What You Will Do
See Three Palaces & experience the magnificence of London’s royal quarter with a walk around its most stunning monuments followed by an authentic afternoon tea in Royal surroundings in the company of a knowledgeable guide.
Get to the heart of aristocratic London, exploring the quiet corners & higgledy-piggledy streets of St James’ & its Tudor palace - where the King was proclaimed monarch.
On Changing of the Guard mornings, witness the inspection of the Old Guard at St James before following the band to Buckingham Palace. Stroll to Wellington Arch & hop onto an iconic red bus for a short ride to the Royal Albert Hall.
Step into beautiful Kensington Gardens & hear of a 1000 years of history, See Princess Diana's Statue & stroll through manicured parkland to the 300 year old Tea Room established by Queen Anne. Enjoy a full Afternoon Tea of delicious sandwiches, scones & cakes with a selection of teas. Dietary preferences are catered for, & a children's tea provided for youngsters.
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Itinerary
Meeting Point
We are meeting at the Park Gate between Ritz Hotel and the Station Entrance where the Big Bus Stop is. Under the porch of Green Park Station Street Level.
Nearest Underground: Green Park
1
Spencer House
Spencer House at the end of the small street. Built between 1756-1766 for John, first Earl Spencer, an ancestor of Diana, Princess of Wales (1961-1997) it is London’s finest surviving eighteenth-century town house.
2
St. James's
15 minutes
Victoria was born in Kensington Palace in May 1819, and spent most of her early life there until she ascended to the throne in 1837. The statue was made to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887 but took some years to complete. It was commissioned by the Kensington Golden Jubilee Memorial Executive Committee, who sought design proposals. Princess Louise was reluctant to take up a commission to sculpt her mother, but was persuaded to make a model by her friend, the artist Lawrence Alma-Tadema. She submitted her entry anonymously, and it was selected by the judging panel. Princess Louise was herself resident at Kensington Palace, and she sculpted the statue at her studio there (although some press reports suggested it was made by her tutor Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm). The completed sculpture was unveiled by Queen Victoria on 28 June 1893.
3
St. James's Palace
St James Palace was a leper hospital (St James the Less) Henry 8 built it to design of Holbein C2 J2 M2 and QA born here official residence in 1698 after Whitehall Palace burnt down (1694 and 98) George 4 born here 1762. 1809 wing destroyed by fire 1837 court moved to Buckingham Palace
4
The Mall
10 minutes
St James Palace remains the official London royal palace and is not regularly open to visitors, but the public can attend Sunday services at the Chapel Royal and the Queen's Chapel.
5
Clarence House
The house was built between 1825 and 1827 to a design by John Nash. It was commissioned by the Duke of Clarence, who in 1830 became King William IV of the United Kingdom (reigned 1830–1837). He lived there in preference to the adjacent St James's Palace, an ancient Tudor building which he found too cramped
6
Buckingham Palace
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 his queen consort 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.
7
Apsley House
The house was originally built in red brick by Robert Adam between 1771 and 1778 for Lord Apsley, the Lord Chancellor, who gave the house its name. Some Adam interiors survive: the Piccadilly Drawing Room with its apsidal end and Adam fireplace, and the Portico Room, behind the giant Corinthian portico added by Wellington.
8
Wellington Arch
Cross to the Wellington Arch (Decimus Burton) 1828. 4 horse chariot with a figure of peace (1912) Central Passage was reserved for royalty.
9
Albert Memorial
10 minutes
This bronze statue of man on horseback is called Physical Energy and is the work of the British artist George Frederic Watts (1817-1904).
Watts had very high ideals for his art, and intended his work to help humanity embrace progress. Physical Energy is an allegory of the human need for new challenges – of our instinct to always be scanning the horizon, looking towards the future. In the artist’s own words, it is ‘a symbol of that restless physical impulse to seek the still unachieved in the domain of material things’.
The original plaster model for the sculpture can be seen at the Watts Gallery – Artists’ Village in Compton, Surrey. Watts worked on this for some twenty years, from 1883 to his death in 1904. The model was first cast in bronze in 1902-4 to form part of the memorial at Cape Town, South Africa, to Cecil Rhodes, the founder of Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. Rhodes left his fortune to Oxford University to fund the Rhodes Scholarships.
10
Bomber Command Memorial
10 minutes
The Royal Air Force Bomber Command Memorial is a memorial commemorating the crews of RAF Bomber Command who embarked on missions during the Second World War. The memorial, on the south side of Piccadilly, facing Hyde Park Corner, was built to mark the sacrifice of 55,573 aircrew from Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Czechoslovakia, Poland and other allied countries, as well as civilians of all nations killed during raids.
11
Royal Albert Hall
10 minutes
George II was blind in one eye and hard of hearing. In Kensington Palace, 25 October, 1760 he rose as usual at 6:00 am, drank a cup of hot chocolate, and went to his close stool alone. After a few minutes, his valet heard a loud crash and entered the room to find the king on the floor. The king was lifted into his bed, and Princess Amelia was sent for; before she reached him, he was dead. At the age of nearly 77 he had lived longer than any of his English or British predecessors. A post-mortem revealed that the king had died as the result of a thoracic aortic dissection. He was succeeded by his grandson George III, and buried on 11 November in Westminster Abbey. He left instructions for the sides of his and his wife's coffins to be removed so that their remains could mingle. He is the most recent monarch to be buried in Westminster Abbey.
12
Kensington Palace
10 minutes
Victoria was born in Kensington Palace in May 1819, and spent most of her early life there until she ascended to the throne in 1837. The statue was made to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887 but took some years to complete. It was commissioned by the Kensington Golden Jubilee Memorial Executive Committee, who sought design proposals. Princess Louise was reluctant to take up a commission to sculpt her mother, but was persuaded to make a model by her friend, the artist Lawrence Alma-Tadema. She submitted her entry anonymously, and it was selected by the judging panel. Princess Louise was herself resident at Kensington Palace, and she sculpted the statue at her studio there (although some press reports suggested it was made by her tutor Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm). The completed sculpture was unveiled by Queen Victoria on 28 June 1893.
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