Welcome to Bucksimgham Palace!! A private tour of the state apartments
Welcome to another, undergoing, building project for the Simpire simblr story :)
As I mentioned in the last post, The Imperial family is at Bucksimgham palace, the official residence of Her Highness Dowager Tsarina’s sister Queen Elisabeth II of United Simgdom, for the birthday celebrations.
This project wouldn’t have been possible without the amazing contents of numerous creators, many researches and fotos but ,most importantly, the amazing Buckingham Palace project from @thesimquisition, the inspiration It gave me and the plans he shared (the rooms are almost the same size :) )
Now lets start the tour of my version of this Grand Palace, the closest I could get to reality, hope you enjoy the tour as much as I’m loving building it :)
Her Majesty, Queen Elisabeth II of United Simgdom Welcomes you into her official residence, the grand Bucksimgham Palace. Since her majesty and her guests are in residence for the birthday celebrations, our tour will be restricted to the state apartments of the Piano Nobile. (the rooms that are finished 😅)
As we pass through the main archway, under the front wing of the palace, we are greeted by the palace Inner courtyard, we can see the West Wing and the entrance portico, part of the oldest section of the palace, from victorian Age.
For this special tour you are invited to enter the palace through the portico into the Grand Entrance of the palace, if you may follow me and climb the steps…
Welcome inside the palace Grand Entrance. For centuries architecture has been used as a way to show power, in this case royal power, the intention of the architect when creating this amazing sunken space was to, on one side and as explained by @thesimquisition, give a high ceiling effect but also to create a architectonic narrative, a symbolic promenade.
From Darkness to Light… as we enter the palace we are greeted by a grand but rather darker space but, as we approach the sovereign (Throne room) the rooms get lighter and lighter… The sovereign is the light…
From this room we can get access to the grand rooms of the ground floor (still in progress) and to the Piano Nobile through the Grand Staircase. But, before we continue to the upper floor, we can visit the Marble Hall…
This amazing hall, filled with portraits and sculptures from Her majesty collection, gives access to both the state apartments in the ground floor and to some of the guest apartments. At the end of this hall we find the Ambassador’s Staircase.
As we make our way to the state apartments, we return to the Grand entrance…
…where we find the foot of the Grand Staircase, if you would like to follow me…
…Welcome to the Grand Staircase, this magnificent white and gold room filled with paintings gives access to the state apartments of the palace. From one side we can get access to Throne Room and, through the other, we can get access to the East gallery and the Grand Ballroom.
Please follow me as we continue to climb the stairs into the state apartments…
As we get to the top of the Grand staircase, we are greeted by this small room where we can find the statues of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, the royal couple that made Buckingham Palace what it is today, lets continue our tour to the…
Green drawing room. This amazing room in green, white and gold is the first grand room of the state apartments and it distributes the visitor into the Picture Gallery and…
… to the next room in our tour…
This red and gold room is the most symbolic room in the palace and the last in the symbolic power promenade. The interior designed by John Nash, features a plaster frieze showing scenes from the Wars of the Roses.
Today this room is the symbol of the monarchy, many thrones of different monarchs are displayed here, all surrounding the baldacchino with the current monarch, and her consort, thrones.
On the left side we can see (my remake of) the portrait of HM Queen Elizabeth II with Willow, Vulcan, Candy and Holly commissioned by the Royal Mail Group last 2013. Shall we continue the tour through the next room.
In the main floor, right above the Marble Hall, we can find the Picture Gallery. An amazing and long gallery that connects all the state apartments and displays part of HM collection of 17th century Italian, Dutch and Flemish artistic works. Receptions usually happen in this room as well as smaller banquets.
Now shall we continue to the most famous enfilade of rooms, and the most recognizable in all the palace. The first room we will find is the…
…White Drawing Room, one of the most famous room of the State apartments.
It is usually in this room were the queen greet guests, hosts small gatherings, audiences as well as grand family occasions.
Now let us proceed to the next room on our tour.
Now we enter the Music room set of some state occasions, small events, many official portraits, tv appearances of the royal family and photos with foreign heads of state.
Next stop in our tour is (my favorite room of all) the Blue Drawing Room. Named by its decor featuring blue flock wallpaper and columns painted to resemble the onyx stone.
This long and really ornate room became very well known from HM young portraits with HRH Prince Philipe as well as from some state occasions. The next room in our tour, is the…
… State Dining Room. This red and gold room is usually reserved for smaller banquets and reception (larger events as well as State Banquets are held in The Grand Ballroom)
Now that we have seen all the grand state apartments…
we will continue our way into Bucksimgham Palace grandest room. If you please follow me we will …
… pass throw the West gallery, this gallery connects the state apartments with the Grand Ballroom, we will continue our tour and take the door in our left and we will find the…
… Cross Gallery, a smaller gallery that connects the West Gallery with the famous and well know East gallery…
This long gallery connects the State apartments, through the Silk Tapestry room and the Picture gallery, and the Grand Staircase with the Grand Ballroom. But just before we enter this great room we will turn left and enter the first door in our Right to discover…
…the Ball supper room. This room was created by Queen Victoria for, as the name indicates, small banquets before the grandiose balls (after Prince Albert death this events were canceled and the room lost his function). Today it is mainly used as a space for temporary exhibitions. Now lets return into the East gallery to continue our tour.
Now we welcome you into the…
…Grand ballroom. The largest and most grandiose room in the palace as well as set to grand events.
Presided by two thrones this majestic room receives foreign leaders in extravagant state banquets as well as HM investitures. It is the face of Buckingham in the world…
In the opposite side of the thrones, a grand pipe organ was built to give music in the grandest occasions. Today the room is getting ready to receive HM Birthday banquet, a special occasion that will be attended by fellow monarchs, family, Nobility and friends (the table is prepared for 84 guests).
Now I Leave you with a exterior picture of the back side of the palace (the almost finished part 😅)
Hope you enjoyed your tour through the state apartments of HM official residence. This will be one of the palaces featuring in the story and another family to be followed (not as much as my beloved Simnov)
Her Majesty and her guests are getting ready for the birthday celebrations, to welcome the rest of the family and fellow royals for the grand banquet. Hope to see you soon :)
Sorry for another very long post but I could not find a way to reduce the number of photos 😅.
Thanks to all the cc creators that made the most amazing content!! to @felixandresims for the always amazing architectonical and decor objects, @harrie-cc for building inspiration and re-colors, @thejim07 and @the-regal-sim for the amazing paintings, sculptures and furniture, and many others that created wonderful objects (sorry if I forgot someone) Thanks also to @thesimquisition for the building inspiration, the most amazing palace plans (from were I could calculate room sizes) and the interiors.
Hope you continue to enjoy the story and the many other building, still WIP, I’m working on (Sorry if I never show the full building but I’m always working on so many projects at the same time and the first parts I finished are the ones needed for the Story, in this case the state apartments :), I really have to try to focus and complete the projects!!)
The imperial family is getting ready to great the rest of the family and fellow monarchs!! the Banquet will be soon !!