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Hawks, horses and history: The Royal Mews at 200

Tony Grew
BBC News
Royal Collection Enterprises Limited 2025 | Royal Collection Trust Four white horses pull a black carriage with red wheels past a 19th century two storey brick building. Two of the horses are mounted by grooms in black jacket and top hat and white breeches.Royal Collection Enterprises Limited 2025 | Royal Collection Trust
The 200-year old Royal Mews houses horses and ceremonial carriages

The Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace - described as one of the finest working stables in existence - is 200 years old this month.

It was where Queen Victoria founded a school, Queen Mary hosted a tea party, and Queen Elizabeth once filmed her Christmas broadcast inside, surrounded by her favourite animals and Sir David Attenborough.

It houses carriages used by the Royal Family, including the famously uncomfortable Gold State Coach used at coronations.

The stables were built in 1825 for King George IV, at a cost £65,000 (£7.8m in 2025 prices) and, unlike the palace proper, has been open to the public in one form or another throughout its history.

Described by Queen Elizabeth II as "a small village which belongs to Buckingham Palace", the mews is a working part of the palace, where horses and people live and work, and where carriages and cars support the work of the monarch.

Here are some images of the Royal Mews over the past 200 years.

Royal Collection Enterprises Limited 2025 | Royal Collection Trust A 19th century image of large group of people standing in a line. One man is kneeling by a pony who is holding its hoof up. Royal Collection Enterprises Limited 2025 | Royal Collection Trust
© Royal Collection Enterprises Limited 2025 | Royal Collection Trust A drawing of a building with towers and an ornate frontage, with men riding horses in front of the building and other people standing around. © Royal Collection Enterprises Limited 2025 | Royal Collection Trust
A Victorian era photo of a crowd of staff and residents of the Mews gathered around a Shetland pony named Webster, the favourite childhood pony of Prince Alfred, Queen Victoria's fourth son.
An image of the original Royal Mews located at Charing Cross, on the present site of the National Gallery.

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