Despite being the official headquarters for the British royal family, there are huge swathes of Buckingham Palace never seen by the general public, from the extensive staff quarters and working rooms, to the historic royal quarters. This post takes a look inside the Buckingham Palace private apartments:
Located at the rear right of the palace, the private apartments are primarily used by the reigning monarch, most recently Queen Elizabeth II, who resided there for nearly 70 years. In the floorpan above, the majority of the apartment runs along the north-west flank of the building, with a small section facing the rear gardens.
As seen in the image below, the apartments are located directly behind Marine One; visiting during President Trump’s trip to the palace in 2019. The Queen’s Audience Room was located on the ground floor with floor-to-ceiling windows looking out onto the vast garden lawn.
Though making up a small portion of the palace’s 775 rooms, the monarch’s apartment is made up of at least 25 rooms including a suite for the consort, as well as various ante-chambers. The Queen’s Audience Room was the only room from the apartment that Her former Majesty ever allowed to be photographed. The pale blue sitting room was usually seen by the public in photos and short reels while she received various heads of state from around the world (below, receiving President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle in 2009) and her weekly audience with her prime minister.
Unlike most rooms in the palace, The Queen’s Audience Room had polished dark wood floors and white contrast mouldings, with refined furnishings including simple table lamps and cream antique arm chairs and matching sofa. Unlike The Queen’s busy, cosy private sitting rooms as seen in Windsor Castle and Balmoral Castle, this public reception room is much more sparse, with surfaces occupied by selected official family photos and trinkets gifted by various diplomats. A central seating area crowded the fireplace, while Her Majesty’s writing desk sat in the corner by the window, a collection of antique side tables dotted around the room for extra style and paintings from the Royal Collection hung on the walls.
The room was decorated for Queen Elizabeth II by celebrated interior designer John Fowler, with the decor and layout remaining unchanged for the rest of Her Majesty’s reign. You can see the original design of the room, looking back towards the window, on Colefax and Fowler’s website here. The room can be located on the floorpan below indicated by the top pink spot:
As well as communal spaces and rooms for staff, the apartment comprises of a Monarch’s Suite and a Consort’s Suite. It is believed Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip took breakfast together in The Morning Room, which formed part of Prince Philip’s suite (the yellow spot, furthest right). Furtive snaps of the room were taken 2003 by a journalist for The Mirror newspaper, who infiltrated the palace as a legitimately employed footman. The investigation revealed the private apartments are accessed by staff with ‘secret’ keys, and footmen are provided with ‘maps’ to place condiments, cups and cutlery in the right place according to the royal being served. Read the article and see the handful of images from the private apartments at The Mirror’s website here.
Except for Ryan Parry’s handful of sly snaps, the private quarters have remained almost entirely out of the public’s view. There are, however, a range of photographs from inside the private apartments taken during the Victorian and Edwardian eras, showing the monarch and consort’s various sitting rooms, bedrooms, dressing rooms and writing rooms, as well as Prince Albert’s stunning library.
Buckingham Palace also has suites of rooms made into private apartments for other royals, today there are apartments for The Earl and Countess of Wessex, as well as the distinctly titled ‘Bobo MacDonald Suite’ named after Margaret (Bobo) MacDonald, Queen Elizabeth’s nanny and dresser.
Though there are no contemporary examples, you can view other historic photographs of the private apartments at Buckingham Palace by browsing through the collection at the Royal Collection Trust. You can see inside other royal residences by browsing the ‘Royalty‘ tag including the private apartment at Windsor Castle.