Buckingham Palace & the Victoria Memorial

Why is it significant?

You are at the foot of a mountain of white marble, crowned by a gilded winged Victory, and behind the black and gold railings stretches the grey stone front of Buckingham Palace with its famous balcony in the centre.

Key Facts

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You are at the foot of a mountain of white marble, crowned by a gilded winged Victory, and behind the black and gold railings stretches the grey stone front of Buckingham Palace with its famous balcony in the centre. Check the flagpole on the roof: if the Royal Standard is flying, the King is at home. If it is the Union Flag, he is not.

It was not born a palace. It began in 1703 as Buckingham House, the town house of the Duke of Buckingham. George the Third bought it in 1761 as a private family home for Queen Charlotte, and George the Fourth asked John Nash to turn it into a palace. But the first monarch to actually live here was Queen Victoria, who moved in in 1837, just weeks after coming to the throne, and found chimneys that smoked and drains that smelled.

Here is the surprise: the front you are looking at is the youngest part of the building. In 1913 Aston Webb refaced it in Portland stone, and the work was done in about three months, while the royal family was away. Behind it are some 775 rooms. Victoria also started the tradition of the balcony: she stepped out onto it during the Great Exhibition of 1851, and royal families have been waving from it ever since.

In the forecourt the Changing of the Guard takes place, the new guard of Foot Guards in scarlet tunics and bearskins taking over from the old, while a military band plays. The bands have been known to slip in pop songs and film themes among the marches.

Now look up at the memorial. It was unveiled in 1911 by George the Fifth, and standing beside him was his cousin, the German Kaiser Wilhelm the Second, Queen Victoria's eldest grandson. Three years later their two countries were at war. Queen Victoria sits facing the Mall, looking towards the city she ruled for sixty-three years. Turn to your right, towards the gilded gates on the edge of the trees, and step into Green Park.