Step Through the Archway into a Working Palace Stable
You come to the Royal Mews from Grosvenor Place, on the south side of Buckingham Palace Gardens, and the first thing that registers is that this is not a museum set behind glass. It is a working part of the palace, where horses and people live and work, and where carriages and cars are in daily use supporting the work of the monarch as head of state. Coachmen, grooms and chauffeurs are accommodated in flats above the carriage houses and stables. Arrive earlier in the day and you stand a better chance of catching the yard in motion; at other times only a few of the horses may be visible, as others are stabled elsewhere.
Stand Before the Gold State Coach
The mews holds the royal collection of historic coaches and carriages, and the centrepiece is the Gold State Coach, used at every coronation since that of George IV in 1821. Alongside it you will find the Diamond Jubilee State Coach. The state coaches and other carriages are kept here, along with about thirty horses and their modern counterparts, the state motor cars. Take the free guided tour, which runs roughly an hour, or pick up the free audio guide and move at your own pace. There is no cloakroom on site, so travel light rather than carrying large bags.
Meet the Windsor Greys and Cleveland Bays
The horses stabled here are the Windsor Greys and the Cleveland Bays. The greys are used for pulling carriages containing the monarch; the bays are used for everyone else. The greys take their name from Windsor, where they had been used for many years by the Royal Family for their private carriages before Edward VIII moved them to London. The horses are regularly exercised, so what you see in the yard is a stable in routine, not a tableau.
Read the Yard Itself, Built by Nash
The current mews was built to designs by John Nash and completed in 1825, though the buildings have been modified extensively since. The main quadrangle was laid out with coach houses on the east side and stable blocks, alternating with harness and forage rooms, on the west; beyond it, the back mews included accommodation for a veterinary surgeon. The Riding School is older still, thought to be by William Chambers and completed in 1764, with its pediment of sculptural motifs by William Theed added in 1859. The site carries its own history: the Guards here mutinied on 15 June 1820 in support of Caroline of Brunswick, whom George IV was seeking to divorce, and in 1855 Queen Victoria established a Buckingham Palace Royal Mews School for the education of the workers' children. This is also a place in transition: in late 2025 it was announced that the Royal Mews, including stables, carriages and cars, would be relocated from Buckingham Palace to Windsor Castle, as senior members of the Royal Family no longer live in the capital.
Make It Part of a Westminster Day
The mews sits in Westminster, near Buckingham Palace, about a ten-minute walk from Hyde Park Corner tube station, which puts it within easy reach of the rest of central London. Buckingham Palace itself is open for tours during the summer months only, and the Changing of the Guard spans Buckingham Palace, St James's Palace and Wellington Barracks, usually beginning at 10:43. St James's Park lies between Buckingham Palace and Horse Guards Parade, and Trafalgar Square, home of Nelson's Column and the lions and overlooked by the National Gallery, stands on the ground once occupied by the mews' earlier Charing Cross site, cleared in the late 1820s. Admission to the Royal Mews starts from about $25, and tickets can be purchased on the door; there is a gift shop on site.
Because the mews is regularly open to the public for much of the year but remains a working department of the Royal Household, no two visits look quite the same, and the announcement of its move to Windsor gives the present yard a particular claim on your attention. Check the current opening arrangements, set aside a morning rather than an hour, and build the rest of your Westminster day around it.