London, the capital of the UK and England, is the world’s ninth-largest city.

Enjoy some of the world’s

finest museums, galleries, parks, concerts, theatres and restaurants all set within the rich historical
setting that is London.

With a population of just under eight million, London is Europe's largest city,

Have you ever wanted to visit the Queen?

Well we can’t promise afternoon tea with her, but how about visiting one of her main residences?

As one of London’s most iconic buildings and most popular tourist attractions, Buckingham Palace is
the main London residence and official headquarters of Queen Elizabeth II.

What Is Buckingham Palace?

what is iconBuckingham Palace is one of the few working royal palaces in the world and the British
Queen, Elizabeth II (along with, prior to his death in 2021, her husband Prince Philip), live there
during the week for the majority of the year.

The palace sees visits from more than 50,000 people each year and it boasts 775 rooms, including 19
State rooms where the Queen receives official guests.

With this many rooms there are a number of people working there and approximately 400 members
of staff are employed to ensure its smooth running.

Fun Facts About Buckingham Palace

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When the Queen is in residence it is indicated by the Royal Standard flag flying above the palace. The
building hosts a variety of functions from state banquets and investitures to garden parties and
audiences with Her Majesty and the Royal family.

The palace gardens cover 39 acres and, aside from the lawns and surrounding foliage and trees,
there is also a 3-acre lake, helipad and tennis courts contained.

Three garden parties are hosted by the Queen at the palace every May. People are invited, normally
in recognition of a public service they have performed, to enjoy the grounds, eat, drink and
potentially meet the Queen herself at these functions.

The palace was hit directly by bombs nine times during World War II with a number of other bombs
affecting the grounds.

There are 1514 doors and 760 windows in the palace which are cleaned every six weeks!
Some of the employees of the palace have unusual jobs....

Royal Horological Conservators - With an enormous collection of over 350 clocks and watches (along
with hundreds of other instruments such as barometers and thermometers) in the palace there are
two horological conservators employed by the Queen. Essentially their job is to wind all the clocks
and make sure they are all working correctly!

Keeper of the Queen’s stamps - The Queen’s father, George V, was a keen philatelist (or stamp
collector) and she still has his collection which requires someone to look after it. The keeper also
searches for additions to the collection and travels all over the world to look for new and unusual
inclusions.

What Are The Houses of Parliament?

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The Houses of Parliament are the two houses that make up the UK parliamentary system, namely the
House of Commons and the House of Lords.

This is called a bicameral parliament where each house keeps the other in check and this allows laws
to be made, debates to be had, allocation of funding and taxes and ensure the workings of the
government are monitored.

The Houses are based in the Palace of Westminster which is the recognisable building that people
know and part of which is the very famous tower that people refer to as ‘Big Ben’.

A Brief History of The Houses of Parliament

history

There have been buildings of significance on the site of the Palace of Westminster since the 8th
century when there was a Saxon church in situ. This was known as the West Minster (or ‘West
Monastery’) where the current name was derived.

In the 10th Century this was changed into a Benedictine Monastery and then in 1016 a Royal
residence was built by the Danish, Norwegian and English King, Canute (Cnut).

In 1097, Westminster Hall was built by King William II, the son of William the Conqueror, which is one
of the few early features that is still present today.

Over the next few hundred years there was a gradual move of financial aspects by the Monarchy
from Winchester to Westminster with both the Treasury and the Exchequer moving sites. There was
gradual development of the Palace by subsequent monarchs with the additions of other parts of the
building. It was first recorded that Parliament was opened here in 1259 in the Painted Chamber (the
King’s private apartment).

After a fire in the Palace of Whitehall, Henry VIII moved Parliament to it’s permanent home at the
Palace of Westminster in 1512.

In 1605 the infamous Guy Fawkes tried, and failed, to blow up the Houses of Parliament in protest of
laws against Catholicism. This became known as the Gunpowder Plot. Guy Fawkes was tried,
convicted of treason, and sentenced to death in Old Palace Yard within the grounds of the Palace of
Westminster.

1834 saw a fire at the Palace that destroyed the majority of the building - those parts that survived
this were Westminster Hall, Undercroft Chapel, The Cloisters and Chapter House of St. Stephen’s and
the Jewel Tower.

The rebuilding of the Palace following this devastation led to the building that we now see today. A
competition was held to design a new building and this was won by Christopher Barry, helped by
Augustus Pugin. The new building was built in a perpendicular Gothic style and the building work
started in 1840 and finished in the 1870s.

During World War II the Palace was damaged in fourteen different air raids which caused
considerable damage to the building, with the House of Commons chamber being completely
destroyed in May 1941.

The Palace of Westminster today is classed as a Grade I listed building and also a UNESCO World
Heritage site.

The Elizabeth Tower (aka Big Ben)

Big Ben clock towerThe tower at the north of the Palace is often referred to as Big Ben, and even
previously as St Stephen’s tower before the official changing of it’s name in 2012. The tower is over
96 metres high with 334 steps to reach the top.

There are five bells in the tower with the largest being called Big Ben weighing in at 13.7 tonnes
whilst the other four smaller bells range from 1.1 tonnes to 4 tonnes. Big Ben chimes on the hour,
every hour and the four smaller quarter bells sound every 15 minutes.

The four clock dials on the faces of the tower are 7metres in diameter with the hour and minute
hands being made out of different materials - hour hands from gun metal and the minute hands from
copper.
Fun Facts About The Houses of Parliament

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The clock tower called Elizabeth Tower that houses Big Ben, was renamed to commemorate the
Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012. This tower sits at the east end of the building providing a nice
balance with the Victoria tower at the west end. This is named after the only other British monarch
to have also reigned for over 60 years.

The Elizabeth Tower is the height of 21 London buses on top of each other (this is 96 metres tall!)

HP sauce is a British tomato based brown sauce used to accompany food. The initials stand for
Houses of Parliament Sauce as it was rumoured to have been served in the kitchens there in the early
20th century. The Palace building itself is shown on the front of the bottle.

The government in the UK is a constitutional Monarchy where the Crown (the current Monarch in
the UK) shares powers with the government. For the current sovereign, Elizabeth II, this Royal
Prerogative is very much a more ceremonial role. The Queen opens and closes parliament and
approves Bills prior to them becoming law and also has a weekly meeting with the current British
Prime Minister.

Voting within the Houses is done by the Members of Parliament physically going to different areas in
the building - known as ‘dividing the house’. In the House of Commons these are called the ‘Aye’ and
‘No’ lobbies.

The clock mechanism in Elizabeth Tower can be ‘sped up’ or ‘slowed down’ by adding or
removingpre-decimal pennies to a certain part of the clock’s mechanism.

What Is The National Gallery?

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The National Gallery in London houses the nation’s collection of more than 2000 paintings from
Western Europe that date from approximately 1250 to 1900.

These include many internationally famous painters and paintings within its collection including Van
Gogh’s Sunflowers and Botticelli’s Venus and Mars.

With a spectacular floor area of over 46,000 metres squared, the Gallery displays an amazing amount
of paintings along with special exhibitions and talks.

Alongside traditional paintings, the building also houses a number of sculptures and mosaics.

Fun Facts About The National Gallery

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The collection was moved to Wales before World War II ‘just in case’ war broke out and was brought
back just before it did! The paintings then had to be taken back AGAIN only 10 days before the start
of the war.

Mary Richardson was a suffragette who was repeatedly arrested for criminal damage and arson and
in fact entered the Gallery in 1914 and attacked the painting ‘Rokeby Venus’ by the artist Velazquez.

The Gallery normally welcomes over 2 million visitors each year!

There are many events and lectures that visitors can attend at the Gallery throughout the year when
booked in advance. These allow direct interaction with artists and experts and also hands on
creativity.