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A committee of Members of Parliament in the UK has urged the Queen to open Buckingham Palace more often to the public to raise much-needed funds for repairs to Royal palaces.

At the moment, it’s available for fee-paying tours only in August and September when no member of the Royal Family is there – a total of 63 days a year.

Some MPs say it should open on those weekends when the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh are elsewhere. The committee chairman, Edward Leigh, commented: “You cannot close the whole palace because the Duke of York is sitting in his flat upstairs.” The White House in the US was held up as an example of a major attraction that is open for much of the year.

The taxpayer-funded grant to maintain the Royal palaces has been frozen at £15 million ($21 million) for 12 years. And the cracks are beginning to show.

The Royal Mausoleum at Frogmore, near Windsor Castle, which houses the tomb of Queen Victoria, has been designated by English Heritage as ‘at risk’ after part of the ceiling fell in. Some of the grandest state rooms at Buckingham Palace have not been redecorated since the Queen came to the throne in 1952.

Royal officials told the MPs that opening Buckingham Palace more often was not financially viable as the student wardens employed over the summer could not be

be brought in during term time. But the MPs argued that it would be easy to find casual staff in the capital.

by Andy Moreton

Luxique offers a range of luxury London hotels, including several within a short walk of Buckingham Palace.

There’s a new dimension this summer to the Buckingham Palace tour – one of the most popular attractions for visitors to London.

As well as being able to view the state rooms at the Queen’s official London residence, visitors will see the ballroom set up as though for a banquet for a visiting head of state. “I think it’s such a sumptuous sight that everyone will just gasp in amazement,” said curator Kathryn Jones.

What the tourists might not be aware of is the elaborate planning that goes into such a state banquet. Work begins six months in advance and invitations are sent out to the 170 guests twelve weeks before the event.

An official known as the Yeoman of the Silver Pantry and his team of eight spend three weeks polishing the silver and it takes two days to lay the table. There are more than a thousand glasses (six per person) and two thousand pieces of cutlery to place. And they cannot go just anywhere. Each guest is allocated a 17-inch setting and the position of every knife, fork, spoon and plate is measured exactly.

Before the guests arrive, the Queen herself makes a final inspection of the table to ensure everything is perfect.
One slightly surprising thing is how brief the banquet is. The guests are seated at 8.30 and by 9.45 it’s all over when a troop of twelve pipers march in, playing at full blast, to signal the move to the drawing room for coffee.

The only thing missing for the London visitors – apart from the pipers, that is – will be the food. But to give you a taste, guests at the Windsor Castle banquet for President Sarkozy of France were treated to: fillet of brill, lamb with artichokes and broad beans, cauliflower with Hollandaise sauce, carrots with tarragon, thinly sliced potatoes, salad, rhubarb gateau and fresh fruit.

Details of the Buckingham Palace tours, which run until the end of September, can be found at http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/Page6127.asp. And Luxique can offer a range of luxury hotels in London, including several within a short distance of Buckingham Palace.

by Andy Moreton