What It’s Like to Stand at Buckingham Palace Balcony Like Royals

I can now declare an even greater admiration for Prince William and Kate Middleton. How they manage to acknowledge the crowds from the Buckingham Palace balcony at events like Trooping the Colour while also keeping their footing in front of a barely 2-foot-high stone balustrade is a wonder. Factor in three lively children in front of them, and you have some sense of the parental juggling act that goes alongside that very royal and public duty.

That was the first thing that struck me as I stood behind the net curtains of the double French window doors to look out on perhaps the world’s most famous balcony. The space, which appears luxurious on TV, is actually very narrow — at its smallest depth back from the stone barrier, it must only allow for a single file of royals (and I don’t even want to think about those swords and regalia that are sometimes also on show).

On top of that, the illusion that Prince William, Princess Kate, King Charles and Queen Camilla are viewing right down the famous crimson-colored Mall in London when they wave to well-wishers is dashed. The magnificent Queen Victoria Monument clouds much of their view of the half-mile road that stretches out in front of them. Television coverage, which usually flits from the balcony appearance to the skies above and the crowds along the famous road, gives the impression that they can see all the vast crowds in the Mall.

They have a fix for that: a TV is wheeled into the Centre Room behind them in the East Wing so they can see some of the coverage before they step out or when they are back in the room, it was revealed during a tour that PEOPLE took on July 9.

What is also clear is how close the crowds below seem. When I joined a preview of the sold-out tour that 6,000 paying guests will take for the first time this summer (like them, I wasn’t able to step out onto the balcony itself), it appeared that the tourists behind the wrought iron gates and fence and by the Queen Victoria Monument were actually quite close. You can see why the royals are often seen pointing from the balcony as if they have noticed something, or someone, in the throng below.

All will be revealed for thousands more this summer during the tour of the East Wing, which has been opened for the first time. It was King Charles’ idea to open up the wing that was added to the palace 175 years ago, a curator said.

Led by expert guides, groups of around 20 visitors at a time will be taken along the Principal Corridor and shown the artworks including Chinese porcelain pagodas and vases that had once stood in the Royal Pavillion, George IV’s seaside retreat in Brighton. Like 42 fireplaces, the pagodas were taken from the Pavillion when the royals sold it and brought to Buckingham Palace by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert between 1847 and 1849.

The sale of that building enabled the family to pay for the extension that became the East Wing.

The ongoing 10-year refurbishment at Buckingham Palace, currently in its seventh year, is seeing the services at the palace from electricity to plumbing being completely modernized and renovated. Every floorboard in the East Wing has been ripped up to enable the upgrade to take place, and elevators have been added to make the palace more accessible.

Along the tour, the newly-renovated Yellow Drawing Room is bathed in light due to its double aspect windows, which is why the late Queen Elizabeth favored it for when she needed to sit for a portrait. It is now being used for royal audiences and meetings. Around its walls, the silk Chinese wallpaper that hung in the Yellow Drawing Room was painstakingly removed and restored, then placed back immaculately for the upcoming opening.

Hanging each side of the doors leading into the Centre Room are magnificent portraits of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra.

Taking a place of pride in the Ballroom is the recently unveiled portrait of King Charles by Jonathan Yeo, which was attacked by climate protestors when it was hanging initially in a gallery nearby.

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When the palace opens to its summer of visitors on July 11, visitors with a standard ticket for the Palace’s State Rooms will access to the main 19 rooms used by members of the royal family for official entertaining.

Another addition to the tour this year will be the Australian State Coach, usually housed in the Royal Mews, which will be on display in the Palace’s Grand Entrance Portico. Given to the late Queen Elizabeth by the people of Australia to mark the Australian Bicentenary in 1988, it is the only royal coach to have an onboard generator, providing electric windows and central heating.

Tickets to visit the State Rooms at Buckingham Palace are available now, as are Garden Highlights Tour tickets and Royal Day Out tickets. East Wing Highlights Tours have now sold out. The summer opening of the State Rooms at Buckingham Palace runs from July 11 to September 29. For the first time, the palace will be open for seven days a week during July and August and five days a week (Thursday to Monday) during September.