Buckingham Palace has undergone a major refurbishment, with royal accounts showing that £369m has been spent in total revamping the Queen’s London home.
There are 775 rooms in the palace, including 52 royal and guest bedrooms, 188 staff bedrooms and 92 offices. There are also 78 bathrooms in the building.
While the palace has been closed for much of the last year due to the pandemic – members of the public are usually permitted to tour certain areas – this has allowed ample time for the refurbishment, which has been part of a 10-year plan, to take place.
Photographs show how the grand entrance hall of Buckingham Palace has been used to receive and store building supplies.
Meanwhile, the roof of the palace is also being replaced, as are the majority of the palace’s plumbing and electricity systems, which have been in place since the 1950s.
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New lifts will also be installed to improve accessibility in the palace.
The revamp marks the first major refurbishment of the palace to take place since the end of the Second World War.
The Queen is currently primarily residing at Windsor Castle and is not expected to spend a huge amount of time at the palace while the renovations take place.
The Queen’s treasurer, Sir Michael Stevens, said that the palace refurbishments were part of a wider plan looking ahead to Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022, when she will celebrate 70 years of service to the crown.
“Obviously as we look ahead to 2022 we have the Platinum Jubilee celebrations to look forward to and all our works plans for Buckingham Palace are designed to ensure the Palace can play a significant part in those celebrations, such as garden parties and of course the balcony appearance at Trooping the Colour,” he said.
An extended bank holiday has been planned to mark the jubilee next year, taking place from Thursday 2 June to Sunday 5 June.
The royal family website states that the bank holiday “will provide an opportunity for communities and people throughout the United Kingdom to come together to celebrate the historic milestone.
“The four days of celebrations will include public events and community activities, as well as national moments of reflection on the Queen’s 70 years of service.”
