Secrets of the Royal Palaces

An unveiling of some of the many secrets held by Buckingham Palace, including its former rat problem, and the part it played in Charles and Dianas courtship.

Some dramatic events have taken place at Windsor Castle, which was built more than 900 years, guided by Edward III and his obsession with tales of Camelot. There is a look at one of the most popular exhibits at Windsor - Queen Marys Dolls House - and Kate Williams revisits some of the castles darker times, including the year when bubonic plague caused Queen Elizabeth to isolate at Windsor, and the death of Prince Albert in 1861.

Highgrove House in Gloucester is the smallest royal residence currently in use, with nine bedrooms. It is Prince Charless own creation and features a garden described as an organic oasis.

Holyrood House in Edinburgh has a bloody history - Mary Queen of Scots saw her secretary murdered in front of her there, and it is also where her second husband was murdered.

Kate Williams explores some of the more gruesome stories of Windsor Castle history, including the death of Princess Charlotte in 1817.

Versailles is one of the most enormous and impressive palaces in the world. Louise XIV built it in 1634 as a way of controlling the French aristocracy.

Brightons Royal Pavilion was built by Prince Regent, George IV in 1787. He took a small beach house and turned it into a flamboyant multi-domino-Saracenic wonder palace.

Londons lost royal palace Whitehall is destroyed, but if you know where to look, it is still possible to find the remnants of what was once the largest palace in Europe.

More behind-the-scenes tales of the British monarchy’s residences, looking at Queen Elizabeth II added the Royal Gallery to Buckingham Palace after swathes of it were damaged by bombs during the Second World War. Kate Williams explores the make-up used in the Elizabethan court, including arsenic, beetles and the urine of a small boys, and also reveals how George III was imprisoned and tortured in Kew Gardens to hide his mental decline and how Holyrood Palace became the nerve centre of the Jacobite Rebellion.

Windsor Castle is the largest permanently lived in castle in the world, and it’s still packed with secrets. There is the Welsh Cottage, a 2 fifths life size Dolls house that the young Elizabeth 2nd played in as a child. It had been gifted to her by the people of Wales but she almost never got to play in it, as caught fire on the way to Windsor. We examine the stunning Waterloo Chamber, built from contained courtyard and turned into one of the most stunning rooms in the Palace, dedicated to Britain’s greatest military victory.

The history of Hampton Court’s Great Hall, a huge dining area built by more than 400 stonemasons, bricklayers, carpenters, joiners and labourers that was also used by Henry VIII to keep an eye on his household. Plus, a look at the 2002 Golden Jubilee Party, which was held in the grounds of Buckingham Palace and is considered to have changed the public’s perception of monarchy.

Behind-the-scenes tales of Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, which was bought by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1840 and was turned into their perfect renaissance hideaway. Kate Williams goes on a culinary adventure and tries traditional Tudor cuisine, including snails and pigs’ feet, while the horrors of the palaces’ bedding ceremony is revealed, where a royal bride is observed on her wedding night to make sure the marriage is consummated.

Uncovering the secret stories of love and marriage from within palaces walls, beginning with the strange mystery of Squidgygate and Princess Dianas intimate Sandringham phone conversations with her friend, James Gilbey.

This time, we uncover secret stories of palace scandal, as Diana confesses all to one of her closest member of staff, King Charles tries to move out his scandal-hit brother and we reveal the shocking link between Queen Victorias favourite lapdog and a palace massacre.

Uncovering the secrets of palace entertaining, from Wayne Sleep teaching Princess Diana how to dance, to the Buckingham Palace party that almost went up in flames.

This time, we uncover the secrets of Queen Victorias Palaces, as we explore the romantic hideaway designed for her by Prince Albert, open-up the scandalous diaries that reveal Victorias racier side, and discover just how many times she was shot at by would-be assassins.