Garden at Buckingham Palace

The garden at Buckingham Palace is situated at the rear (west) of Buckingham Palace. It covers much of the area of the former Goring Great Garden, named after Lord Goring, occupant of one of the earliest grand houses on the site. It was laid out by Henry Wise and subsequently redesigned by William Townsend Aiton for George IV.

The garden occupies a 42 acres (17 ha) site in the City of Westminster, London and has two-and-a-half miles of gravel paths. Its area is bounded by Constitution Hill to the north, Hyde Park Corner to the west, Grosvenor Place to the south-west and the Royal Mews, Queen's Gallery, and Buckingham Palace to the south and east. The planting is varied and exotic, with a mulberry tree dating back to the time of James I of England.

Notable features include a large 19th-century lake which is graced by a flock of flamingoes, and the Waterloo Vase. In the garden there is a summerhouse, a helicopter pad, and a tennis court.

Unlike the nearby Royal Parks of London, Buckingham Palace Garden is not usually open to the public. However when Buckingham Palace is open during August and September, visitors have access to part of the garden, which forms the exit from the palace at the end of the tour. (A large gift shop in a marquee is erected along the path at that time.) Visitors also have the opportunity to purchase specially made ice cream from the Buckingham Palace ice cream tent which is situated on the route out of the garden.

The garden is where the Queen's garden parties are held. In June 2002 she invited the public into the garden for entertainment for the first time during her reign. As part of her Golden Jubilee Weekend thousands of Britons were invited to apply for tickets to Party at the Palace where the guitarist Brian May of the band Queen performed his God Save the Queen guitar solo on top of Buckingham Palace. This concert was preceded the previous evening by a Prom at the Palace. During the Queen's 80th birthday celebrations in 2006 the garden was the scene of Children's Party at the Palace for an audience of 2,000 children.