Buckingham Palace has the largest private garden in all of London, with 40 acres of perfectly-manicured lawns, some four times the size of Wembley Stadium. The grounds are also home to many unusual trees and wildlife, which have been showcased in photos posted on the official Royal Family Instagram account. To celebrate the Queen's Commonwealth Canopy project, which aims to create a network of forest conservation projects across the Commonwealth, a number of snaps were shared from Her Majesty's garden.
"The Buckingham Palace trees provide a habitat for wildlife," the caption of one photo read, showing a coot nest in the garden. Other photos showed some of the trees in the garden, including Himalayan Cedar and an Indian Bean Tree (Catalpa Bignonioides).
Several photos have been shared from inside the Queen's garden
The Queen's Commonwealth Canopy project was launched by Her Majesty at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in 2015. An appeal was made to all countries of the Commonwealth to contribute areas of indigenous forest to mark Her Majesty's lifetime of service.
GALLERY: Fascinating facts about Buckingham Palace
The scheme has won approval from Sir David Attenborough, who thanked the Queen for "showing great leadership" by putting her name to the project. "We are fortunate that you are still thinking about the future and how to make this a better world," he said at a reception for the Commonwealth Canopy.
The garden is home to wildlife and several unusual trees
Members of the public were recently given a rare glimpse inside the Queen's private apartments at Buckingham Palace, where extensive renovation work has been carried out. A short video shared on The Royal Family's official Twitter page showed the work undertaken to replace the electrics within the apartments and the audience room at the palace, which were initially installed in the late 1940s.
QUIZ: How well do you know Buckingham Palace
The audience room was rewired while the Queen was at Balmoral in summer 2017, and everything was replaced by the time Her Majesty returned. It was said to be dangerous and "delicate" work, which was carried out as part of a ten-year programme to replace essential building services such as plumbing, wiring and heating, and will extend the working life of the Palace by 50 years. Once essential projects are completed, there will also be a wing-by-wing renovation, including the East Wing, which faces the Mall.