Buckingham Palace is undergoing a major £369m refurbishment that began in 2017 and is set to be completed in March 2027, after its infrastructure was deemed to be in urgent need of a complete overhaul.
The work has uncovered objects dating back more than a century beneath floorboards and in other hidden corners of the palace. Some appear to have belonged to palace staff, including a pair of black hobnail boots, old Christmas cards, blank Littlewoods Football Pool betting slips from 1957, and a fragment of West End theatre listings published in The Standard in 1889.
Pages from a 1966 edition of the Daily Express were also discovered, including an article about the prison where the Great Train Robbers were serving their sentences. Another find was a typed document detailing Queen Elizabeth II's schedule during a diplomatic reception in 1977, her Silver Jubilee year.
The Buckingham Palace Reservicing Programme was launched to overhaul the palace's ageing infrastructure. The Royal Family's official website stated that the electrical cabling, plumbing and heating have not been updated since the 1950s, and that the building's infrastructure is in urgent need of a complete overhaul to prevent long-term damage to the building and its contents.
King Charles III and Queen Camilla will not move into Buckingham Palace after the restoration is complete, but will instead continue to live in Clarence House. This will allow greater public access to the palace, but Buckingham Palace will nevertheless remain the official centre of royal life and the Royal Household's primary workplace, hosting official events and receptions.