Buckingham Palace is one of the most familiar buildings in the world, but who knows the real tales hidden behind its ceremonial gates? Who was the witch that once lived in the royal courtyard? How could courtesans once have plied their trade in front of the present royal windows? How dared a Prime Minister call the Palace a monstrous insult to the nation?

Neither conventional history nor guide, this vivid and entertaining book is the first detailed exploration of the ordinary and sometimes extraordinary people who owned or lived on the land now occupied by the Palace, and of the royal occupants who later inhabited it.

Extensively illustrated, it reveals how Buckingham Palace came to be the place it is today, from a time when it probably formed the escape route from a Roman battle nearly two thousands years ago to the establishment of the first gentleman's house there in the seventeenth century, and on into a chequered royal history.

The building may seem familiar but nobody who reads this book will ever look at it in quite the same way again: the ribald byways of its history will add a new relish to a visitor's tour, and anyone who has ever strolled round this area of London will be fascinated too. Fully sourced and referenced, and with a varied array of contemporary illustrations.

The Strange History of Buckingham Palace will also appeal to architectural and social historians, those interested in London's history, and to all intrigued by the dramatic story of the home of the Kings and Queens of England.