Spotted from the top of my open-top bus sightseeing tour yesterday…
Removal vans…
… at Buckingham Palace…
Are we to expect a BIG announcement?
Is Brenda (HMQ) packing it all in and moving to a two-up-two-down in Surbiton?
Is Charles about to end his 66 year wait for promotion?
And what are we going to call Camilla? (Steady, now.)
Don't panic. The trucks were there to take away the royal bits and pieces from the annual opening of the state apartments - open to the public for 10 weeks every year. In 2017 just under half-a-million punters visited Buck Pal - beating Holyrood House in Edinburgh (which is open all year round) into third place. By far the most popular 2017 attraction on the Royal Estate was Windsor Castle with 1.44 million visitors - a record that will surely be smashed for 2018 with the wedding of Harry and Meghan.
Buckingham Palace remains a must-see for many sightseeing visitors. But the ol' place pops up on my music tours, too. I was there just last week on one of my taxi tours.
In terms of pop and rock, The Beatles started it all, of course. But back in 2016, I enjoyed the story of Cat's Eyes and their "infiltration" of the palace posing as members of a renaissance music ensemble.
Cat's Eyes are an Indie duo comprising Rachel Zeffira, an opera singer, composer and multi-instrumentalist, and Faris Badwan of East London neo-Punk outfit The Horrors. Here's the film of their stunt, which took place at the end of March this year…
At the Diamond Jubilee Concert in 2013, North London boys Madness took to the roof of the palace to perform Our House – the most gentle, the most jolly, the most thoroughly low-key and British slice of political protest ever. For what is Buckingham Palace but OUR house? Nicely done, gents, made us all chuckle as we sang along. Oh, by the way: the knighthoods are cancelled.
The lads from Madness were not the first to play up on the roof – back in 2003 at the Golden Jubilee, Brian May of Queen, with a little nod to Jimi Hendrix and his take on The Star Spangled Banner, gave it large on his version of God Save The Queen…
Back when Jubileees were merely silver and the Sex Pistols roamed the earth, Buck House became the backdrop for a famous punk publicity stunt. The Pistols signed to A&M records outside the palace in March 1977…
The story of pop and the palace all starts with The Beatles. Back in '65 they received their MBE's from HMQ and one of the best of all Beatle myths was born: that The Beatles smoked dope in the lavs at Buckingham Palace. These days, Paul pours scorn on the tale. What does Ringo have to say on the matter? The perfect 60s response, of course: "I can't remember."
Keep In Touch…