The British Royal Institution

Buckingham Palace

Briton tax payers spent over 35 million pounds in 2013 in the upkeep of their royal monarchy institution.

The question, "Is the British Royal Family Worth the Money?" has been asked by many Britons. But with 500 millions pounds generated by the Royal Family from tourists' money each year, many still argue for its retention. Each year, Buckingham Palace is opened to the public for about 60 days during the months of August and September. Last year, about 600,000 tourists paid to visit this Palace.

This year, it is opened from 2 August to 28 September. I became one of the many who thronged the Palace.

Buckingham Palace is the residence and principal work place of the monarchy of UK. It has 775 rooms. These include 19 State Rooms, 52 Royal and guest bedrooms, 188 staff bedrooms, 92 offices and 78 bathrooms. The total floor area from basement to roof covers over 77,000 square meters.

There are 1,514 doors and 760 windows. All windows are cleaned every six weeks to keep them clean. There are 40,000 light bulbs and more than 300 clocks and watches, one of the largest collections of working clocks anywhere in the world. Two full-time homological conservators wind them up every week and keep them in good working order.

With such statistics, it is no wonder why the Palace needs close to 500 staff to keep it in shape.

We first went to the Palace on 11 August 2014 hoping to see the Change of Guards. However, the massive crowd who turned up well before us prevented us from getting close to the gate. We could only watch from afar and caught a tiny weeny glimpse of this ritual.

We turned up the next day well before 4.30 pm, our scheduled appointment to wait for our turn to enter the Palace.

We could not see the actual Change of Guards. Instead, we could flip through the Magazine extended to us to have a feel of the ceremony.

All visitors have to exit from the rear of the Palace after the tour.

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Kensington Palace

Part of Kensington Palace is now opened to the public. This is probably the Royal family has to do to earn extra income.

Kensington Palace in London is still the official residence of the British Royal Family. The prominent members are Prince William and Kate (Duchess of Cambridge). Other occupants are Prince Harry, Prince Richard (youngest son of King George V and Queen Mary) and his wife Brigitte (Duchess of Gloucester), Prince Edward (Duke of Kent) and his wife, Katharine (Duchess of Kent), and Prince Michael (grandson of King George V and Queen Mary) and his wife, Marie Christine.

At one time, Prince Charles and Princess Diana also stayed in this Palace.

Front and rear of Kensington Palace.

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Beside Prince William and Prince Harry, the other more prominent Prince would be Prince Edward because of his annual appearance in Wimbledon Tennis Tournament.