There’s an unexpected item hidden on the Buckingham Palace balcony for the Royal Family to make use, but many members of the public do not know it exists. Televisions are placed in the balcony area so the royals can see both The Mall and themselves when they step outside.
With the balcony typically covered by a red drape for important occasions, the televisions are concealed from public view. An inside source said: “They are placed in the corners of the balcony, slightly canted. The balustrade is covered in red fabric, so all the equipment can be hidden behind it.”
It was on the iconic Buckingham Palace balcony that then-Prince Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales shared a kiss after their 1981 wedding, and the current Prince and Princess of Wales followed suit in 2011.
According to the Royal Family’s website, the first recorded royal balcony appearance was in 1851, when Queen Victoria, King Charles’s great-great-great-grandmother, appeared during celebrations for the opening of the Great Exhibition.
Seven years later, she also had her family go out onto the balcony to acknowledge the crowds who had gathered for the wedding of her daughter, Princess Victoria.
At the 2022 Trooping the Colour, which was part of Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations, the group included only working members of the Firm and their young children and that precedent has largely continued.
In times of war, a balcony appearance is sometimes deemed appropriate. It can be a reminder that the monarch is not merely a ceremonial figurehead. The kings and queens are a potent national symbol for their people, and their appearance cements that relationship.
On August 4, 1914, when the UK officially went to war with Germany, King George V was called out onto the balcony three times by the crowds below, who were looking for reassurance from their head of state.
To commemorate the end of World War II, Prime Minister Winston Churchill appeared alongside the King and Queen and their daughters, Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret.
