London! - Royal Mews

One place I found very interesting was the Royal Mews also know as the Royal Stables.  The Mews houses about 30 horses that pull the state carriages.  Also the state motor cars are also kept on site.  All coachmen, grooms and chauffeurs are housed on site at the Mews.

The coaches vary in ornateness.   I believe this is one of the Landau Carriages.  It can be converted to an open top carriage similar to the one that Kate and William rode in the day of their wedding.

The Irish State Coach

The Australian State Coach.

 

One of the Queen's limousines. This is a 1948 Rolls Royce Phantom IV.  

We were in the Mews while the horses were coming in from their morning ride.  They are ridden each day in London's traffic to get them accustomed to cars, horns and people.

The most ornate of all the carriages is the Gold State Coach.  It was built in 1762 and has been used in every coronation of a British Monarch since George IV.  It takes 8 horses to pull this 4-ton carriage.