Pre-1624 In the
Middle Ages, the site of the future palace formed part of the Manor of Ebury (also called
Eia). The marshy ground was watered by the river
Tyburn, which still flows below the courtyard and south wing of the palace. Where the river was fordable (at Cow Ford), the village of Eye Cross grew. Ownership of the site changed hands many times; owners included
Edward the Confessor and
Edith of Wessex in late Saxon times, and, after the
Norman Conquest,
William the Conqueror. William gave the site to
Geoffrey de Mandeville, who bequeathed it to the monks of
Westminster Abbey. In 1531,
Henry VIII acquired the Hospital of St James, which became
St James's Palace, from
Eton College, and in 1536 he took the Manor of Ebury from Westminster Abbey. These transfers brought the site of Buckingham Palace back into royal hands for the first time since William the Conqueror had given it away almost 500 years earlier. Various owners leased it from royal landlords, and the
freehold was the subject of frenzied speculation during the 17th century. By then, the old village of Eye Cross had long since fallen into decay, and the area was mostly wasteland. Needing money,
James VI and I sold off part of the Crown freehold but retained part of the site on which he established a
mulberry garden for the production of
silk. (This is at the north-west corner of today's palace.)
Clement Walker in
Anarchia Anglicana (1649) refers to "new-erected sodoms and spintries at the Mulberry Garden at S. James's"; this suggests it may have been a place of debauchery. Eventually, in the late 17th century, the freehold was inherited from the property tycoon
Hugh Audley by the great heiress Mary Davies.
First houses on the site (1624–1761) Possibly the first house erected within the site was that of William Blake, around 1624. The next owner was
George Goring, 1st Earl of Norwich, who from 1633 extended Blake's house, which came to be known as Goring House, and developed much of today's garden, then known as Goring Great Garden. He did not, however, obtain the freehold interest in the mulberry garden. Unbeknown to Goring, in 1640 the interest "failed to pass the
Great Seal before
Charles I fled London, which it needed to do for legal execution". It was this critical omission that would help the British royal family regain the freehold under
George III. When the improvident Goring defaulted on his rents,
Henry Bennet, 1st Earl of Arlington was able to purchase the lease of Goring House and he was occupying it when it burned down in 1674, Buckingham House was built for Sheffield in 1703 to the design of
William Winde. The style chosen was of a large, three-floored central block with two smaller flanking service wings. It was eventually sold by Buckingham's illegitimate son,
Charles Sheffield, in 1761 to George III for £21,000. Sheffield's
leasehold on the mulberry garden site, the freehold of which was still owned by the royal family, was due to expire in 1774.
From Queen's House to palace (1761–1837) Under the new royal ownership, the building was originally intended as a private retreat for
Queen Charlotte, and was accordingly known as The Queen's House. Remodelling of the structure began in 1762. In 1775, an Act of Parliament settled the property on Queen Charlotte, in exchange for her rights to nearby
Old Somerset House, and 14 of her 15 children were born there. Some furnishings were transferred from
Carlton House and others had been bought in France after the
French Revolution of 1789. While
St James's Palace remained the official and ceremonial royal residence, After his accession to the throne in 1820,
George IV continued the renovation, intending to create a small, comfortable home. However, in 1826, while the work was in progress, the King decided to modify the house into a palace with the help of his architect
John Nash. The façade was designed with George IV's preference for
French neoclassical architecture in mind. The cost of the renovations grew dramatically, and by 1829 the extravagance of Nash's designs resulted in his removal as the architect. On the death of George IV in 1830, his younger brother
William IV hired
Edward Blore to finish the work. William never moved into the palace, preferring
Clarence House, which had been built to his specifications and which had been his London home while he was heir presumptive. After the
Palace of Westminster was destroyed by fire in 1834, he offered to convert Buckingham Palace into a new Houses of Parliament, but his offer was declined.
Queen Victoria (1837–1901) at left, a ceremonial entrance. It was moved next to
Hyde Park to make way for the new east wing in 1847. Buckingham Palace became the principal royal residence in 1837, on the accession of Queen Victoria, who was the first monarch to reside there. While the
state rooms were a riot of
gilt and colour, the necessities of the new palace were somewhat less luxurious. The chimneys were said to smoke so much that the fires had to be allowed to die down, and consequently the palace was often cold. Ventilation was so poor that the interior had a foul smell, and when it was decided to install gas lamps, there was a serious worry about the build-up of gas on the lower floors. It was also said that the staff were lax and lazy and the palace was dirty. By the end of 1840, all the problems had been rectified. However, the builders were to return within a decade. By 1847, the couple found the palace too small for court life and their growing family and a new wing, designed by Edward Blore, was built by
Thomas Cubitt, enclosing the central quadrangle. The work, carried out from 1847 to 1849, was paid for by the sale of Brighton Pavilion in 1850. The ballroom wing and a further suite of state rooms were also built in this period, designed by Nash's student
James Pennethorne. Before Prince Albert's death, in addition to royal ceremonies, investitures and presentations Buckingham Palace was frequently the scene of lavish
costume balls and musical entertainments. The most celebrated contemporary musicians entertained there; for example
Felix Mendelssohn is known to have played there on three occasions, and
Johann Strauss II and his orchestra played there when in England. Widowed in 1861, the grief-stricken Queen withdrew from public life and left Buckingham Palace to live at
Windsor Castle,
Balmoral Castle and
Osborne House. For many years the palace was seldom used, even neglected. In 1864, a note was found pinned to the fence, saying: "These commanding premises to be let or sold, in consequence of the late occupant's declining business." Eventually, public opinion persuaded the Queen to return to London, though even then she preferred to live elsewhere whenever possible. Court functions were still held at Windsor Castle, presided over by the sombre Queen habitually dressed in mourning black, while Buckingham Palace remained shuttered for most of the year.
Early 20th century (1901–1945) In 1901, the new king,
Edward VII, began redecorating the palace. He and his wife,
Queen Alexandra, had always been at the forefront of London high society, and their friends, known as "the
Marlborough House Set", were considered to be the most eminent and fashionable of the age. Buckingham Palace—the Ballroom, Grand Entrance, Marble Hall, Grand Staircase, vestibules and galleries were redecorated in the
Belle Époque cream and gold colour scheme they retain today—once again became a setting for entertaining on a majestic scale but leaving some to feel Edward's heavy redecorations were at odds with Nash's original work. The last major building work took place during the reign of
George V when, in 1913,
Aston Webb redesigned Blore's 1850 East Front to resemble in part
Giacomo Leoni's
Lyme Park in Cheshire. This new refaced principal façade (of
Portland stone) was designed to be the backdrop to the
Victoria Memorial, a large memorial statue of Queen Victoria created by sculptor
Thomas Brock, erected outside the main gates on a surround constructed by architect Aston Webb. George V, who had succeeded Edward VII in 1910, had a more serious personality than his father; greater emphasis was now placed on official entertainment and royal duties than on lavish parties. He arranged a series of
command performances featuring jazz musicians such as the
Original Dixieland Jazz Band (1919; the first jazz performance for a head of state),
Sidney Bechet and
Louis Armstrong (1932), which earned the palace a nomination in 2009 for a (Kind of) Blue Plaque by the
Brecon Jazz Festival as one of the venues making the greatest contribution to jazz music in the United Kingdom. During the
First World War, which lasted from 1914 until 1918, the palace escaped unscathed. Its more valuable contents were evacuated to Windsor, but the royal family remained in residence. The King imposed
rationing at the palace, much to the dismay of his guests and household. To the King's later regret,
David Lloyd George persuaded him to go further and ostentatiously lock the wine cellars and refrain from alcohol, to set a good example to the supposedly inebriated working class. The workers continued to imbibe, and the King was left unhappy at his enforced abstinence. George V's wife,
Queen Mary, was a connoisseur of the arts and took a keen interest in the
Royal Collection of furniture and art, both restoring and adding to it. Queen Mary also had many new fixtures and fittings installed, such as the pair of marble
Empire style chimneypieces by
Benjamin Vulliamy, dating from 1810, in the ground floor Bow Room, the huge low room at the centre of the garden façade. Queen Mary was also responsible for the decoration of the Blue Drawing Room. This room, long, previously known as the South Drawing Room, has a ceiling designed by Nash, coffered with huge gilt console brackets. In 1938, the northwest pavilion, designed by Nash as a conservatory, was converted into
a swimming pool.
Second World War During the
Second World War, which broke out in 1939, the palace was
bombed nine times. The most serious and publicised incident destroyed the palace chapel in 1940. One bomb fell in the palace quadrangle while
George VI and
Queen Elizabeth (the future Queen Mother) were in the palace, and many windows were blown in and the chapel destroyed. The King and Queen were filmed inspecting their bombed home, and the newsreel footage shown in cinemas throughout the United Kingdom to show the common suffering of rich and poor. As
The Sunday Graphic reported: It was at this time the Queen famously declared: "I'm glad we have been bombed. Now I can look the
East End in the face". On 15 September 1940, known as
Battle of Britain Day, an RAF pilot,
Ray Holmes of
No. 504 Squadron, rammed a German
Dornier Do 17 bomber he believed was going to bomb the palace. Holmes had run out of ammunition to shoot down the bomber and made the quick decision to ram it. He bailed out and the bomber crashed into the forecourt of
London Victoria station. Its engine was later exhibited at the
Imperial War Museum in London. Holmes became a
King's Messenger after the war and died at the age of 90 in 2005. On
VE Day—8 May 1945—the palace was the centre of British celebrations. The King, the Queen,
Princess Elizabeth (the future queen) and
Princess Margaret appeared on the balcony, with the palace's blacked-out windows behind them, to cheers from a vast crowd in The Mall. The damaged palace was carefully restored after the war by John
Mowlem & Co.
Mid-20th century onwards and
Claude Lorrain exhibited at the gallery in 2021 Many of the palace's contents are part of the
Royal Collection; they can, on occasion, be viewed by the public at the
King's Gallery, near the
Royal Mews. The purpose-built gallery opened in 1962 and displays a changing selection of items from the collection. It occupies the site of the chapel that was destroyed in the Second World War. Its state rooms have been open to the public during summer and on selected dates throughout the year since 1993. The money raised in admission fees was originally put towards the rebuilding of Windsor Castle after the
1992 fire devastated many of its staterooms. It now funds the conservation of Royal Collection artwork. In the year to 31 March 2025, 683,000 people visited the palace, and 174,000 visited the gallery. The palace used to
racially segregate staff. In 1968,
Charles Tryon, 2nd Baron Tryon, acting as treasurer to Queen
Elizabeth II, sought to exempt Buckingham Palace from full application of the
Race Relations Act 1968. He stated that the palace did not hire people of colour for clerical jobs, only as domestic servants. He arranged with civil servants for an exemption that meant that complaints of racism against the royal household would be sent directly to the
Home Secretary and kept out of the legal system. nor are they the monarch's personal property, unlike
Sandringham House and
Balmoral Castle. The
Government of the United Kingdom is responsible for maintaining the palace in exchange for the profits made by the Crown Estate. In 2015, the State Dining Room was closed for a year and a half because its ceiling had become potentially dangerous. A 10-year schedule of maintenance work, including new plumbing, wiring, boilers and radiators, and the installation of solar panels on the roof, has been estimated to cost £369 million and was approved by the prime minister in November 2016. It will be funded by a temporary increase in the
Sovereign Grant paid from the income of the Crown Estate and is intended to extend the building's working life by at least 50 years. In 2017, the
House of Commons backed funding for the project by 464 votes to 56. provides musical accompaniment for the Changing of the Guard ceremony. Buckingham Palace is a symbol and home of the British monarchy, an art gallery and a tourist attraction. Behind the gilded railings and gates that were completed by the
Bromsgrove Guild in 1911,
Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh and
Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh continue to have a private apartment in the palace for use when they are in London. The palace also houses
their offices, as well as those of the
Princess Royal and
Princess Alexandra, and is the workplace of more than 800 people.
Charles III and
Queen Camilla live at
Clarence House while restoration work continues, although they conduct official business at Buckingham Palace, the monarch's administrative headquarters, including audiences and receptions.{{cite news |date=2025-03-27|title= King and Queen host special reception at Buckingham Palace to recognise 'unique and vital role' of local journalists ==Interior==