Workers restoring Buckingham Palace have uncovered forgotten items beneath the floorboards, including blank Football Pools betting slips from 1957, an empty cigarette packet, and theatre listings from a newspaper dated 1889. A ticket to the Royal household’s social club from nearly 80 years ago was also found, along with typed instructions for hosting a grand royal reception.
Hidden items reveal past lives
The items, preserved within the fabric of the property for decades, were discovered during the refurbishment. The palace has been undergoing a £370 million reservicing project for the past decade to rewire electrics, upgrade plumbing and heating, and overhaul infrastructure to prevent long-term damage.
Among the everyday objects unearthed were the blank Littlewoods Football Pool betting slips from 1957, a pair of battered black hobnail boots, and a Silk Cut cigarette pack. A fragment of theatre listings from The Standard newspaper in 1889 was also found.
Royal reception schedule found
A detailed, typed schedule with timings and directions for Queen Elizabeth II’s hosting of a diplomatic reception in her Silver Jubilee year of 1977 was also discovered, revealing the monarch would move around the room in a “clockwise direction”.
Examples of electrical wire covered with Vulcanised Indian Rubber (VIR) cabling, which posed the greatest fire risk to the building, were located. The cabling, which becomes brittle with age, was removed as a priority when the project began in 2017 and is due to be completed next year. Some 2km of the rubber cabling has been replaced so far, equivalent to the length of 40 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
Historic ticket and newspaper found
A small once-white Whist Drive ticket, priced at 6d and dated April 14 1949, during the reign of King George VI, was found embedded in a lump of building rock. The pass to the staff social club gathering reads “Royal Household Social Club – Buckingham Palace: A Whist Drive to be held on” followed by the faded, stamped date “14 APR 1949”.
In April 1949, Queen Elizabeth II was still Princess Elizabeth and had been married to Prince Philip for less than 18 months, and their eldest son, the now-King, then prince Charles, was only five months old.
Pages from the Daily Express newspaper in 1966 were also discovered, detailing the “maximum security” prison housing the Great Train Robbers, picturing inside Durham Prison and revealing that “the men who were found guilty of stealing a fortune in mailbags spend their week stitching them for nine shillings”.
The instructions for Royal Household staff for the 1977 Diplomatic Corps reception revealed that the Queen and other members of the royal family would move round the Ball Room in a “clockwise direction”. Aides were also asked to encourage the 350 British guests to mingle with the diplomats at the annual gathering, where the dress code would have been white tie and decorations or national dress, with the royal women wearing tiaras.
“The British guests will be distributed throughout the State Rooms, except the Music Room and West Gallery, where they should be encouraged to talk to the Diplomats,” the manually typed sheet read. It added: “In the Ball Room, Her Majesty and other Members of the Royal Family will move round the room in a clockwise direction”.
It also warned that smoking was banned in certain state rooms, with the reception kept to a strict timetable, saying: “Drinks will be served to guests in the Blue Drawing Room, State Dining Room and West Gallery between 9.30 and 10.00pm. Guests allotted to the Ball Room will be served drinks in the Ball Room Annexe from 9.30pm until approximately 10.15pm. Smoking will not be permitted in any of these rooms.”
Other findings included a section of Minton decorative ceramic tiles from a fireplace hearth, with the design dated around the mid-1800s, an aged Pewter tankard, a bottle of Schweppes Still Malvern English Spring Water, a wooden junction box, and a faded box containing six Christmas cards.
