It’s the big one. There are few places as ritzy as Buckingham Palace, located in the City of Westminster. It has served as the official residence of the Queen of England since 1837 when Queen Victoria took the throne. Its seven hundred and seventy-five rooms are decked out in a lavish 19th-century interior design.
It’s open for ten weeks each year during the summer, and on selected dates during spring and winter. There’s plenty for tourists to see, including London’s largest garden. Estimates range wildly, but reports claim the palace is worth anywhere from two billion dollars to five billion dollars.
Château de Ciergnon
The Chateau du Ciergnon (Or “Royal Castle of Ciergnon”) is a residence and summer retreat of the Belgian Royal Family, located near Ciergnon in the municipality of Houyet, province of Namur. The domain, including woods, river, and vast hunting ground, was acquired in 1840 by King Leopold I at the request of his queen, Louise-Marie.
At first just a hunting lodge, King Leopold II erected the present chateau, with an edifice designed by court architect Alphonse Balat, and has mostly served as a holiday retreat since then. It was the venue for the press presentation of King Baudouin's fiance Dona Fabiola de Mora y Aragon back in 1960.
Llwynywermod
Go ahead and try to pronounce that one correctly. We’ll wait. While this farmhouse seems a bit modest as far as royal homes go, it sits inside a 192-acre landscape. It has a huge garden, which makes it the perfect place for King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consol, to visit if they need some quiet time in the countryside.
Just like Highgrove House, King Charles renovated Llwynywermod with sustainability in mind. It’s insulated with sheep’s wool (very Welsh of you, Charlie), and is heated with a wood chip boiler. It also features low-energy lights and a reed-bed sewage system. The royal couple is proud of a completely organic farm, and joke that their sheep are both lawn mowers and fertilizers.
Balmoral Castle
Balmoral Castle is actually one of Scotland’s most popular vacation destinations - it includes extensive gardens, gift shops, and even cafes. This royal estate is in Royal Deeside, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and was built in 1852 after the house that used to stand on the property was deemed too small for the royal family.
It appears to be a true castle, with a huge stone keep, towers, parapets, and other classic features. The location is open during the summer months, and in just 2014 alone it attracted around seventy thousand tourists. It also hosts an annual RunBalmoral, a three-day running festival that raises money for a number of charities.
Amalienborg
Amalienborg is the home of the Danish royal family, located in Copenhagen, Denmark. It is, in fact, four identical classical palace façades with rococo interiors around an octagonal courtyard. It was originally built for four noble families, but when Christiansborg Palace burned in 1794, the royal family bought the palaces and moved in. Various monarchs, along with their families have resided in the four different palaces. The palaces took ten years to complete.
They are Christian VII's Palace, (originally Moltke's Palace), Christian VIII's Palace (Levetzau's Palace), Frederick VIII's Palace (Brockdorff's Palace) and Christian IX's Palace (Schack's Palace). In the center of the square in the middle of the palaces is a huge equestrian statue of Amalienborg's founder, King Frederick V.