The Royal Mews also contains most (all?) of the royal coaches, and they are fascinating! Let's start with the coach of the hour, the coach that took Will and Kate to their wedding, just two weeks before these photos were taken!
That is our tour guide in this photo - a Hillary Clinton look alike with a beautiful heavy British accent!
Another angle on Will and Kate's coach.
Our tour guide said that, until recently, it wasn't the most popular coach on the tour...this one coming up was.
My beautiful wife
Let's go inside!
This is the Gold State Coach. It is over 200 years old.
The coach has been refurbished several times naturally, with the last time being in 1977 when it was regilded and reupholstered.
That was also the last time this coach was used officially, for the Queen's Silver Jubilee.
To give you an idea of the immense size of this coach, look at the guide standing next to it.
The 1977 upholstery.
The Gold State Coach is so large they can't get it through the stable doors. They have a wall that unfolds so it can be moved....the hook at the top of this window is the only visible clue to where in the wall the coach exits.
The tour guide speculated that it's next use might be on the Queen's next Jubilee.
This is the Australian State Coach.
A good clue to this is the kangaroo painted on the door.
The roof carvings and gilding are just fabulous.
This is known as the Glass Coach. Note the serpent holding the coach up.
The Scottish State Coach
They had one of the older royal limos on display also.
Along with a placard describing the current State Limousines.
They also showed a few of the toy "coaches" made for the royal children. It looks a little Adams Family to me!
But I personally liked the car parked in the Royal Mews courtyard a lot better. Of course, I have a soft spot for Jag XFs!
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