First look at renovated room behind the balcony of Buckingham Palace

Instead of the famous view from the balcony of Buckingham Palace, visitors can now look down from the inside for the first time.

After a five-year renovation phase, the east wing of the castle has been carefully restored and will be open to paying visitors on a trial basis starting next week.

However, you cannot access the balcony itself – and when you visit, you will know why.

It’s surprisingly narrow and the railings reach below the waist, which would send any safety officer into a panic.

But if you look through the windows – which Robert Hardman calls “the most famous net curtains in the world” – you can enjoy the view from the perspective of the royal couple, Prince William and Prince Catherine.

The surprising thing from this vantage point is how clearly you can see the crowds of tourists below you, you can actually see people’s faces.

The change of perspective is also curious: the view goes over the pink gravel of the courtyard towards the shopping center, instead of as usual from outside the gates.

To reach the balcony, royals must pass through the central room, which is lavishly decorated in Chinese style and is now open to the public for the first time since this wing was built 175 years ago.

A huge lily-style lamp hangs and the walls are covered with Chinese-themed art.

The royal world loves its abbreviations. Buckingham Palace is called “BP” and Kensington Palace is called “KP” – but this enthusiasm for Chinese and oriental art is linked to another BP.

This is the Brighton Pavilion, because the construction of the east wing of Buckingham Palace was financed by the sale of the Royal Pavilion in Brighton by Queen Victoria.

This seaside retreat was a mix of Asian style and daring Regency fashion, and the 19th-century royals, always fond of recycling, removed the Chinese and Japanese-style furniture and artwork and housed them in Buckingham Palace.

This also included furnishings such as doors, gilded curtain rods and a fireplace as well as decorative porcelain pagodas.

The introduction of guided tours of this previously private part of the palace is part of a broader aim to make the royal residences more accessible to the public.

The East Wing, which receives its first tourists, is the main facade of the palace, in front of which tourists gather to watch the changing of the guard – this is the view you see on the postcards.

The tour is not cheap, costing £75, but is already completely sold out for this year. And the opening visitors this summer will be in guided groups of 20, separate from the existing, more general tour of the palace’s state rooms.

In this more private version of the tour, none of the items on display are cordoned off to visitors and there are no “No Trespassing” signs on the furniture.

This makes the palace seem more like an inhabited building than a museum, but it is impossible to escape the gradual transformation of the palace into a souvenir shop.

It is a mixture of historical setting for major events, office building and tourist attraction, but at the moment it seems to be a long way from being a residence for the royals.

Even royal guests no longer stay here. During their most recent state visit, the Emperor and Empress of Japan stayed at Claridge’s Hotel.

A £369 million project is currently underway to refurbish the palace complex, not just the gilded surfaces but also the basic plumbing and wiring in this vast, ageing complex. Step away from the glittering state rooms and you never seem to be far from scaffolding and repair work.

The renovation of the east wing alone required the removal and conservation of 3,500 individual pieces, including historic furniture and works of art. And the tour only covers a relatively small part of this wing.

But the sold-out tours show public demand, and while there are art lovers among the visitors, people also come to see for themselves things they may have seen on television or imagined through the Crown.

You can stand in the elegant Yellow Drawing Room, which is used for many audiences and was the setting for a Christmas address by the late Queen Elizabeth II.

Or visitors can look out the window into the courtyard below, where Sir Keir Starmer stopped last week to meet the King following his general election victory.

There’s plenty of royal bling to see in the long corridors, but what draws people is the behind-the-scenes look at the palace.

And as they look out through the long balcony windows, they may resist the temptation to give a quick wave.