To change the clocks at all the royal residences will take around 30 hours this weekend.
There are more than 1,600 historic clocks in the Royal Collection, 50 of which are at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, 450 at Windsor Castle and 350 at Buckingham Palace, including musical clocks, astronomical clocks, miniature clocks and turret clocks. Each has to be changed by hand to ensure they are running to time.
It takes longer to change the clocks in wintertime as not all clocks can have their hands rotated counterclockwise; the best practice for these clocks is to stop them and return an hour later to start them again.
Just like our Balmoral Clock the clocks in the kitchens at Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace are always set five minutes fast, to ensure that food arrives on time. And the oldest clock in the Royal Collection is the Anne Boleyn Clock, which is reputed to have been given by Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn on the morning of their marriage in 1532.
British Summer Time ends when the clocks go back by one hour at 2am on Sunday 29 October, 2023 and clocks will go forward an hour on 31 March 2024.
Tjeerd Bakker, Senior Horological Conservator, said: “Clockmakers have been employed by the Royal Household for centuries, and it is a privilege to continue that tradition and to get to work with this extraordinary collection every day. Visitors love the fact that the clocks are kept running and on time; they are a key part of the experience of visiting the State Apartments at these working royal residences.”
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