Buckingham Palace to open up East Wing to visitors outside summer months

Buckingham Palace is opening up its East Wing outside the traditional summer tourist season.

The Royal Collection Trust’s (RCT) expanded programme follows the success of this year’s annual summer opening, when it welcomed a record-breaking number of visitors and allowed access to the wing, which includes the famous central balcony, for the first time since it was built 175 years ago.

Early in the King’s reign, it was reported Charles planned to give people greater access to the palace all year round.

The 90-minute guided tours, from January to May and costing £90, will offer a more in-depth look at the history of the rooms in the East Wing at a time when the palace is not usually open to the public.

The royal residence, which serves as monarchy HQ, is undergoing a £369 million refurbishment to update the palace’s electrical cabling, plumbing and heating system over 10 years.

A working palace, it is the King’s official residence in London, and where he conducts his audiences and receptions.

But Charles’s favoured dwelling to stay overnight in the capital remains his nearby home Clarence House.

East Wing guided tours will be available from Friday to Monday from mid January to late May.

For the first time, visitors will be able to enter through the palace’s front gates and proceed across the forecourt, just as guests do for official royal events.

Further details and on-sale ticket dates will be announced in due course.

Guided tours of the palace’s State Rooms – which do not include the East Wing – are offered already at the palace during winter months, from November to January, with some tours in late spring and around Easter time.

But the extra East Wing tours will be seen as a shift towards greater public access to the historic building throughout the year.

Visitors will tour the Centre Room, from which they will have a view of the balcony and the Victoria Memorial, explore the Yellow Drawing Room, with its towering Chinese porcelain pagodas, and visit the 240-feet-long Principal Corridor.

Meanwhile, tickets for the traditional summer opening of the palace’s State Rooms, from mid July until late September, and the East Wing in July and August go on sale on Tuesday.

And new £1 tickets to Windsor Castle and the Palace of Holyroodhouse have been announced for 2025.

The cut-price entrance fee will be available between January and April to people receiving universal credit and other certain benefits in a bid to make the royal residences more welcoming and inclusive to all.

Those eligible can bring up to five members of their household along with them to explore the Berkshire castle or the palace in Edinburgh for £1 each.

Guided tours of St James’s Palace in London including a view of the Chapel Royal, where Prince George and Prince Louis were christened, will also be available on selected weekends in spring 2025, following trial openings several years ago.