Buckingham Palace Released a Clip of the Dizzying Route Butlers Must Take to Deliver the Queen’s Meals

Buckingham Palace is big — like five floors and 775 rooms big — so it’s not surprising that the royal butlers have to make a long walk from the kitchen to deliver the queen’s dinner. But after the British royal family’s official Twitter account shared a video showing the maze the staff must navigate, we have a brand-new appreciation for the amount of back-and-forth they have to do each day. 

Many of the lifts at the Palace are old and impractical – here's how staff currently navigate from the kitchens to the Palace's Chinese Drawing Room for functions. The route will be more practical & efficient when new lifts are installed: https://t.co/P6aLLSrpTI pic.twitter.com/l8E3Kydiya

— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) July 23, 2018

The video starts in the kitchen and ends in the Chinese Drawing Room, where the royals often host important guests. Even though the video is sped up, you can tell just how far of a walk it is from point A to point B. Right now, Buckingham Palace is in the midst of a massive renovation. Fortunately for the staff, there are plans to update the elevators so “the route will be more practical & efficient.” Honestly, we’re impressed that the palace staff manages to maintain the food’s proper temperature during the long journey.

For those of us on the other side of the Atlantic who can’t just pop over to Buckingham Palace to take a tour, this insider look is especially interesting. The bottom level reminds us a lot of a hospital — cold and sterile. But as soon as you go up a floor and exit the elevator, you’re greeted by the ornate, over-the-top luxury you imagine Buckingham Palace to have.

That said, the one thing you can’t tell from the video is just how much there is to do at Buckingham Palace. The 860,000-square-foot estate (if that word even does it justice), is home to London’s largest garden. At 40 acres, it can hold 8,000 guests comfortably. There’s also room for a helicopter pad, a lake, and a tennis court. 

Inside, it gets even better. Of the aforementioned 775 rooms, 52 of them are royal and guest bedrooms, 78 are bathrooms, and 92 are offices. There are also 19 staterooms that are open to the public during the summer. Just in case you need them, there is also a doctor’s office, an indoor swimming pool, a jewelry workshop, a movie theater, and a post office. And that’s just one of the royals’ many properties. Talk about a not-so-humble abode! 

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