Buckingham Palace has 775 rooms, including 188 staff bedrooms, 92 offices, 78 bathrooms, 57 royal and guest bedrooms and 19 State rooms. However, according to one of the Queen’s closest staff members, dresser Angela Kelly, the Queen only occupies six of these rooms, meaning she uses just one per cent of the palace as her own residence, along with husband Prince Philip.
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In Angela Kelly’s book The Other Side of the Coin: The Queen, the Dresser and the Wardrobe, she reveals exactly what she knows about The Queen’s living quarters.
The Queen's dresser Angela Kelly opens up about Buckingham Palace
She said: "Her Majesty is a very modest lady and only occupies a few rooms." She goes on to list these: "Her bedroom; her private sitting room; her dressing room and bathroom; the Audience room and the Empire room."
The Audience room is a room in which the Queen would meet with Prime Ministers or dignitaries – and the Empire room is a waiting room.
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Angela goes on to say: "These rooms aren’t vast and there is space for very little furniture; just the odd wardrobe or chest of drawers." Further cementing the fact that the Queen chooses to keep her living space very modest, because she is not a frivolous person.
Queen Elizabeth II records her Christmas address within the 1844 Room at Buckingham Palace
Of course, the Queen does use other spaces within Buckingham Palace but usually these are reserved for ceremonial events or hosted dinners. Therefore, it is very unlikely that the Queen would be eating her dinner perched in the Throne room on an average day. The iconic State rooms are opened up to the public when the Queen isn’t residing at the palace.
The State dining room is reserved for more formal affairs
The Queen may have multiple royal residences but her palace in the heart of London was where she gave birth to Prince Charles and Prince Andrew and she is keen to keep parts of it very private and as much like a family home as possible.
Despite the finery that surrounds them, frugal and modest are two words that aptly describe the royal family. Prince Charles, for example, has admitted to recycling and repairing his wardrobe instead of buying new.
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