There's a Hidden Door in These Rare Pictures of the Buckingham Palace Drawing Room—But Good Luck Spotting It

Buckingham Palace's White Drawing Room has a secret door that looks like a mirrored cabinet. Queen Elizabeth uses the door to enter the room.

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(Image credit: Getty Images)

You know how life in the royal family seems like something out of a movie when you read about it? Usually, that movie is a cheesy (but in a good way) rom-com, like The Prince and Me or A Christmas Prince, but other times, it's an action classic, like a James Bond movie.

One of the most James Bond-y things about life as a royal? Some of the royal residences actually have hidden doors, including one of the most famous rooms in Buckingham Palace.

The White Drawing Room at Buckingham Palace, which you might know as "the giant gold and white room Queen Elizabeth always delivers her Christmas address from," has a secret door that's been hiding in plain sight that you've probably never seen.

Queen Elizabeth II Delivers Her Christmas Speech

(Image credit: WPA Pool)

The door in question is disguised as a mirror and cabinet, and the Queen uses that "secret" door to enter the room, which she also uses to receive royal visitors and where members of the royal family gather for before official royal functions.

If you want to try to find the door in person, you're in luck, because the White Drawing Room, where it's "hidden," is going to be open to the public soon, along with 18 other State Rooms at Buckingham Palace.

"The White Drawing Room, perhaps the grandest of all the State Rooms in #BuckinghamPalace, serves as a royal reception room for The Queen & members of the Royal Family to gather before official occasions. This is one of the 19 State Rooms open to the public from 20 July - 29 September 2019," the Royal Collection Trust wrote on Instagram, along with a rare pic of the room.

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Kayleigh Roberts
Weekend Editor

Kayleigh Roberts is a freelance writer and editor with more than 10 years of professional experience. Her byline has appeared in Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, ELLE, Harper’s Bazaar, The Atlantic, Allure, Entertainment Weekly, MTV, Bustle, Refinery29, Girls’ Life Magazine, Just Jared, and Tiger Beat, among other publications. She's a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.