15 Facts You Didn't Know About Buckingham Palace

Everyone knows that the sovereign, currently Queen Elizabeth II, resides at Buckingham Palace. But did you know she doesn't live there alone? Okay, yes, her husband Prince Philip also lives there and so do all of Her Majesty's corgis and dorgis (it's a real breed that she accidentally created when one of her corgis mated with a dachshund), but there are more individuals who live in this gigantic abode as well.

In fact, there are 775 rooms, including 19 State rooms, 52 royal and guest bedrooms, and 188 staff bedrooms, according to the Royal Family's website, and that's not including all of the offices (there are 92) and bathrooms (78 total). With the 188 staff rooms, there is room for a lot of the staff (which is roughly 800 people) to live inside the palace walls. Pretty nice digs, right?

While some of us fly the flag of our favorite sports team, or the American flag in honor of any patriotic holiday, the Monarchy uses flags for a different purpose. There are two flags used at Buckingham Palace, one when the Queen is home, and the other when she's away.

If Her Majesty is inside you will see the Royal Standard flag (pictured). When she is out of town, or has left, you will see the Union Jack blowing in the wind.

The story of how the Royal Family acquired Buckingham Palace, which was originally a three-story block house owned by John Sheffield, the Duke of Buckingham (and called Buckingham House, pictured), and later bought by King George III in 1761 as a gift for his wife (as her sanctuary), is long and a little convoluted. But when it comes to the modern-day palace we all know, we have Queen Victoria to thank — mostly.

Queen Victoria was in fact the first reigning monarch to make the palace her home back in 1837, and in 1845 she had the fourth wing added to the property. This resulted in the eastern side of the forecourt being completed by architect Edward Blore, the Royal Family website revealed. Ever since, Buckingham Palace has been the official home to the reigning monarch.

Rumor has it that there are secret tunnels located under the historic palace, and thanks to the Queen Mother, their existence has been confirmed. According to Travel + Leisure, the Queen Mother revealed in 2006 that she had gone into the hidden tunnels once and met a squatter, who'd been living there for years.

Among the variety of staff members who both work and live in Buckingham Palace, there is a profession that not many have heard of — the horologist. A horologist is a fancy name for a clockmaker, and the palace has more than one of them. These two (and sometimes three) individuals repair and wind up all of the clocks and watches that the Monarchy owns, which is reportedly 1,000 clocks total (with about half of them inside Buckingham Palace).

It's literally a full-time job that takes up all your time — and it has to be done in a timely manner.

Despite being dubbed the "Music Room" and having a gorgeous piano inside of it, this room is actually much more iconic than you might know. There have been numerous christenings in the Buckingham Palace Music Room, including that of The Prince of Wales (aka Prince Charles), The Princess Royal (Princess Anne), The Duke of York (Prince Andrew),
and Prince William.

When it comes to traditions, the United Kingdom has a lot. One of our favorites is the fact that to this day, whenever there is a big announcement to be made, it doesn't get published in a paper or on social media first (although these outlets are later used to relay the same news). Instead, if someone dies, or a royal baby is born, it is announced in one of two ways revolving around the palace gates.

For a death (as the
New York Post points out), the announcement is posted onto the Buckingham Palace gates, while a birth announcement (pictured) is placed on an easel at the gates.

With so many rooms and clocks throughout this grand household it's no surprise that making everything bright is a top priority. When it comes to windows, there are 760 of them that are cleaned every six weeks — and not all of them are reachable by just standing.

The bigger surprise, however, is that there are now more than 40,000 light bulbs throughout the residence, Good Housekeeping reports. Whose job is it to replace all those bulbs?

The Queen's rose garden is massive, and we're not talking football-field massive, because this garden is much bigger than that. The Queen's Royal Garden is approximately the size of 30 American football fields, or four Wembley Stadiums, and is home to 25 different types of roses, E! Online revealed.

In addition to having a grandiose garden to walk through — it's the largest private garden in London — Her Majesty has a rose within it that is named after her grandson, Prince William, called Royal William, so that's adorable.

The Budweiser horses might be legends in America (they are so beautiful), but in England it's all about the Queen's horses. When visiting Buckingham Palace you can actually tour the Royal Mews, which is where the stables for both the Windsor Greys and Cleveland Bays (these are the horses that pull the royal carriages) are housed. When visiting, remember that the Queen's first reported riding lesson was at the Royal Mews back in 1930 (she was three years old), so there is a lot of history to be a part of.

Remember that giant rose garden that surrounds Buckingham Palace? Well, it is also home to
the Royal Family's very own helipad.

The garden is 40 acres, so it has a lake (because why not?), a tennis court (obviously), and a helipad, which appears to be just an open area of grass, but has a pad underneath it for helicopters to land. So fancy!

If you watched Downton Abbey — and not so secretly wished you worked for the Crawley family — then you know exactly what it's like to work in the kitchen at Buckingham Palace. Seriously! According to Darren McGrady, who worked for the Royal Family for 15 years (until 1993), the show is pretty accurate when it comes to kitchen life.

"Watch a lot of Downton Abbey. Working in the kitchens at the Palace is exactly like that," McGrady told The Telegraph in 2013 when asked what his tips would be for a future chef of the family.

PS: He also revealed that the royal family sometimes helps with the cooking. For example, Prince Philip cooks at summer barbecues, and Her Majesty "mucks" or cleans the dishes!

During the 1600s, King James I used the land where present-day Buckingham Palace (the northern part) is located to plant mulberry trees in hopes of getting all the silkworms that feed on the fruit. According to The Telegraph, there is still a street called Mulberry Walk to honor that time, but King James I's efforts to get silkworms from the mulberries fell short.

Today, part of Buckingham Palace stands in the place where these mulberry fields once were. The mulberries are still represented at the palace, because the grounds are now home to the National Collection of Mulberries, which features 38 different forms of the trees that are planted throughout Her Majesty's garden (as well as Kensington Palace and Marlborough House).

There are a lot of ways to memorialize a sovereign after they've died, but the way that King Charles I is remembered is a little out there. King Charles I was executed (yikes) at 2 p.m. and therefore the clock face above the entrance to Buckingham Palace and St. James Place (which was the King of England's official residence from 1531 to 1837), which is called The Horse Guards (it's the ceremonial entrance) has a "black blot" covering that hour, the Evening Standard reported last year.