A personal chef for royal dogs? A former private bar for palace employees? Life
inside Buckingham Palace is filled with both secrets and glamor. Keep
watching to learn what really goes on behind closed monarchy doors.
While Buckingham Palace is known for being the official residence of the British monarchy, it
has taken several renovations and additions over hundreds of years. The palace, which was formerly
known as Buckingham House in the 1700s, belonged to John Sheffield, the Duke of Buckingham,
who made the original renovations in 1705. King George III bought Buckingham House from Sheffield
in 1761, and the monarch decided to renovate the structure and customize it for his wife,
Queen Charlotte. Buckingham House was informally known as the Queen's House,
and eventually, it was deemed an official royal residence by the British Parliament around 1834.
Queen Victoria became the first official resident of Buckingham Palace in 1837,
and reigned from the building until her death in 1901. Queen Elizabeth II lived in the home from
1952 until March 2022. It was then announced she would permanently live at Windsor Castle.
Buckingham Palace is currently home to the London offices of select royals. You'll find various
VIPs including Princess Anne, Prince Edward and Sophie the Countess of Wessex, and Prince Andrew.
The palace also employs approximately 800 staff members, including chefs, doctors, and personal
staff. To accommodate its many guests, the palace has 775 rooms, 78 bathrooms, and 92 offices.
Living permanently in the most important building in the United Kingdom means having a huge staff
to meet your every need. It takes a lot to rule entire countries, and the royal family has many
staffers to ensure they are properly fed and taken care of. The queen herself has a team of 20 chefs,
and a palace kitchen certainly fit for royalty, adorned with copper pans and marble countertops.
Queen Elizabeth starts her week by selecting a number of dishes from a menu provided to
her by the head chef. The monarch starts her day with a British staple — tea and
biscuits — as well as a bowl of cereal. For lunch, she typically eats light and
has some type of grilled fish or chicken with a vegetable like spinach or zucchini. Later,
the queen enjoys afternoon tea with a variety of finger foods, including scones, éclairs,
tartlets, and savory sandwiches like smoked salmon, roast beef, or cheese and
tomato — always with the crusts off. Dinner follows lunch in simplicity,
and typically includes a protein such as venison, salmon, or pheasant with a creamy mushroom sauce.
Elizabeth is not the only one who gets the royal treatment in terms of food,
as the royal pets are treated with just as much care and attention.
Queen Elizabeth II is known for her love of corgis. In her lifetime, the monarch has had
over 30 of these fluffy friends, and treats them with just as much attention and love
as the rest of her family. The queen's dogs have their own room called The Corgi Room,
and rest in large wicker baskets with plenty of comfortable cushions. The royal corgi menu has a
whole selection of different meats, cabbage, and rice. All of the meals are prepared fresh daily,
and meats must be chopped especially fine to avoid giving the dogs any bones.
The royal staff aren't the only ones who spoil the dogs. Rumor has it that Queen Elizabeth II herself
walks the dogs daily and even gives them their own stockings at Christmastime. As of Summer 2022,
the queen has three dogs, an elder corgi/dachshund mix named Candy, and two young corgis.
Buckingham Palace is one of the biggest royal residences in the world,
measuring a whopping 828,820 square feet. Given the structure's enormous interior,
it only makes sense for it to have everything necessary to function as its own city,
including a movie theater, ATM, and post office.
The movie theater in the palace is not usually used by the royals,
but is mainly used by the staff members who reside in the building. The theater
allegedly has exclusive movie screenings, but Netflix's hit series The Crown is off-limits.
Outside of a movie theater, Buckingham Palace also has an ATM, but only for royal residents
who possess a particularly heavy bank balance. Anyone can bank for free with the institution if
they have at least £1 million in their accounts. The palace also has a post office. The mailing
station operates through Royal Mail, the official mailing system of the monarchy.
A home as old and large as Buckingham Palace needs plenty of money to function properly. According to
Fortune, the palace costs around $85 million to operate annually, with the sum of money coming
from the government of the United Kingdom, which includes the Sovereign Grant. The multi-million
dollar price tag for the palace covers staff salaries, royal travel, and general maintenance.
Outside of this, there's also a controversial $514 million budget for renovations. The list
of renovations included replacing the roof, redoing the floors, and adding elevators. Many
found the grand overhaul questionable, given the sheer amount of money it cost taxpayers.
Buckingham Palace is much more than just the home of Queen Elizabeth II. It is also
a huge money-making tourist attraction that pumps millions back into the British economy. According
to Express, The Royal Estate properties, which include Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle,
generated £48 million in ticket sales, and £21 million in retail sales in the
2018-2019 year period. What goes around does come back around — and subsequently pays off.
Who said the official Buckingham Palace movie theater was the only place to relax and have
fun? At one point, the building had a bar for its many employees to use and enjoy. Unfortunately,
many of the bar's patrons got unruly and drunk too often. Employees of the royal
household allegedly frequented the bar and got carried away when it came to handling alcohol,
which ultimately led to Queen Elizabeth closing it down for good. It is unknown
when the bar was established or the exact date when it closed down,
but it is nonetheless fascinating to consider that one of the most serious institutions in
the British government — and arguably the world — had a pub of unruly guests in it.
Despite the absence of a royal bar in the palace, the queen herself is known to enjoy a couple of
alcoholic beverages from time to time. So what drink is suitable for the queen? According to
People: Champagne on some occasions, though her beverage of choice is a gin and Dubonnet. The
monarch likes gin so much that her estates produce two distinct brands of the alcohol,
one of which is crafted with ingredients straight from the palace's gardens.
Bars and movie theaters are great, but there is nothing quite like a royal party. The official
royal garden party takes place every summer and hosts over 30,000 guests. Originally started by
Queen Victoria in 1868, garden parties have since become an important event in the royal
household. The special occasion occurs over three days and is meant to highlight those
who play a special role in their communities and includes socializing with different people.
Guests of the party are expected to formally dress, with men wearing
top hats with long suit jackets and women wearing dresses with grand hats to match.
Throughout the mingling event, Buckingham Palace is responsible for serving an
incredible amount of food, totaling around 27,000 cups of tea, 20,000 sandwiches, and
20,000 slices of cakes, according to the family’s own website.
Attendees are typically a variety of people, ranging from celebrities to government officials,
but can depend on the party theme. On one occasion, the queen invited couples
who were married for 50 years to celebrate her own anniversary with Prince Phillip.
While Queen Elizabeth has attended the royal garden parties every year since 1937,
she did not attend in May 2022 due to mobility issues. The monarch was
represented by members of the royal family instead.
Being an official employee of the royal household is vastly different from any other
job. While the duties and tasks may be normal, such as delivering a meal or doing laundry,
the environment in which such duties are executed is anything but normal. Many of the hundreds of
staff members at Buckingham Palace essentially spend all of their time in the building — eating,
sleeping, and working all in the same place. This experience gives employees
an intimate look into one of the world's most mysterious-yet-admired institutions.
In addition to living at the palace, some staff members can also enjoy other benefits, such as
phones and bikes, discretionary car leasing, and free staff lunches. Live-in staff have three meals
a day. Dishes like roast pork and banoffee pie — served to royals the previous day — often pop up.
Employees also receive an itinerary each morning that details their responsibilities for the day,
which can be as simple as arranging dishes on the queen's table to bringing a fresh pot
of tea to a royal like Prince Andrew. Other details of royal staff members,
like specific roles, titles, and salaries, are kept more secret by the palace.
Tending to all the needs of the queen is important, but overseeing her health
is perhaps the most significant. Buckingham Palace is equipped with a full team of medical
professionals to treat and monitor the health of Britain's most important family. The team
includes doctors who are available all hours of the day, as well as the physician to the queen.
The duties of the palace's medical staff aren’t limited to regular check-ups, however. During
cross-country trips and official royal tours, the queen would travel with a Royal Navy doctor,
whose responsibilities included locating accessible hospitals, bringing medical
supplies like medicine and a defibrillator, and even monitoring packs of blood in the case of an
emergency. While Elizabeth is vulnerable due to her age, the monarch has remained in good health
even through her battle with COVID-19, with the aid of the medical household.
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