Full day London Private Tour, with your own Black Cab Tour Guide

igns since 1837 and today is the administrative headquarters of the Monarch. Today, Buckingham Palace is very much a working building and the centrepiece of the UK’s constitutional monarchy, it serves as the venue for many royal events and ceremonies from entertaining foreign Head of States to celebrating achievement at Investitures and receptions.

The focal point of a nations mourning for Princess Diana

Royal history, having been a residence of Kings and Queens of England for over 300 years until the reign of Queen Victoria. As the home of several members of the Royal Family and their household offices, St James’s Palace today hosts up to 100 receptions each year for charities associated with members of the Royal Family.

lace for both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Both Houses work on behalf of UK citizens to check and challenge the work of Government, make and shape effective laws, and debate/make decisions on the big issues of the day.

ace of 17 monarchs, as well as the scene of 16 Royal weddings. The church we see today was begun by Henry III in 1245. It’s one of the most important Gothic buildings in the country, and has the medieval shrine of an Anglo-Saxon saint at its heart. Today it is still a church dedicated to regular worship and to the celebration of great events in the life of the nation. Neither a cathedral nor a parish church, Westminster Abbey (or the Collegiate Church of St Peter, Westminster to give it its correct title) is a "Royal Peculiar" under the jurisdiction of a Dean and Chapter, subject only to the Sovereign and not to any archbishop or bishop.

Frequently at the centre of national events, traditions have been observed here and radical new ideas have found expression under the iconic dome. In many cases these events have left some physical record as well as echoes in the intangible memory of the building. The present Cathedral, the masterpiece of Britain's most famous architect Sir Christopher Wren, is at least the fourth to have stood on the site. It was built after its predecessor was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666, and services began in 1697. This was the first Cathedral to be built after the English Reformation in the sixteenth-century, when Henry VIII removed the Church of England from the jurisdiction of the Pope and the Crown took control of the life of the church.

An Armoury, an Observatory, and a Royal Zoo. 
 3 Queens of England lost their heads here - Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard and Lady Jane Grey. 
 The Tower is where the Crown Jewels are kept (used in all coronations of our Kings and 
Queens).

It is sometimes confused with London Bridge, about 0.5 miles (0.80 km) upstream, which has led to a popular urban legend about an American purchasing the wrong bridge. Several stunt pilots have flown underneath the bridge.

1666

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Also the location for numerous movie scenes

celebrations for many years, dating back to 1830, the Squares focal point is Nelsons Column itself staning at over 169 feet tall.

take time to walk around and enjoy the Royal Albert Hall Stars, an engraved stone topped off with a brass star dedicated to key players in the building’s history, from its opening in 1871 to the present day. The inaugural 11 stars were unveiled on 4 September 2018.