General Discussion about Royal Residences

[Vasillisos Markos]

Originally Posted by Cadiva

Try this one for the right link - BBC News - Spanish tiles shed light on Tudor palace in Woking

Cadiva,

Thank you and welcome to the forum.

VM

[royski1]

I have a question about the state of Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle. We keep seeing these articles about how there is something like a 32 millon pound backlog of repairs for the buildings.

Back when there was the fire at Windsor Castle, they opened Buckingham Palace to the public, to pay for the hugh amount that it was going to cost to rebuild the castle. Is the money that they are still getting from the palace being open, still going towards those bills or was that all paid for long ago and if so what do they now do with that money?

I say it is disgusting to say that the Queen should pay for those repairs. If the UK was a republic(God Forbid) the government would still be paying the repairs to keep the buildings open for National Heratige and for the tourist. The government should just go ahead and fix the buildings. It is only going to get worst and more expensive the longer they leave it go.

[pacomartin]

I doubt that the Queen could spare 32 million pounds out of her personal fortune. She does not have that much money in liquid assets. Balmoral and Sandringham House compose the bulk of her personal fortune.

If Buckingham Palace become seriously unstable she would probably just stay at Windsor. I think she uses her personal money to decorate her private apartments at Windsor.

[Carmen Jones]

I have a question are their any picture of the royal lodge that is on the windsor estates - also known as the crown estate - any on windsor great park residences

[muriel]

Originally Posted by carmen jones

I have a question are their any picture of the royal lodge that is on the windsor estates - also known as the crown estate - any on windsor great park residences

See the thread on Royal Lodge, Windsor.

[Elly C]

There's a new series airing on BBC 1 tomorrow about the Royal Palaces
See link below

The Queen's Palaces

[Lumutqueen]

Recorded the first episode of The Queen's Palaces and had to turn it off after 10 minutes because Fiona Bruce just ruined it.

[Elly C]

I have mixed feelings about the first episode. It was lovely to get footage of rooms not normally open to the public such as the Oriental Room, and see drawings & designs of earlier versions of the palace (the colourful ballroom as originally intended for example). But why the long sequence in Venice? Yes it is a lovely city, but the large number of Canalettos in the Royal Collection is a feeble excuse for sending Fiona Bruce on a jolly ( we only got to see one canvas too).

Windsor Castle next week

[Grandduchess24]

Originally Posted by Lumutqueen

Recorded the first episode of The Queen's Palaces and had to turn it off after 10 minutes because Fiona Bruce just ruined it.

I totally agree with you but I still enjoyed taking a glimpse on the inside of Buckingham palace, Windsor castle and holyrood house I just stared in. Awe at how glided the inside was I wasn't even paying attention to what she was saying:$

[Rocketmom]

Do the members of the royal family who live in some of the official residences pay rent to the crown? Will Harry, William and Kate own their apartments in Kensington? Pay rent? Or just live there because the Queen lets them? I've read that the Queen gave Andrew and Anne their estates, and Charles owns Highgrove, but what about the other residences they utilize?

[Lumutqueen]

Originally Posted by Rocketmom

Do the members of the royal family who live in some of the official residences pay rent to the crown? Will Harry, William and Kate own their apartments in Kensington? Pay rent? Or just live there because the Queen lets them? I've read that the Queen gave Andrew and Anne their estates, and Charles owns Highgrove, but what about the other residences they utilize?

Gatcombe Park was a gift to Princess Anne after her first wedding, The Duke of York does not own Royal Lodge which is his current residence. Sunninghill Park his previous residence was bought by Crown Estate Commissioners on behalf of the Queen and later sold by the HM Land Registry.

Highgrove House was purchased by The Duchy of Cornwall not Prince Charles himself. Whatever revenue Highgrove makes I assume goes back to The Duchy.

As for the apartments royals have if we take The Kents for example at Kensington;

In 2008, it was announced that to continue living from 2010 in their previously-subsidised Apartment 10, Prince and Princess Michael of Kent would be required to begin paying rent of £120,000 a year, the market rate of the five-bedroom, five-reception flat, rather than the nominal amount of £70 per week they had been paying for the previous seven years. Elizabeth II had previously been subsidising the £10,000 a month cost for the Kents to use their flat.[5] Members of Parliament on the palaces committee had demanded the change after the Kents' rent had come to light. The Kents have lived in the apartment since 1979, only paying their utility bills prior to 2002

I imagine The Queen helps out her family, and the residences pay a minimal amount towards where they are living.

[Dman]

The Queen's gardens:
The January 2013 weather has transformed the Royal Estate into a winter wonderland. The Royal Household's gardeners captured these snowy scenes whilst working in the central London grounds on 18 January 2013-
The Queen's gardens - a set on Flickr

[An Ard Ri]

Originally Posted by Dman

The Queen's gardens:
The January 2013 weather has transformed the Royal Estate into a winter wonderland. The Royal Household's gardeners captured these snowy scenes whilst working in the central London grounds on 18 January 2013-
The Queen's gardens - a set on Flickr

I saw those earlier aren't they wonderful!

[carlota]

those are some great pictures of the fantastic gardens at buckingham. it's a shame they are not open to the public, although wikipedia tells me that in august and september they are open when visiting the palace. i wonder if that's every year. it's such a shame that being so large they can't be used by the public. seeing they are so big it should not be an issue to fence off a reasonable distance away from the palace, for the purposes of ensuring the security of the RF.

Garden at Buckingham Palace - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

i have also seen they were open for a picnic during the jubilee, and of course, they are open to those lucky to be invited for a garden party. does anyone else know when else the gardens can be visited?

[Artemisia]

The gardens are definitely open to public in September. I've been at the Buckingham Palace twice in different years and both times we had a chance to visit the gardens. The gardens were the last stop of the guided tour and you could stay there for pretty much as long as you wanted (until the end of the visiting hours, of course). Although if I'm not mistaken, only the south side of the garden with views over the lake was open.

[Queen Camilla]

Does anyone know which building is larger in square feet Buckingham Palace or Kensington Palace?

Thanks

[tommy100]

I wouldn't bet my life on it but I know Buckingham Palace is mentioned as one of the largest royal palaces in the world and I've never heard that said of KP so I imagine BP must be the biggest. BP is 828,818 square feet.

[Spheno]

You can compare them visually

[An Ard Ri]

World's largest palace

World's largest palace - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Harold]

Are any of the British royal residences air conditioned?

(It occurs to me that I may have asked this before and simply forgot the answer. If so, I apologize.)