Today was extra special because everything we did was new to me. While I’d seen the outside of Buckingham Palace and the Palace of Westminster, I’d never been inside. Of course, we couldn’t take pictures but I found a few online.
We started at the Queen’s Gallery where we saw the exhibit Japan: Courts and Culture. It was a very nice exhibit but we were scheduled to spend 90 minutes there (we had timed tickets for all 3 exhibitions) but we were done in less than 20 minutes as there were only about 5 small rooms. When I asked the Steward what was supposed to take so long, he told me that they allow time for reading all the cards and for reflection. I’m not sure how much reflection we were supposed to do but we ended up with a lot of time to kill before our next time slot.
Next up was the Royal Mews, which is an exhibit of Royal carriages and other vehicles. We spent almost an hour at this one. It was very cool to see the carriages we’ve seen the Royal Family use at special events.
Our last stop on our Royal Day Out was the state apartments of Buckingham Palace. As in Windsor Castle we weren’t allowed to take photos inside but here are some I found online.
Just like at Windsor Castle, Buckingham Palace had a special exhibit for the Platinum Jubilee. Once again, we saw some breathtaking pieces of jewelry including this famous diadem.
Oh, what I wouldn’t give for a single gem out of out of one of these babies. Between what we saw today and at Windsor Castle, I’m totally jealous!
Even though we had timed tickets, there were hordes of people in the Palace. The route was well planned but there was no such thing as social distancing. We both had masks but it was very warm so we chose not to wear them. If we don’t get sick after this, we never will.
While waiting for our entry time to the Queen’s Gallery, I managed to get a few pictures of the front of the palace without too many people in the way.
I had about a nanosecond to get this before the next crowd climbed up the stairs.
We had a little extra time between the Mews and the State Apartments, so we caught a little bit of the Changing of the Guards. It had already started so we didn’t get anywhere near the gates, but I caught a little bit on video.
By the time we finished at the Palace and got the bus back to the Palaces of Westminster, we had just enough time for lunch at the Red Lion pub. Peter tried to play it safe with a club sandwich but it wasn’t anything like a club sandwich at home. I’ve learned the hard way not to eat “American” food overseas. He said it was good but wasn’t what he expected. I had a pub specialty…steak pie. I had the starter version which was less than half the size of the main meal pie. It was absolutely delicious!
After lunch it was on to the Palaces of Westminster which is where the Houses of Parliament meets. It’s called a Palace because until the time of Henry VIII, it was used as the royal residence.
I couldn’t find any pictures of either the House of Lords or the House of Commons online. The difference between the two rooms was obvious with the former looking like a palace with paintings, frescos and gold leaf which the latter was plain and undecorated. I guess that’s to show the difference between the appointed Lords and the elected ministers of parliament in the lower house.
I found a YouTube video from the 2021 Opening of Parliament that gives you a glimpse of the House of Lords chambers. As you can see the Queen is not wearing the heavy Imperial State Crown. Due to the pandemic the ceremony was sparsely attended. Our tour guide, David, explained this ceremony to us so it was cool to see it happen in the video. Enjoy.
On a side note. We learned quite a bit about British politics during our tour. During their general elections, the people don’t vote for the Prime Minister. They vote for their representative to the House of Commons (similar to our House of Representatives). Whichever party wins the majority of votes (in the last election it was the conservatives) gets to select the Prime Minister. The current PM, Boris Johnson, has resigned so in a couple of weeks the conservative party will select a new PM who will serve until the next general election in 2025. After that election, the majority party will select the next PM. Kind of a cool system.
The tour was a fascinating 90 minutes, and while tired, we were very glad we went. All in all, we had a terrific day.
Today was our last day sightseeing in London. Tomorrow we’re leaving the city for Hampton Court Palace. It’s supposed to be rainy all day by hopefully we can get in and out of the Palace without getting too wet.