquarters for the British Monarchy. As it says on the official website, “It houses the offices of those who support the day-to-day activities and duties of The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh and their immediate family.”
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| Photo from the Wikimedia Commons. Retouched. |
Google Maps offered a “Street View” look, as well as access to photographs from different perspectives that people had shared on the Internet.
Buckingham Palace’s official website and Wikipedia proved to be great resources for information on the palace. I learned quite a bit from them (for instance, I didn’t know Buckingham Palace used to be a private residence before it became a royal residence).
Flickr and Fotopedia obliged by serving up slideshows/galleries of beautiful photographs of Buckingham Palace.
I have personally visited Buckingham Palace years ago. Unfortunately, my family and I didn’t get to watch the changing of the guard at the palace as it was cancelled the day we visited. However, early this past January when I was flying back to the United States from India at the end of my winter break, my flight had a stop at Heathrow Airport. As we circled London and descended through the clouds, I had the opportunity to “re-visit” from the air some of the places I had visited when I had been in London. Among them was Buckingham Palace.
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| Non-retouched. Photo license: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0. |
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