People visiting the Summer Opening of the State Rooms in Buckingham Palace this season are in for a royal Jubilee treat...
Lead Photo: Royal Collection Trust/Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2022
The State Rooms in Buckingham Palace open their doors to the public this summer once again with a special display celebrating Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee year.
The annual palace tour, held over the summer months when the Royal Family are on holiday, begins next week, Friday, July 22, for the first time since the pandemic.
This year, visitors will stumble across an extra treat to feast on - a display honouring the monarch's long-reigning rule.
The special display celebrates Her Majesty The Queen’s Accession and the start of a historic reign in February 1952.
Photographs taken by Dorothy Wilding, the first official female royal photographer, will be on display including photos taken just weeks after The Queen came to the throne aged 25. These portraits formed the basis of Her Majesty’s image on stamps, coins and in British embassies across the world for almost two decades.
The photographs will be shown alongside examples of Her Majesty’s personal jewellery worn for the portrait sittings.
Pieces of jewellery include the Diamond Diadem which was created for the famously extravagant coronation of George IV in 1821 and features diamonds set in the form of a rose, a thistle and two shamrocks - the national emblems of England, Scotland and Ireland.
The Delhi Durbar necklace will also be on display and this stunning piece incorporates nine emeralds originally owned by Queen Mary’s grandmother, the Duchess of Cambridge.
The baroque State Rooms are the palace's public rooms where the Queen and the Royal Family receive and entertain official visitors and conduct business.
Visitors can take a look around the lavish, ornate rooms while learning the history and purpose of each as well as discover some of the important cultural artifacts housed in them.
Highlights include the Music Room, where Prince Charles, Princess Anne and Prince Andrew were baptised and the decadent Throne Room, which is home to the Chairs of Estate, which were used in Queen Elizabeth's coronation in 1952.
Visitors and also cast their eyes across the White Drawing Room, the main pre-event reception room for the Royal Family, and the spectaculars Ballroom that comes with a musicians' gallery and two thrones.
Summer Opening of the State Rooms at Buckingham Palace runs from Friday, 22 July to Sunday, 2 October 2022. Tickets from £30.
Address: Buckingham Palace SW1A 1AA
Website: rct.uk
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