Holyrood Palace and the Queen’s Gallery to reopen this month

The official residences of Her Majesty The Queen will reopen to the public later this month.

Royal Collection Trust (RCT) has announced that The Palace of Holyroodhouse and The Queen’s Gallery will be back in business soon. Windsor Castle, the Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace, and The Queen’s Gallery in London as well as Royal Collection Trust shops, will reopen to the public on Thursday, 23 July 2020. 

The online Ticket Office has just reopened.

The safety and wellbeing of visitors and staff are priorities, and in line with Government guidance, RCT have introduced a number of measures to ensure that the Palaces, Galleries and shops can reopen safely and visitors can return with confidence.

These include: 

  • The introduction of timed tickets at all sites in order to manage visitor numbers. Visitors must book tickets in advance through here as capacities will be limited.
  • Markers and signs to help visitors maintain social distancing, with staff on hand to manage the flow of visitors in queuing areas and indoor spaces. 
  • The introduction of one-way routes in some areas.
  • Hand sanitiser stations along the visitor routes.
  • Enhanced cleaning regimes. 
  • Perspex screens at all till points, with payment by card only. 
  • All front-of-house staff fully trained in COVID-secure procedures.

With these measures in place, Royal Collection Trust has acquired the ‘We’re Good to Go’ Industry Standard mark, recognised by VisitScotland and VisitEngland. 

The Palaces, Galleries and shops will open five days a week for the foreseeable future, remaining closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The Café at the Palace of Holyroodhouse will also open five days a week, initially offering takeaway service only.

Palace of Holyrood. Photo: Martin P. McAdam www.martinmcadam.com

The Exhibition Programme at The Queen’s Galleries

The Queen’s Gallery, Palace of Holyroodhouse

Eastern Encounters: Four Centuries of Paintings and Manuscripts from the Indian Subcontinent, 23 July 2020 – 31 January 2021, presents the Royal Collection’s exceptional holdings of South Asian paintings and manuscripts. 

This will be followed by Victoria & Albert: Our Lives in Watercolour, 5 March – 5 September 2021, exploring Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s enthusiastic collecting and commissioning of watercolour paintings to record their public and private lives.

The Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace

George IV: Art & Spectacle has been extended until 1 November 2020. The exhibition explores the life and collecting of arguably the most magnificent, and certainly the most flamboyant of British monarchs. 

This will be followed by the new exhibition Masterpieces from Buckingham Palace, 11 December 2020 – February 2022, which brings together some of the most important paintings in the Royal Collection from the Picture Gallery at Buckingham Palace. 

Japan: Courts and Culture, originally due to open in June 2020, is now expected to open in Spring 2022.