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Public to Get Rare Glimpse of Buckingham Palace Balcony Room

The Buckingham Palace balcony is the centrepoint for major royal occasions (AFP)
The Buckingham Palace balcony is the centrepoint for major royal occasions (AFP)
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Public to Get Rare Glimpse of Buckingham Palace Balcony Room

The Buckingham Palace balcony is the centrepoint for major royal occasions (AFP)
The Buckingham Palace balcony is the centrepoint for major royal occasions (AFP)

The room behind Buckingham Palace's famous balcony opens to the public for the first time next week, giving a rare glimpse into one of the royal residence's inner sanctums.

For decades the royal family has been seen emerging from the room after coronations, weddings and other landmark occasions.

From the appearance of World War II leader Winston Churchill alongside the royal family in 1945 to the wedding of King Charles III and Princess Diana in 1981, the balcony and the room behind it has repeatedly played witness to history.

But despite endless images of the balcony, the room itself has always been kept under wraps.

Charles most recently appeared on it following his birthday parade last month along with his daughter-in-law Catherine, Princess of Wales.

The 42-year-old princess's presence drew huge interest as it was her first appearance at an official royal event since she announced she was undergoing cancer treatment earlier this year.

Visitors will be able to see the room as part of a tour of the palace's east wing -- the first time it has been opened to the public since it was created around 175 years ago, AFP reported.

Almost 6,000 tickets for the new tour were snapped up within hours of going on sale in April.

The wing was added between 1847-49 to accommodate the growing family of Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert.

"It was Prince Albert's idea to have a balcony at Buckingham Palace, because he saw it as a way of enabling the royal family to connect with the people, and of course that's exactly how, in a sense, it continues to be used on important occasions," said Caroline de Guitaut, surveyor of the king's works of art.

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A Set of 1st Editions of Shakespeare's Plays Could Fetch $6 million at Auction

This photo issued by Sotheby's on Wednesday April 23, 2025, shows The First Folio of William Shakespeare, which contains 36 of Shakespeare's plays, and is "the most significant publication in the history of English literature". It is one of four folios which are due to go on sale at Sotheby's in London on May 23, where they are expected to fetch between £3.5 million and £4.5 million. (Sotheby's via AP)
This photo issued by Sotheby's on Wednesday April 23, 2025, shows The First Folio of William Shakespeare, which contains 36 of Shakespeare's plays, and is "the most significant publication in the history of English literature". It is one of four folios which are due to go on sale at Sotheby's in London on May 23, where they are expected to fetch between £3.5 million and £4.5 million. (Sotheby's via AP)
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A Set of 1st Editions of Shakespeare's Plays Could Fetch $6 million at Auction

This photo issued by Sotheby's on Wednesday April 23, 2025, shows The First Folio of William Shakespeare, which contains 36 of Shakespeare's plays, and is "the most significant publication in the history of English literature". It is one of four folios which are due to go on sale at Sotheby's in London on May 23, where they are expected to fetch between £3.5 million and £4.5 million. (Sotheby's via AP)
This photo issued by Sotheby's on Wednesday April 23, 2025, shows The First Folio of William Shakespeare, which contains 36 of Shakespeare's plays, and is "the most significant publication in the history of English literature". It is one of four folios which are due to go on sale at Sotheby's in London on May 23, where they are expected to fetch between £3.5 million and £4.5 million. (Sotheby's via AP)

A set of the first four editions of William Shakespeare’s collected works is expected to sell for up to 4.5 million pounds ($6 million) at auction next month.

Sotheby’s auction house announced the sale on Wednesday, Shakespeare's 461st birthday. It said the May 23 sale will be the first time since 1989 that a set of the First, Second, Third and Fourth Folios has been offered at auction as a single lot.

The auction house estimated the sale price at between 3.5 million and 4.5 million pounds.

After Shakespeare’s death in 1616, his plays were collected into a single volume by his friends John Heminges and Henry Condell, actors and shareholders in the playwright’s troupe, the King’s Men, The AP news reported.

The First Folio — fully titled “Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories & Tragedies” — contained 36 plays, of which half were published there for the first time. Without the book, scholars say, plays including “Macbeth,” “The Tempest” and “Twelfth Night” might have been lost. Sotheby’s called the volume “without question the most significant publication in the history of English literature.”

About 750 copies were printed in 1623, of which about 230 are known to survive. All but a few are in museums, universities or libraries. One of the few First Folios in private hands sold for $9.9 million at an auction in 2020.

The First Folio proved successful enough that a an updated edition, the Second Folio, was published in 1632, a third in 1663 and a fourth in 1685.

Although the First Folio is regarded as the most valuable, the third is the rarest, with 182 copies known to survive. It is believed the third book’s rarity is because some of the stock was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666.

The Third Folio included seven additional plays, but only one – “Pericles, Prince of Tyre” – is believed to be by Shakespeare.