There’s no shortage of interesting facts about Buckingham Palace. For instance, there are 240 bedrooms, 188 of them for staff. There’s also a personal ATM, movie theater, doctor’s office and, arguably the most fascinating of all, an underground tunnel system that was designed for easy, stealthy passage for royals to Clarence House and Parliament. You may not have access to the tunnels, but you can see one secret passageway within the palace that was revealed on Instagram.
You Need to See This Stunning Secret Passageway at Buckingham Palace
It's giving Hogwarts
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Published Aug 31, 2024
Steve Christo – Corbis/Contributor/Getty Images
“One of the best-known secret passages at Buckingham Palace is one that connects the private apartments to the state rooms,” says a curator in a video shared by @royalcollectiontrust, in front of a massive, gold-trimmed door. (FYI, the Royal Collection Trust conserves royal artifacts, exhibitions and palaces and manages the visitors who tour them.) “It enables members of the royal family to arrive at events almost unseen.”
The door appears to be the height of the wall and hidden behind a mirror. The room it’s in has a fireplace, a sprawling rug and tons of gold furniture and décor. (Seriously—it’s as regal as it gets.)
After some sleuthing, it seems to me that this door is attached to the White Drawing Room, a state room that the late Queen Elizabeth would use for the royal reception of family members before official celebrations and events.
This passageway was first revealed on Good Morning Britain in 2015, according to Woman & Home. “If you pull this open, you can see that actually behind this there is a secret passage leading to the Queen’s private apartments,” explained host Kate Garraway.
It’s far from the only secret door or room in the palace. Earlier this year, Buckingham Palace announced that it’d open the royal residence’s east wing, the front façade that faces where crowds assemble for major occasions, for public touring. This space had previously only been entered by royals.
And if you’re wondering if guests ever use these secret passageways, the answer seems to be yes. “Back in 2011, I was privileged to tour the palace with my friend,” commented one Instagram user. “She was unable to walk the distance to the gift shop, so we were shown…behind one of those hidden doors. It was magical! The staff was wonderful, checking on us and taking great care that my friend was able to see everything.”