SANDRINGHAM
If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to picnic in Her Majesty’s garden or have dinner aboard the royal yacht like many world leaders, now you can find out. This summer, the Queen has thrown open the doors of some of the UK’s most exclusive royal spaces – some of which have remained out of public view for decades – allowing us all to get a taste of royal life and create unforgettable memories. With its palaces closed to tourists for much of the past year, the pandemic has left the royal household facing a potential £15m loss of income over the next three years. Now, as it finds new ways of welcoming visitors, hello! presents the ultimate guide to a right royal summer
PICNIC AT BUCKINGHAM PALACE
In the past, only those lucky enough to receive an invitation to one of the Queen’s garden parties had the opportunity to munch cucumber sandwiches on the sweeping lawns of Buckingham Palace. But this summer, you too can picnic in the shadow of one of the world’s most famous landmarks as Her Majesty throws open the garden of her official London residence to allow the public to wander around freely for the first time.
With garden parties cancelled for the second year running because of the pandemic, tickets are on sale until 19 September to visit the royal backyard and eat your lunch alfresco while admiring the palace and its stunning grounds. You can explore the 39acre garden independently or take a guided tour, which includes the Rose Garden and meadows.
Dating back to the 1820s, when George IV turned Buckingham House into a palace, the garden is home to more than 1,000 trees and 320 different wildflower and grass species. Meanwhile, its homegrown botanicals, including lemon verbena, hawthorn berries, bay leaves and mulberry leaves, are used to make Buckingham Palace’s own brand of gin.
The urban oasis features a 512ft herbaceous border, plane trees planted by and named after Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and a 3.5- acre lake and island with beehives that produce honey for the royal kitchens. On Mondays, children can enjoy art and craft activities and 26 and 30 August are Family Festival days, where special family tours explore lesser-known areas of the garden.
ROY-AL FRESCO
To give your picnic a proper regal feel, the Royal Collection has launched a new range of summertime products to mark the garden’s opening, including a picnic blanket, cotton napkins, a reusable water bottle and a sandwich bag, while its strawberry and champagne jam and buttery shortbread biscuits are perfect additions for your palace feast.
The Queen usually hosts three Garden Parties a year at Buckingham Palace, where she and members of the family, including the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, mingle with guests ranging from Prime Ministers to people invited for services to their community.
For more information, visit rct.uk.
Eat your lunch alfresco while admiring the palace and its stunning grounds
WATCH A MOVIE AT KENSINGTON PALACE
It was home to Diana, Princess of Wales and her young sons, and now the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are bringing up their own three children in the grand surroundings of Kensington Palace.
Prince William, Kate and their children Prince George, eight, Princess Charlotte, six, and Prince Louis, three, live in the palace’s Apartment 1A, which, far from being a humble flat, is actually a fourstorey, 20-room official residence, where they have entertained the former US President and First Lady Barack and Michelle Obama.
While a visit to Kensington Palace won’t get you inside the Cambridges’ private quarters, you can explore the state rooms and gardens, see Diana’s wedding dress or watch a film under the stars.
This week (until 15 August), the Luna Cinema takes up residence in front of the palace, which is floodlit to provide a spectacular backdrop to a giant screen showing classics such as Top Gun, Pretty Woman and Singin’ in the Rain.
DIANA’S PLACE
Last month, William and his brother the Duke of Sussex unveiled the long- awaited memorial statue to their mother, which stands in the palace’s tranquil Sunken Garden – the same place Prince Harry chose for the photocall to announce his engagement to Meghan Markle in 2017 – and you too can see it closeup. Meanwhile, visitors to the palace can step inside the recently restored Orangery to see the iconic ivory silk taffeta wedding dress that Diana wore to walk down the aisle at St Paul’s Cathedral 40 years ago. The David and Elizabeth Emanuel creation, complete with its showstopping 25ft train, is part of the Royal Style in the Making exhibition, which also includes outfits worn by Princess Margaret and the Queen Mother and runs until 2 January next year.
And if you fancy staging your very own royal wedding at the palace, that’s entirely possible. You can arrange to marry in one of the beautiful state apartments, which can hold up to 150 guests, or in the Orangery, where heiress Nicky Hilton wed James Rothschild in front of 1,000 guests.
In nearby Kensington Gardens, where Diana loved to spend time, a memorial playground in her name continues to delight the younger generation. More than a million visitors a year enjoy the free playground, which has a huge wooden pirate ship surrounded by a man-made beach as its centrepiece, along with a sensory trail, teepees, toys and play sculptures.
For more information, visit hrp.org.uk and thelunacinema.com.
Over at Her Majesty’s estate in Norfolk, a new children’s play area has been created this year, featuring a 26ft water tower that’s a replica of Appleton Water Tower, which was built in 1877 to improve the water quality for Sandringham House.
The multi-level tower includes a water play feature and slide, while there are also highlevel walkways, a toddler area and wheelchair access. Elsewhere in the 600-acre Sandringham Royal Park there’s plenty of woodland to play in and wildlife galore.
Sandringham has been the scene of many happy royal Christmases and the Queen and her family traditionally gather at the country retreat for the festive season, which includes their outing to St Mary Magdalene church each Christmas morning.
The multi-level tower includes a water play feature and slide as well as high-level walkways
HAMPTON COURT
Just as Henry VIII wined, dined and cavorted at court, this summer so can you. This month sees the return of the Hampton Court Palace Festival for its 25th anniversary, showcasing musical royalty such as Sir Tom Jones, Van Morrison and Lionel Richie against the beautiful backdrop of the 16th-century Tudor palace.
Over the bank holiday weekend, the Hampton Court Food Festival is taking place in the East Front Gardens, while you can learn about the rivalry between Henry VIII and Francis I of France in a theatre production A Tale of Two Kings, which takes place in the palace gardens three times a day until 22 August.
Meanwhile, the palace and its grounds – which includes the UK’s oldest surviving hedge maze – are open to visitors all year round, and a pop-up ice rink over the festive season allows you to skate against the backdrop of the magnificent riverside residence.
For more information visit hrp.org.uk and hamptoncourtpalacefestival.com.
The capital’s oldest building is home to the Crown Jewels and one of the venues from which the royal gun salutes are fired to mark occasions such as royal births and deaths.
The 1,000- year- old fortress, which sits on the banks of the River Thames, is also where prisoners were held captive and where Henry VIII’s second wife Anne Boleyn was one of the many unfortunates to be beheaded.
You can meet the famous Beefeaters and hear all about the tower’s gruesome history with a Yeoman Warder tour or learn about Elizabethan England’s recovery after the plague, set in 1563, with a pop-up performance from HistoryRiot.
Meanwhile the King’s Great Hall in the White Tower is among the rooms available to hire for events and you can dine among displays of armour once worn by Henry VIII and Charles 1.
For more information, visit hrp.org.uk.
The King’s Great Hall in the White Tower is among the rooms available to hire for events