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Buckingham Palace



Today I want to tell you about Buckingham Palace.
I think everyone has heard about this building or has seen it on TV or in a TV series.
Buckingham Palace is the biggest royal palace in the world.
"The royal residence measures 108 metres by 120 metres. It's 24 metres high and contains over 77.000 m2 of floorspace.
There are 775 rooms, including 19 state rooms, 52 principal bedrooms, 188 staff bedrooms, 92 offices and 78 bathrooms.
The palace also has a post office, a cinema, a swimming pool, a doctor's surgery and a jeweller's workshop."
-Wikipedia

Buckingham Palace is one of the pearls of the Late Baroque. The history of the palace's site goes back to the Middle Ages,
but the first building was created at the beginning of XVIII century by William Winde.
The first building was called Buckingham House and it was built in 1705 for the Duke of Buckingham.
Buckingham House was composed of a central block and two smaller wings on either side.
It was a private mansion of the Duke and his family.



In 1761 a descendant of the Duke, Sir Charles Sheffield, put it on sale and its new owner was King George III.
He bought this house for 21.000 pounds (that's about 3 million pounds today).
The building was used as a private residence of his wife, Queen Charlotte. The house was also renamed The Queen's House.
In 1762 rebuilding work was started and it was later continued by King George IV.



In 1828 the King decided that he wanted a palace and not a small house. So he asked an architect called John Nash for help.
Nash retained the main block but doubled its size by adding a new suite of rooms on the garden side facing west.
The design of the external facades has been modeled on French neoclassicism, and they have been faced with mellow Bath stone.
In 1829 the renovation budget exceeded five hundred thousand pounds (40 million pounds today), and Nash was removed from the project.

















In 1830 King Wilhelm IV claimed the throne, but he didn't finish the palace.
It's construction was finished under the reign of Queen Victoria. When she married Prince Albert,
he started renovation and reorganisation. He wanted to correct all of the mistakes made by his predecessors.

In 1847 the Queen decided that the Palace is too small for the royal court and her family so she decided to develop it even more.
New wings were added, as well as the part of the palace which is now the most famous - the one with the balcony from which the Royal Family greets their subjects. The last major work on the Buckingham Palace has taken place during the reign of Queen Victoria's grandson, King George V, in 1913. It covered the outside of the building.

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