Buckingham Palace

==Court ceremonies==
[[File:MBE1.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|The Princess Royal conducting an Investiture in the Throne Room in 2023.]]
[[Investiture]]s for the awarding of [[Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom|honours]] (which include the conferring of [[knight]]hoods by dubbing with a sword) usually take place in the palace's [[Throne room|Throne Room]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Investitures |url=https://www.royal.uk/investitures |website=The official website of the Royal Family |publisher=The Royal Household |access-date=25 November 2023}}</ref> Investitures are conducted by the King or another senior member of the royal family: a military band plays in the musicians' gallery, as recipients receive their [[honour]]s, watched by their families and friends.<ref name="Healey, p.364">Healey, p. 364.</ref>

[[File:P052411LJ-0751 (5835926297).jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|A state banquet held in the Ballroom in 2011]]
State [[banquet]]s take place in the Ballroom, built in 1854. At {{convert|36.6|m|order=flip}} long, {{convert|18|m|order=flip|-1}} wide and {{convert|13.5|m|order=flip|round=5}} high,<ref name="fact"/> it is the largest room in the palace; at one end of the room is a throne dais (beneath a giant, domed velvet canopy, known as a ''[[shamiana]]'' or [[baldachin]], that was used at the [[Delhi Durbar]] in 1911).<ref>Harris, p. 72.</ref> State Banquets are formal dinners held on the first evening of a state visit by a foreign head of state.<ref name="Healey, p.364"/> On these occasions, for up to 170 guests in formal "white tie and decorations", including tiaras, the dining table is laid with the Grand Service, a collection of silver-gilt plate made in 1811 for the Prince of Wales, later George IV.<ref>{{Cite news |date=25 July 2008 |title=Royal seal of approval for state banquet exhibition |work=The Telegraph |location=London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/theroyalfamily/2457467/Royal-seal-of-approval-for-state-banquet-exhibition.html |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |access-date=31 January 2016 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/theroyalfamily/2457467/Royal-seal-of-approval-for-state-banquet-exhibition.html |archive-date=11 January 2022}}{{cbignore}}</ref> 

The largest and most formal reception at Buckingham Palace takes place every November when the King entertains members of the [[diplomatic corps]].<ref>Healey, p. 362.</ref> On this grand occasion, all the state rooms are in use, as the royal family proceed through them,<ref>Hedley, p. 16.</ref> beginning at the great north doors of the Picture Gallery. As Nash had envisaged, all the large, double-mirrored doors stand open, reflecting the numerous crystal chandeliers and [[Sconce (light fixture)|sconces]], creating a deliberate optical illusion of space and light.<ref>Robinson, p. 18.</ref>

Smaller ceremonies such as the reception of new ambassadors take place in the "1844 Room". Here too, the King holds small lunch parties, and often meetings of the [[Privy Council of the United Kingdom|Privy Council]]. Larger lunch parties often take place in the curved and domed Music Room or the State Dining Room.<ref name="Healey, pp. 363–365">Healey, pp. 363–365.</ref> Since the bombing of the palace chapel in World War II, royal christenings have sometimes taken place in the Music Room. [[Elizabeth II|Queen Elizabeth II]]'s first three children were all baptised there.<ref>Robinson, p. 49.</ref> On all formal occasions, the ceremonies are attended by the [[Yeomen of the Guard]], in their historic uniforms, and other officers of the court such as the [[Lord Chamberlain]].<ref name="Healey, pp. 363–365"/>

===Former ceremonial===

====Court dress====
[[File:President Nixon visiting Buckingham Palace with Britain's royal family - NARA - 194606.tif|thumb|upright=1.2|President [[Richard Nixon|Nixon]] with members of the royal family in the ground-floor Marble Hall]]
Formerly, men not wearing [[military uniform]] wore knee [[breeches]] of 18th-century design. Women's evening dress included trains and [[tiara]]s or feathers in their hair (often both). The dress code governing formal [[Court uniform and dress in the United Kingdom|court uniform and dress]] has progressively relaxed. After the [[First World War]], when [[Mary of Teck|Queen Mary]] wished to follow fashion by raising her skirts a few inches from the ground, she requested a [[lady-in-waiting]] to shorten her own skirt first to gauge the King's reaction. King [[George V]] disapproved, so the Queen kept her hemline unfashionably low.<ref>Healey, p. 233, quoting ''The Memoirs of Mabell, Countess of Airlie'', edited and arranged by Jennifer Ellis, London: Hutchinson, 1962.</ref> Following his accession in 1936, King [[George VI]] and [[Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother|Queen Elizabeth]] allowed the hemline of daytime skirts to rise. Today, there is no official dress code.<ref name="fact"/> Most men invited to Buckingham Palace in the daytime choose to wear [[service uniform]] or [[lounge suit]]s;<ref name="fact"/> a minority wear [[morning coat]]s, and in the evening, depending on the formality of the occasion, [[black tie]] or [[white tie]].<ref name="Seldon1999">{{Cite book |last=Anthony Seldon |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jj2AAAAAIAAJ |title=10 Downing Street: The Illustrated History |publisher=Harper Collins Illustrated |date=1999 |isbn=978-0-0041-4073-5 |page=202}}</ref>

====Court presentation of débutantes====
[[Débutante]]s were aristocratic young ladies making their first entrée into society through a presentation to the monarch at court. These occasions, known as "coming out", took place at the palace from the reign of Edward VII. The débutantes entered—wearing full court dress, with three ostrich feathers in their hair—curtsied, performed a backwards walk and a further curtsey, while manoeuvring a dress train of prescribed length. The ceremony, known as an evening court, corresponded to the "court [[drawing room]]s" of Victoria's reign.<ref>Peacocke, pp. 178–179, 244–247.</ref> After World War II, the ceremony was replaced by less formal afternoon receptions, omitting the requirement of court evening dress.<ref>Peacocke, pp. 264–265.</ref> In 1958, Queen Elizabeth II abolished the presentation parties for débutantes,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mailbox |url=http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/page5299.asp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080123231607/http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/page5299.asp |archive-date=23 January 2008 |access-date=23 January 2008 |website=Royal Insight Magazine}}</ref> replacing them with [[Garden at Buckingham Palace#Garden parties|Garden Parties]],{{efn|[[Princess Margaret]] is reputed to have remarked of the débutante presentations: "We had to put a stop to it, every tart in London was getting in."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Blaikie |first=Thomas |title=You look awfully like the Queen |publisher=Harper Collins |date=2002 |isbn=978-0-0071-4874-5 |location=London}}</ref>}} for up to 8,000 invitees in the Garden. They are the largest functions of the year.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Royal Household |title=Garden parties: The guests |url=http://www.royal.gov.uk/RoyalEventsandCeremonies/GardenParties/TheGuests.aspx |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130117060104/http://www.royal.gov.uk/RoyalEventsandCeremonies/GardenParties/TheGuests.aspx |archive-date=17 January 2013 |website=Official Website of the British Monarchy}}</ref>