Queen Elizabeth II’s private apartments at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, Scotland are open to the public for the first time ever.
The Royal Collection Trust announced the apartments will be open for 100 days, from May 21 to September 10, to celebrate what would have been the late Queen’s 100th birthday.
Holyroodhouse was quite a significant space for the late Queen, who passed in September 2022 aged 96. The apartment includes a private breakfast room where Queen Elizabeth and her husband Prince Philip would dine.
Curator of Holyroodhouse, Richard Williams, told PA Media: [The Queen] would take breakfast between 9am and 9.15am, with the Queen’s piper playing down below in the garden.
“After the Duke of Edinburgh passed away, breakfast was the only meal that she would eat by herself, and she would sit in the chair with her back to the fireplace so she could see all the members of staff and people’s comings and goings in front of her.”
Also featured is a cosy sitting room where the late Queen’s beloved teddy bear would be displayed on the sofa. The teddy was gifted the ‘Haddington’ bear in 2000.
“The Queen was given him as a gift and after that she asked that whenever she arrived here, he be placed in that particular position on the sofa awaiting her arrival. She had a few personal objects that she liked to be placed quite precisely,” the Palace of Holyroodhouse curator, Emma Stead, told PA Media.
Also in the sitting room is Her Majesty’s former writing desk, with two red despatch boxes on display. The boxes were used by the British monarch to keep secret government papers.
A dressing room lined with large wooden wardrobes will display some of Queen Elizabeth’s outfits, including a dress and two coats.
