Heart of Power: Westminster & Beyond

Buckingham Palace was originally known as Buckingham House, built in 1703 for the Duke of Buckingham. In 1761, King George III bought it for his wife Queen Charlotte as a family residence. In the 1820s, it was refurbished at the behest of George IV and became Buckingham Palace. Queen Victoria moved here in 1837 and became the first monarch to use it as an official residence. William IV, who preceded Victoria, had offered the almost-completed palace to Parliament after the 1834 fire destroyed Westminster. Parliament rejected it as unsuitable. The palace has 775 rooms. The 19 staterooms are open to visitors in summer. In the lantern room on the roof, a small boy of 12 lived undetected for a year during Queen Victoria's reign, hiding in the chimneys. A true story that inspired the 1949 novel, The Mudlark.

The modest black door at 10 Downing Street has been the official residence of British Prime Ministers since 1735, when King George II offered the house to Sir Robert Walpole, considered the first Prime Minister of Great Britain. Walpole accepted it not for himself but for the office, establishing the tradition that the house belongs to the role, not the person. The street itself is named after Sir George Downing, a diplomat and spy who built the terraced houses in the 1680s. The building appears small from the outside but connects to a far larger structure behind. There are over 100 rooms. The door itself is peculiar. It has no keyhole on the outside. It can only be opened from within by a doorkeeper. Every visitor, regardless of rank or status, must knock. Every Prime Minister from Walpole to the present has walked through the same black door.

Westminster Abbey has been the coronation church of English and British monarchs since 1066. William the Conqueror was the first to be crowned here on Christmas Day of that year. Over three, three hundred people are buried or commemorated in the Abbey. Since the 18th century, burial here has been considered the highest honour for any British person. A practice boosted by the lavish funeral of Isaac Newton in 1727. Poets' Corner contains the graves and memorials of Chaucer, Shakespeare, Dickens, Kipling, Hardy, Tennyson, and many others. The Coronation Chair, the oldest piece of furniture still used for its original purpose in England, has been used at every coronation since 1308. Beneath it sat the Stone of Destiny, removed from Scotland by Edward I in 1296, returned to Scotland in 1996, and brought back to Westminster for the coronation of Charles III in 2023. The Abbey has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987.

You're standing before one of the world's most iconic buildings. And here's something that might surprise you. The famous clock tower wasn't called Big Ben until recently. Big Ben actually refers to the massive bell inside, not the tower itself. The tower was officially renamed Elizabeth Tower in 2012 to honor the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. Built after a devastating fire in 1834, this Gothic masterpiece took over 30 years Nearly 1,000 rooms hide behind that riverside facade. Look closely at the stonework. It's slowly crumbling, requiring one of Britain's most expensive restoration projects ever attempted.

On 16 October 1834, a fire broke out in the Palace of Westminster after an overheated stove used to destroy the Exchequer's stockpile of tally sticks set fire to the House of Lords chamber. Both Houses of Parliament were destroyed, along with most of the other buildings in the Palace complex. Westminster Hall was saved by firefighting efforts and a change in wind direction. The Gothic Revival Palace you see today was designed by Charles Barry and Augustus Pugin and completed in 1870. The Elizabeth Tower, universally known as Big Ben after its largest bell, is 96 metres tall. The original hour bell cracked during testing and was recast. The present bell later developed a crack of its own, which gives it a distinctive sound. The Ayrton light at the top of the tower is lit whenever either House of Parliament is sitting after dark. It was installed in 1885 at the request of Queen Victoria, so she could see from Buckingham Palace whether her Members of Parliament were at work.