This may be part of an effort to open up a little more of the royal residence, and a recognition of the $474 million taxpayers have donated to beautify a palace that no royals actually live in.
Charles III is “very keen to open up the Royal Apartments”, Nicola Turner-Inman, curator of the Royal Collection, told the BBC.
“The King is concerned that so much taxpayer money has been spent over a decade on renovating the palace, so people need to know what is going into it,” said Joe Little, editor-in-chief of Majesty Magazine, a publication that covers the royal family.
The East Wing tour has been a test run, with $96 tickets selling out within hours of going on sale in April.
“As with all things relating to the Royal Family, change is happening gradually,” Little said, but he suggested that in recent years, those running the palace seem to have become “more commercially savvy.” “Obviously, there are significant sources of income there and there have been significant changes since the King came to the throne,” he said.
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And this month, Balmoral Castle, the Scottish country home of the late Queen Elizabeth II, began allowing visitors to enter previously off-limits areas for $129 for the basic entrance fee, or $193 for an afternoon tea option. Tickets sold out within 24 hours.
Large-scale concerts have begun being held at Sandringham Estate, where members of the royal family gather over Christmas.
Some critics say the public should be able to enter Buckingham Palace for free.
“This is a public building. It costs £75 to visit. We spend over £345 million a year on the monarchy and are currently spending hundreds of millions of pounds renovating the palace. This is appalling,” said Graham Smith, founder of anti-royalist group Republic. wrote on social media.
The royals have access to many castles, palaces and “cottages” scattered across the country. Some, such as Balmoral and Sandringham, are owned outright by the royals and have been passed down for generations. Others, however, are part of the Crown Estate, a collection of land dating back to the Norman Conquest in 1066, which is managed by the government in modern times and whose income goes to the Treasury.
Windsor Castle and Kensington Palace are Crown Estate properties that are open to the public for a limited fee, but Royal Lodge, where disgraced Prince Andrew lives with ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, and Frogmore Cottage, the former home of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, are off-limits to the public.
Buckingham Palace first opened to the public in the summer of 1993 after part of Windsor Castle was destroyed in a fire and funds were needed for restoration.
It is unclear whether Prince Charles will continue to live in the 775-room palace after a 10-year renovation is completed in 2027.
Buckingham Palace still serves as the administrative headquarters of the royal family; Prince Charles visits there for meetings, receptions, and state events, but in a break with five previous monarchs, he has chosen not to live in the palace. Instead, he and Camilla remain in Clarence House, the five-bedroom whitewashed mansion where they have lived together for the past 20 years.
The East Wing of Buckingham Palace was extended during the reign of Queen Victoria, who needed more space for her growing family (she had nine children).
The construction was funded by the sale of the Royal Pavilion in Brighton, once the seaside home of King George IV. George had a love of Asian art and design, and many objects from the pavilion were shipped to London, including exquisite Chinese and Japanese porcelain.
Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert, oversaw the decoration of the East Wing, and it was he who suggested adding a balcony.
