King’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace

Craig’s review… The King certainly does have a lot of nice paintings. He’s got so many of them, in fact, that he’s run out of wall space in Buckingham Palace and had to open up a whole extra art gallery next-door to give her more room.

The first thing you need to know about the King’s Gallery is that it has an annoying habit of selling you a timed ticket during busy periods. So if you’re one of those meticulous people who plans out every minute of your itinerary with military precision (run here, run there, take a few photos, blow your nose, then jump on a bus with seconds to spare) then prepare to abandon your plans because you might turn up at 1 PM and get told to come back at 2 PM.

There’s nothing you can do about this because it’s the King’s Gallery, and you can’t argue with the King (because he’s the King). If he tells you to return later then that’s exactly what you do – simple as that.

The Royal Art Collection

Most of the objects, pictures, paintings and engravings are taken from the Royal Collection, but a lot of the temporary exhibitions borrow artworks from around the world so you never see the same stuff twice. In the past I’ve seen old Italian masters in here, pages from Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks, portraits by the likes of Rubens, Rembrandt and Reynolds, and treasures from the Georgian Court… it can be quite varied.

The architecture of the first room is a bit bland, but the next two are coloured up in the same deep greens and velvety reds of Buckingham Palace – then all of a sudden it’s over. That is literally all you get: three big rooms plus a couple of tiny side-rooms.

I always expect there to be more on show than there actually is, but I suppose the bulk of the Royal Collection is already hanging on the walls of Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and Hampton Court. That’s where all the best works are, so if you want to see the meat of the Queen’s collection then you’ll have to visit those. But that’s not to say it’s not worth a visit – I still quite enjoy it whenever I go. Just don’t expect it to fill up an afternoon. You’ll be lucky if it fills up an hour.

Here’s a tip: if you buy a tour ticket for Buckingham Palace then they’ll try and push a more expensive version on you which includes entry to the Royal Mews and King’s Gallery as well (they call it a ‘Royal Day Out’).

I think that’s a complete waste of time because if you’re already going to the palace then you’ll see the best of the collection there anyway. So just stick with the palace and the Royal Mews.

Worth a visit? ★☆☆Value for money? ★★☆Good for kids? ☆☆☆Easy to get to? ★★★

I also recommend… If you enjoy this then try Courtauld Gallery (walk it in 28 mins or travel from St James’s Park to Temple by tube); National Gallery (walk it in 18 mins or catch a tube from St James’s Park to Charing Cross) and Wallace Collection (walk it in 28 mins or catch a tube from St James’s Park to Bond Street). You can see more of the Royal Collection at Buckingham Palace, Kensington Palace, Windsor Castle and Hampton Court

The author Craig Cross owns city-guide.london and has spent the last decade reviewing the capital’s landmarks, attractions and hotels. His guidebook London Squire is available from Amazon