The Royal Mews

The Royal Mews — A.K.A. the royal stables — are one of the most underrated places you can visit in all of London. In fact, I would argue that they’re the most interesting part about Buckingham Palace. The Royal Mews are not here just as a history museum — they’re a real place of operation for the Royal Family. And if you visit, you’ll find out just how important the Mews are not only to England’s history, but to their present as well.
Around the corner and down the street from the art galleries and the main gates of the palace, the Royal Mews are an amazing blend of both stable-​related storage and real-​time working needs. You can either do an audio tour or a guided tour — both are very informative, but I actually recommend the guided tour, as the staff are very good natured and will add a lot of personality and insight to your experience. The tours do a great job of explaining the history and work of the Mews, as well as how they serve the Queen in modern day England now.
During a tour you’ll be able to enjoy the beauty that is the stables and the Royal Family’s collections of different carriages. And there are a lot of different carriages. If I remember correctly at least one was a retired children’s toy, pulled by the family pony once upon a time, and there on display only. Needless to say it was an old little thing — especially compared to the newest carriage, the Diamond Jubilee State Coach. Ordered to commemorate Queen Elizabeth II’s 80^th birthday, it’s a stunning display of modern day craftsmanship and features some fantastic blending of modern day technological needs with old school English traditions.
But, of course, if you go on a tour here you’ll also get to see one of the most amazing things in the Royal Mews: the Coronation Carriage, or the Gold State Coach. It’s the coach that’s been used at the coronation of every British monarch since George IV. It’s an astounding thing to look at — it weighs 4 tons, it featured gorgeous painted panels… and apparently it’s incredibly uncomfortable to ride in. Figures, right? But it’s still worth seeing in person — plus, learning about how the coach is prepped for use and the complicated process involved in just getting it out of the building is incredible.
Finally, while timing has a lot to do with this one, you’ll also have a chance catch sight of some of the royal family’s horses while visiting here. During my first visit they were all out to pasture for the summer, unfortunately. But during my second visit I caught sight of some their Windsor Greys as well as a couple Cleveland Bays — it made my day!
If anything in this review sounded interesting, this is a must-​see spot. I won’t pretend that visiting a stable is for everyone, but if you love horses, you love the royal family, and/​or you enjoy learning about different parts of England’s history, a visit to the Royal Mews should really go on your to do list.

art of the «royal day out» ticket, including Buckingham Palace (State Rooms),
royal mews and the Queen Gallery, the Royal Mews is a place where you can admire
royal chariots (currently used), royal cars and royal horses. Well, from the
royal day out what can you expect other than royal X?!
I’d not suggest to come here singularly, the place is quite small and you won’t
need more than an hour to explore it all, but it’s a nice addition to the other
two places.
Free audioguides, don’t miss them!

For me, the reality is that between the State Rooms, the Queen’s Gallery and the Royal Mews, these stables were by far the prettiest and most interesting aspect of Buckingham Palace save for the Changing of the Guards. I thought the State Rooms were tacky and the Queen’s gallery was boring but staring at the large, ornate and often gold-​leaf covered royal carriages, a few cars and that grey horse made me happy to stare at what the Royals of the past and present rested their asses on.
This takes maybe an hour maximum, but staring at some of the designs specially made for weddings, coronations and daily use reminded me of Cinderella’s pumpkin carriage and I was about it. My admission was free via the London Pass but this is worth spending the few pounds on since each mode of transportation (including the horse) felt like a work of art.

I was a bit underwhelmed by The Royal Mews. Overall, there’s not a whole lot to see, and very little opportunity to interact with guides for a more in-​depth tour, outside of an official guided tour. Basically, you get to see the famous coaches and a few royal cars. You’ll be luck to see a horse, or find out much about where are the horses are, how they train them, etc. It’s all about an inch deep. It’s fine for a stop if the topic interests you, but don’t plan your day around this half-​hour attraction (even if you watch all the videos in the audio guide).
Also, the main viewing area for the cars and carriages can become quite congested, since it’s just a series of garages side-​by-​side. Maneuvering for a good photo or close look can be challenging.
That said, it wasn’t a waste of money or time. It was cool, I just expected more.

This is definitely worth a visit! It doesn’t take too long but seeing all of the coaches is amazing. The craftsmanship is outstanding and they have a lot of different types of coaches to see. We did the whole thing in less than an hour. It’s an easy stop on the way to Buckingham Palace!

The big golden carriage is cool but there are 2 cars which is a bummer. Is part of London pass so it was okay but I definitely world not want to spend money and go to see it

Breathtaking craftsmanship and wonderful history. The Royal Mews wasn’t nearly as big as I thought it was going to be but the coaches was saw were stunning. I definitely recommend the audio tour so you can get all the information about what you’re seeing and make sure don’t leave the gold state coach room so quickly, there’s lots to explore and the audio section on this is quite extensive.
Unfortunately there weren’t many horsies in the stable for us to see and the ones that were there were too busy eating to look up. The people that work here are very knowledgeable so don’t hesitate to ask questions.

Gotta go audio tour on this. This tour was recommended to us by a couple we were standing next to at the changing of the guard. Loved seeing the carriage Princess Diana rode in to her wedding & the Rolls Royce Kate rode in to hers. You also get to see the enormous Jubilee carriage & some of the horses. Very interesting tour.

I’ve done this self-​guided audio tour twice. It’s a great alternative to the Queen’s Gallery and if the Palace is closed. The first time I did it was after touring the Palace, so I expected a certain level of an experience. Was not disappointed.
It’s a working mews. The guides are actual family members of the men and women who work to take care of the cars, horses, and carriages. Be on the look out as you go through the tour. You will see carriages being prepared for heads of state as well as the mail carriages. Horses are on parade as well.
You can see all of the carriages that the royal family uses including the one from the wedding! The Coronation Carriage takes up an entire room. You are also given access to view the various luxurious cars that are owned by the royal family.

I came here with a friend from Paris and it was unfortunately closed for the winter! If I’m ever in London again in the summer I will definitely give it a visit.

Hier scheiden sich die Geister. Ich findes schon interessant mal ein Blick auf all die Autos und Kutschen zu werfen. Aber rechtfertigt das diesen Preis?

So after trying to get tickets for Buckingham Palace, we headed down the street a bit to The Royal Mews.
I wanted to go to the Mews anyway so it worked out perfectly. It’s also on the London Pass!
There’s airport style security, just FYI.
We took a guided tour which is always better than the audio tour. The carriages are beautifully kept up and each of them are different. I learned a lot about the history and uses of the different carriages.
One of the coolest things about the Mews is that its not just a museum, the royals actually still use the carriages!
The community bit is awesome too. All of the staff live on site. Including the horses :)

This is some really cool stuff. Horses and coaches and a nice Phantom Royals Royce only a few feet away from you. The London Pass gets you in here as well. I recommend doing both the Queen’s Gallery and this place since they are right next to each other.
On my visit here, they didn’t let anyone inside Buckingham Palace, but at least coming here, you’re technically on the grounds of the Buckingham Palace so I guess that’s something.
But they have coaches here dating back from the 18^th century and they looked pristine. They even have a gold coach too that has to be pulled by 8 horses.

This place was awesome! The royal carriages are amazing. You get a free audio tour with your ticket and get to learn more about each one and all the features they come with. You also get to see some of the horses and learn about their training and names. I got a combined mews/queen’s gallery ticket to save some money and definitely preferred the mews over the gallery.

My wife told me that this was the working-​museum where they housed all the state vehicles — royal carriages and motor cars. Carriages are ok, but I was looking forward to seeing the royal cars! I was definitely underwhelmed by the solitary Rolls-​Royce (though wealthy and famous, it seems that the British royals can’t hold a candle to the Arab oil princes’ car collections). At least someone had parked their Maserati in the Royal Mews parking lot for me to drool over.
Anyway, I was slightly impressed by the carriages, particularly the big, fancy, way-​over-​the-​top gold stage coach. And my wife was excited to see a few horses in their stables, too. It was interesting to learn that the horses have to go through tons of training to be able to parade around with the royal family while thousands of people are making noise and taking photographs of them!
The free audio tour is very good. When you buy a ticket combined with the Queen’s Gallery, it’ll save you a quid or two. I’d definitely recommend doing both, but neither are really a must-​see while visiting London.

The Royal Mews is basically the Queen’s garage. It’s a series of buildings containing everything a roving royal could need; a golden coach, some horses, a Bentley or two.
Although you can look around independently, I’d highly recommend a tour. The wardens are all knowledgeable, and will explain why this coach is different from the coach next to it.
The highlight of the collection is the Gold State Coach. This only comes out on really special occasions, mainly because it’s so big they have to take down one of the walls of the room it’s in to get it out! Again, if you wait to join a tour you’ll be treated to lots of facts and figures, some of which are fascinating. You can also see the stables, and sometimes the horses that inhabit them.

Auch wenn man nicht unbedingt was für die Monarchie überig hat, so sind doch die Royal Mews sehr sehenswert!
Die Royal Mews gehören weltweit zu den bedeutensten in Betrieb befindlichen Ställen. Es sind dort jedoch nicht nur Kutschen, Gespanne oder Pferde der Royals zu sehen– man kann auch einen Blick auf den königlichen Rolli werfen!
Wenn man jedoch einmal dort ist, kann man sich der Faszination der herrlichen Kutschen eigentlich nicht mehr entziehen– so kunstvoll und liebevoll sie restauriert sind.
Vor allem, wenn man bedenkt, das sie alle noch gentutz werden!
In einem weiteren Raum kann die Sättel, Halfter und kunstvoll verzierten zaumzeuge bewundern. Für Pferdefreunde ein ganz besonderer Leckerbissen.
Die Pferde, die dort hauptsächlich zu sehen sind (wenn sie nicht unterwegs bei irgendwelchen Paraden im Königreich sind!) gehören zu den Rassen Cleveland Bays, der einzigen Britischen Rasse von Zugpferden und Windsor Greys, welche traditionell die Kutsche der Königin ziehen.
Das Fotografieren ist gestattet. Am Eingang gibt es einen Sicherheitscheck, ähnlich dem am Flughafen– schliesslich befinden wir uns direkt am Buckingham Palace.
Der Eintrittspreis beträgt 7.50 Pfund.