St James's Park & Green Park
Home Of Buckingham Palace and Much Else Besides
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| Buckingham Palace from St James's Park |
St James's Official Web Site
St James's Park is the oldest Royal Park in London and is surrounded by three palaces. The most ancient is Westminster, which has now become the Houses of Parliament, St James's Palace and of course, the best known, Buckingham Palace.
For the purposes of this page we also treat Green Park as St James's Park, both seamlessly merge into one another with Green Park occupying the segment of park at its northern end.
The park is open from 5am to midnight all year round
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| Royal Park Overview |
| Hyde Park & Kensington Gardens |
| St James Park & Green Park |
| Regents Park |
A Tour Around St James's Park
For many people St James's Park is the most scenic of the royal parks. With Buckingham Palace and Horseguards its also the scene of much pomp and ceremony including of course the Changing of the Guard.
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St James's Park also lies very close to many of the major sights including Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and of course Buckingham Palace. Its a great place for a quiet break in the middle of a hard days sightseeing. We have a self guided walking tour, (see bottom of the page) that covers a lot of London's A1 sights and walks you through St James's Park.
Along the eastern boundary of St James's Park is Whitehall. At its southern end is Parliament Square with Big Ben, Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey.
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| Horseguards |
Along Whitehall its mainly government buildings all the way to Trafalgar Square. Along here you will find 10 Downing Street, Mansion House and the Cabinet War Rooms.
Horseguards here has a lower key, and for many a much more satisfying Changing of the Guard than at Buckingham Palace.
Once inside St James Park, at its eastern end the centrepiece is the lake attracting many birds. The lake has boards so you can try and identify some of the birds that can include Pelicans and much more commonly ducks and geese. The Pelicans are fed each day by wardens between 14:30 and 15:00.
There is a large cafe at the eastern end of the lake looking over the activities of the lake. The lake is left to the birds, there are no pleasure boats here like neighbouring Hyde Park.
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| The Citadel |
At the north eastern tip of St James's park is the Citadel Building, pictured left.
This windowless building is part of the Admiralty and was built in the 2nd World War to withstand a 1,000lb bomb.
Underneath the ground you are standing on is a web of underground tunnels connecting government departments, Buckingham palace and Downing Street.
It is thought there is a branch of the Victoria Line Underground between Green Park and Victoria stations that goes to Buckingham Palace in case of a high security event.
The Mall, the broad avenue that goes dead straight from Trafalgar Square to Buckingham Palace through St James's Park is thought to be earmarked for use as a landing strip if the nations elite need to be pulled out from London quick.
The Mall is closed to traffic on Sundays and Bank Holidays
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| Buckingham Palace |
Buckingham Palace
At the western end of the lake in St James's Park is Buckingham Palace. Buckingham Palace has served as the official London residence of Britain's sovereigns since 1837 superseeding Kensington Palace in neighbouring Kensington Gardens / Hyde Park
It evolved from a town house that was owned from the beginning of the eighteenth century by the Dukes of Buckingham.
Today it is The Queen's official residence, her favourite palace though which she thinks of as home is Windsor Castle.
Changing of the Guard At Buckingham Palace
What most people come to Buckingham Palace for, is the Changing of the Guard staged by the front entrance at 11:30 a.m. Daily during peak summer months (May to July) then every other day at other times.
Known as Changing the Guard or Guard Mounting, the process involves a new guard exchanging duty with the old guard. The soldiers are drawn from one of the five regiments of Foot Guards in the British Army: the Scots Guards, the Irish Guards, the Welsh Guards, the Grenadier Guards and the Coldstream Guards.
The handover is accompanied by a Guards band. The music played ranges from traditional military marches to songs from the shows and even familiar pop songs.
When the Queen is in residence, there are four sentries at the front of the building. When she is away there are two.
To be honest many people are disappointed by this, the crowds also make it difficult to get decent photographs. There is no 'performance' if it rains. You may find it more enjoyable to go over the other side of St James Park to Whitehall where another Changing of the Guard takes place.
Changing of the Guard here takes place daily at 11.00 am (10.00 am on Sundays) and lasts about half an hour here.
Here there are less crowds and no palace railings in your way of good photographs. You are also much, much closer to the Guards themselves and photo opportunities are far superior.
Getting to St James's Park
No commercial vehicles including public buses are allowed into the Royal Parks. There are a number of Underground Stations that are on the borders of Green Park / St James's Park.
Green Park and Hyde Park Corner are on its northern border.
Westminster, St James and Victoria are along the southern border and require s short walk.
Another popular entrance place is Trafalgar Square.
The very popular hop on, hop off London tour buses do stop at Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, Victoria - indeed all around the perimeter of St James's Park.
| Self Guided London Icons Walk Including Buckingham Palace & St James's Park | |
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Join us on our step by step self guided walking tour of London's main tourist icons. The walk includes Big Ben, London Eye, Downing Street, Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey and much, much more. Its a circular walk so you can join and leave it at many places along the way, including Buckingham Palace. Simple to follow instructions and street map and best of all its FREE! |
Buckingham Palace Viewed From The Lake In St James Park |
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