Buckingham Palace is a royal residence in London and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the center of state occasions and royal hospitality. It has been a focal point for the British people at times of national rejoicing and mourning.
Originally known as Buckingham House, the building at the core of today's palace was a large townhouse built for the Duke of Buckingham in 1703 on a site that had been in private ownership for at least 150 years. It was acquired by George III in 1761 as a private residence for Queen Charlotte and became known as The Queen's House. During the 19th century, it was enlarged by architects John Nash and Edward Blore, who constructed three wings around a central courtyard. Buckingham Palace became the London residence of the British monarch on the accession of Queen Victoria in 1837.
Thanks and credit to Google Earth Studio for this aerial video.
Originally known as Buckingham House, the building at the core of today's palace was a large townhouse built for the Duke of Buckingham in 1703 on a site that had been in private ownership for at least 150 years. It was acquired by George III in 1761 as a private residence for Queen Charlotte and became known as The Queen's House. During the 19th century, it was enlarged by architects John Nash and Edward Blore, who constructed three wings around a central courtyard. Buckingham Palace became the London residence of the British monarch on the accession of Queen Victoria in 1837.
Thanks and credit to Google Earth Studio for this aerial video.
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00:00Buckingham Palace is a royal residence in London and the administrative headquarters
00:08of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the city of Westminster,
00:13the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality.
00:17It has been a focal point for the British people at times of national rejoicing and mourning.
00:22Originally known as Buckingham House, the building at the core of today's palace was
00:27a large townhouse built for the Duke of Buckingham in 1703 on a site that had been
00:31in private ownership for at least 150 years. It was acquired by King George III in 1761
00:38as a private residence for Queen Charlotte and became known as the Queen's House.
00:42During the 19th century it was enlarged by architects John Nash and Edward Bloor,
00:46who constructed three wings around a central courtyard.
00:49Buckingham Palace became the London residence of the British monarch on the accession of
00:53Queen Victoria in 1837. The last major structural additions were made in the late 19th and early
01:0020th centuries, including the east front, which contains the balcony on which the royal family
01:05traditionally appears to greet crowds. A German bomb destroyed the palace chapel during the Second
01:10World War. The King's Gallery was built on the site and opened to the public in 1962 to exhibit
01:16works of art from the royal collection. The original early 19th century interior designs,
01:22many of which survive, include widespread use of brightly coloured scaliola and blue and pink
01:27lapis, on the advice of Charles Long. King Edward VII oversaw a partial redecoration in a bella
01:33poke cream and gold colour scheme. Many smaller reception rooms are furnished in the Chinese
01:38Regency style with furniture and fittings brought from the Royal Pavilion at Brighton and from
01:43Carlton House. The palace has 775 rooms and the garden is the largest private garden in London.
01:50The state rooms, used for official and state entertaining, are open to the public each year
01:55for most of August and September and on some days in winter and spring. In the Middle Ages,
02:00the site of the future palace formed part of the manor of Ebbury, also called Eyre. The marshy
02:05ground was watered by the river Tyburn, which still flows below the courtyard and south wing
02:10of the palace. Where the river was fordable, at Cow Ford, the village of Icross grew. Ownership
02:17of the site changed hands many times. Owners included Edward the Confessor and Edith of
02:22Wessex in late Saxon times, and, after the Norman conquest, William the Conqueror. William gave the
02:27site to Geoffrey de Mandeville, who bequeathed it to the monks of Westminster Abbey. In 1531,
02:33Henry VIII acquired the Hospital of St James, which became St James's Palace, from Eton College.
02:40And in 1536 he took the manor of Ebbury from Westminster Abbey. These transfers brought the
02:45site of Buckingham Palace back into royal hands for the first time since William the Conqueror
02:50had given it away almost 500 years earlier. Various owners leased it from royal landlords,
02:55and the freehold was the subject of frenzied speculation during the 17th century.
03:00By then, the old village of Icross had long since fallen into decay.
03:04And the area was mostly wasteland. Needing money, James VI and I sold off part of the
03:10crown freehold but retained part of the site on which he established a four-acre mulberry garden
03:14for the production of silk. This is at the northwest corner of today's palace.
03:19Clement Walker in Anarchia Anglicana, 1649, refers to,
03:23New erected soddums and spintrees at the mulberry garden at S. James's.
03:28This suggests it may have been a place of debauchery. Eventually, in the late 17th century,
03:33the freehold was inherited from the property tycoon Hugh Audley by the great heiress Mary Davies.
03:38When the improvident Goring defaulted on his rents, Henry Bennet,
03:421st Earl of Arlington was able to purchase the lease of Goring House and he was occupying it
03:46when it burned down in 1674. Following which he constructed Arlington House on the site,
03:52the location of the southern wing of today's palace, the next year.
03:56In 1698, John Sheffield acquired the lease. He later became the first Duke of Buckingham
04:01and Normanby. Buckingham House was built for Sheffield in 1703 to the design of William
04:06Winda. The style chosen was of a large, three-floored central block with two smaller
04:11flanking service wings. It was eventually sold by Buckingham's illegitimate son, Charles Sheffield,
04:17in 1761 to George III for £21,000 Sheffield's leasehold on the mulberry garden site,
04:23the freehold of which was still owned by the royal family, was due to expire in 1774.
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