The Queen has given royal fans a sneak peek inside the lavish Buckingham Palace on her Instagram.
Each summer, the extravagant royal residence opens its doors to visitors, but as this won’t happen this year, Her Majesty gave a virtual tour instead.
The first room revealed was the glittery White Drawing Room, which is where the Queen usually enters the State Rooms.
In the Queen’s photos, the vast, ornate room is lit with a huge chandelier and numerous golden candlesticks, and there is an extravagant gold-leaf piano, ordered by Queen Victoria in 1856, standing in the corner.
The caption read: “The room is used as a reception room for the Queen and members of the Royal Family to gather before official occasions.”
Royal fans may recognise the grand room as the setting for the Queen’s Christmas Day speech.
A lesser known fact about the room is that it includes a secret entrance used by Her Majesty hidden behind a mirror and cabinet.
Next on the tour is the Queen’s Throne Room, which has high ceilings, multiple chandeliers and two red chairs made from carved and gilded beechwood on a small raised stage.
The caption said: “Like the other State Rooms, it was designed by John Nash, who was influenced by his work in theatre set designs.”
The Queen, 94, and Prince Philip, 99, have their names embroidered on their luxury chairs.
The page explains: “These are Chairs of Estate, which were used for the Coronation of The Queen in 1953.
“They are embroidered with EIIR for Queen Elizabeth II… and P for Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh.”
The Ballroom was next on the tour, and the photo displayed a grand U-shaped table decorated for a banquet.
The caption read: “The Ballroom is the largest of the State Rooms, and it was completed in 1855, during the reign of Queen Victoria.
“Today, the Ballroom is used for official purposes, including State Banquets and Investitures.”
The fourth room inside the palace was the Picture Gallery, which was designed to hold all of the artwork by George IV.
The light and airy room has paintings lining its large walls, including works by Rubens, Van Dyck and Canaletto among others.
And the last stop on the tour is the Grand Staircase, which features a gilded bronze balustrade worth £3,900.
The spectacular staircase leads to the State Rooms and is lined with gold railings and has high white pillars lining the second floor gallery.
The description read: “The walls are decorated with portraits of Queen Victoria’s immediate family, including her parents, The Duke and Duchess of Kent.”
In addition to the mini tour on Instagram, the official Royal Family website now allows you to be able to take a virtual tour of Buckingham Place, complete with the option to zoom in and move around Queen Elizabeth’s palace rooms with ease.
It works much like Google Earth and allows you to take a peak at each and every luxuriously decorated room in a way you might not ever be able to again.
So while you’re indoors and wondering what to do with your time, taking a peek at how the Royals live is certainly one way to kill some hours.
Because while the tour is brief and surely doesn’t invite you into EVERY room of the palace, the rooms on offer are so detailed that you’ll want to take the time zooming into every nook and cranny to ensure you don’t miss a thing.
And who knows, you might even learn a thing or two.
