JUNE 1, 2019
Inset: an Leslie Macdonald via Getty Queen Elizabeth; Buckingham Palace’s White Drawing Room – Royal Collection Trust/Instagram.
Queen Elizabeth is opening up the doors to her London home.
From July 20 to Sept. 29, Buckingham Palace will open to the public. Guests will have a chance to view 19 State Rooms, including the White Drawing Room, of which the Royal Collection Trust shared a photo on Instagram Thursday.
Described as “perhaps the grandest of all the State Rooms in Buckingham Palace,” the White Drawing Room is often used for audiences with the monarch and small gatherings. Ahead of larger events, the room is used for key guests to be presented to the Queen before everyone heads into a bigger State Room to mingle.
The room also has a secret straight out of a James Bond movie: a door disguised as a mirror and cabinet, which the Queen uses to enter!
The White Drawing Room has been the setting for Queen Elizabeth’s annual Christmas broadcasts as well as the backdrop for formal family photos.
Queen Elizabeth in the White Drawing Room at Buckingham Palace | John Stillwell/AP/REX/Shutterstock
But this isn’t the only White Drawing Room! Windsor Castle and Sandringham Estate both have rooms with the same name. In fact, the room at Windsor Castle served as the setting for Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank’s formal wedding portraits, while the White Drawing Room at Sandringham Estate is where the royal family gathers for tea and snacks on Christmas Eve.
Jack Brooksbank, Princess Eugenie and their wedding party in the White Drawing Room at Windsor Castle | Alex Bramall/PA Wire
Last summer, the royal family’s Instagram account released a high-speed tour of the route staff members would take to navigate from the kitchens to Buckingham Palace’s Chinese Drawing Room. After rushing through the kitchen doors and down the basement, staff members hop on an elevator before navigating the famous corridors to reach their destination.
The tour was meant to highlight the improvements that will be made by renovations to Buckingham Palace, including new and larger elevators.
“In the future, we’ll be using the basement routes and then up through a new lift at this level,” architectural lead Tony Barnard explained, cutting down the complexity of the current course.
Courtesy/Source: People
