Buckingham Palace’s East Wing has opened up to visitors for the first time in 2024. St James’s Palace did so at the tail end of 2023. Even Balmoral — a royal residence privately owned by the Windsors, rather than part of the holdings of the Crown — has opened up its doors, something which would have been unimaginable during the lifetime of the late Queen Elizabeth II.
Why has it happened, and what can it tell us about the Monarcy today? Country Life’s Architectural Editor John Goodall joins host James Fisher in this episode of the Country Life Podcast to talk about this, and much more.
- Listen to Country Life podcast on Apple Podcasts
- Listen to Country Life podcast on Spotify
- Listen to Country Life podcast on Audible
Some of the topics are very much in John’s ballpark: how to get your house featured in the pages of Country Life, and what you can expect once it happens, for example. But, never a man afraid to stray out of his lane, John also delves into the wonderful world of Taylor Swift concerts, how to build 1.5 million homes, and why sequin-covered books on architecture might one day be best-sellers. He even squeezes in a bit about how Oxford University ought to do a better job of keeping track of their own buildings. Enjoy.
Episode credits
- Host: James Fisher
- Guest: John Goodall
- Editor and producer: Toby Keel
- Music: JuliusH via Pixabay and the Fly Guy Five via Epidemic Sound
- Special Thanks: Adam Wilbourn
-
'Monolithic, multi-layered and quite, quite magnificent. This was love at first bite': Tom Parker Bowles on his lifelong love affair with lasagneAn upwardly mobile spaghetti Bolognese, lasagne al forno, with oozing béchamel and layered meaty magnificence, is a bona fide comfort classic, declares Tom Parker Bowles.
-
Country houses, cream teas and Baywatch: Country Life Quiz of the Day, April 24, 2025Thursday's Quiz of the Day asks exactly how popular Baywatch became.
