Formerly, the only flag that flew over Buckingham Palace was the royal flag, and even then, the flag only waved when the queen was in residence. However, when Princess Diana died, the Queen was at Balmoral, so no flag was flying over Buckingham—meaning no flag was lowered to half-mast for Diana's death. The public was horrified and they pressured the royal family to fly one, so the Queen agreed to fly the national flag there at half mast. It’s flown there very since. The palace has a sergeant at arms just to take care of the flag. He has an office on the roof to wash and iron the flag.

This is Landsdown House, home of the Marquess of Landsdown and now a royal residence for entertaining visitors. They sometimes have barbeques in the gardens for American soldiers there; at one of these, Obama and the British Prime Minister flipped burgers (it was all for show, the chefs really did it).

This is Saint James’s Palace. It's not a royal residence because the Queen doesn’t live here, but this is her office and the home of official ceremonies. The oldest part is at the end with the towers; it dates to Tudor times and was a hospital for lepers run by monks. Henry VIII decided he wanted the hospital, so in his greed, he threw all the lepers out and took it over. St James’s palace has been the official residence of the monarch since the royal family's old palace, Whitehall, burned down in 1698. Now, St. James's is the official residence of the monarch as well as the nursery palace of the Crown Prince. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote that St. James’s street is the center of world, due to the elite gentlemen’s clubs and the businesses catering to royals.

This building is Chapel Royal, the Queen’s private chapel. It used to be where royal weddings were celebrated, including Queen Victoria’s wedding. It’s a development of the twentieth century that weddings are at Westminster Abbey. Prior to the 1900s, weddings hadn't happened at Wesminter for centuries. However, since the royal procession in the 1900s had to travel down a few streets, thousands of people would be able to see what was going on at Westminster. Moving the weddings back to Westminster where they were more public was a huge boost for PR. The clock was built in 1832,with the cipher of William IV.

This is a memorial for Queen Elizabeth II’s royal grandmother. Apparently, she was known to be terrifying. She supervised Elizabeth’s upbringing, but died just before Elizabeth’s coronation. Before she died, she was asked if she had any regrets. She said she regretted never climbing over a fence; thus, they put a fence around her memorial, so if her ghost wants to climb she can.

The Queen Mother (Elizabeth II's mother) lived to be 102. She died just before her daughter's Jubilee. She was from the Scottish aristocracy and she grew up in a castle; when WWI began her castle turned into a hospital for wounded soldiers and the duty of her and her siblings was to talk with wounded soldiers and play games with them. From that, she got the ability to talk to anyone. Her husband's statue has been in this spot since he died. When she died, the funeral motorcade stopped in front of his statue for a minute of silence. Both she and her husband are wearing outfits from the Order of the Garter. She was famous because during WWII, the royal family could’ve fled to their property in Canada since they’re technically the sovereigns of Canada too, but it would’ve been a huge blow to British morale. She said “the girls will not go without me, I will not go without my husband, and the king will not go.” They stayed. Buckingham Palace was bombed three times, taking out her husband’s study and the chapel where she was crowned. The royal family always carried pistols and revolvers in case Germans landed. Reputedly, the Queen Mother drank like a sailor. She was 100 years old when her grandson Prince William came to say goodbye because he was going to university; her goodbye to him was “any good parties, get me invited”. She definitely seems like a character!

After a bombing during the Blitz, the future Queen Elizabeth's parents (Elizabeth and George) went out to see the battered citizens of the east end. The Queen Mother took the lead. because she was the more outgoing one than her husband. On the right is a portrait of the royal family. On the left is firemen working to put out the flames. In the middle, the art depicts the Queen and King talking to civilians.

This half of the sculpture shows more scenes about the Queen Mother, connecting with the people, especially soldiers who fought in the wars.