Q: Aditi Bhalla - Perth, Western Australia
I would like to know what year was Buckingham Palace was built.

Buckingham Palace has evolved as a building over many years. However, the first part was built in 1677 for Lord Arlington.

Buckingham House was later transformed and enlarged for John Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham in 1702-5 by the architect William Winde.

A brick mansion with two wings connected to a central block by curved colonnades, it was purchased by George III in 1762, primarily for his wife, Queen Charlotte, to provide a private family house separate from the official residence, St James's Palace.

Buckingham House became known as the Queen's House, and its prime function as a family house is illustrated by the fact that 14 of George III's 15 children were born there.

In the early 1820s George IV asked his architect John Nash, who had worked on Royal Lodge, Carlton House and the Royal Pavilion, Brighton, to convert the Queen's House into a pied-à-terre. So lavish were Nash's plans that the King decided that, when finished, the building should become the ceremonial centre of his court.

However, in 1831, one year after George IVs death, Nash was dismissed for greatly exceeding his budgets and the conversion of Buckingham House into Buckingham Palace, was completed in the 1830s by Edward Blore. In the following decade Blore went on to add an extra wing - the present front of the Palace - and the Palace existed in pretty much its present form.

Q: Roy - United States
In reading about Royal expenditures, I noticed that The Queen surrenders the income from the Crown Estates. What are the Crown Estates and are they owned by The Queen?

The Crown Estate is a property portfolio of buildings, shoreline, seabed, forestry, agricultural and common land worth in excess of £4 billion, generating revenue of around £170 million for HM Treasury every year from prime real estate. For example, it owns much of Regent Street in London.  The Crown Estate is run by an independent board operating on commercial lines, responsible to the Treasury.

The origins of the Crown Estate date back at least as far as Edward the Confessor. After the Norman Conquest in 1066, the lands of England came into the possession of William I. He and his successors received the profits from the lands, but over the centuries grants of large estates to nobles in exchange for military and other forms of service meant that the Crown lands were diminished.
 
The Crown Estate remains the property of the Sovereign in right of the Crown (not as a private possession) and is not Government property, but it is the tradition that at the start of each reign the new Sovereign surrenders to the Exchequer the surplus revenue from the lands for his or her lifetime.   This surplus then forms part of the Government's general revenue for public expenditure.

This has been the case since George III came to the throne in 1760, when the King relinquished his right to the revenue in return for the Civil List payment.

Q: Jackson - London
When was The Queen christened and who were her godparents?
 
The Queen, as Princess Elizabeth, was christened Elizabeth Alexandra Mary on 29 May 1926 in the private chapel at Buckingham Palace, by the Archbishop of York, Cosmo Gordon Lang.

Her godparents were: her paternal grandparents King George V and Queen Mary; her maternal grandfather the Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne; her aunts Mary, Princess Royal, and Lady Elphinstone (formerly Lady Mary Bowes-Lyon); and her great-great-uncle Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught.

Q: Ephram - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
With the demise of HM Queen Mother and Princess Alice, who is currently the eldest member in the British Royal Family?

The Duke of Edinburgh is currently the oldest member of the Royal Family. Born in Corfu on 10 June 1921, His Royal Highness will be celebrating his 85th birthday in 2006.

Q: Michael Long - Tennessee, USA
I know that The Prince of Wales and The Princess Royal both are Royal members of the Order of the Garter. Recently pictured, both The Duke of York and The Earl of Wessex appear in military uniforms but neither is wearing a Garter Star. At what point would they be admitted to the order, if at all?

The appointment of the Knights and Ladies of the Garter is in The Queen's gift (that is to say, without Prime Ministerial advice). Appointments to the Order of the Garter are therefore in the same category as the Order of the Thistle, the Order of Merit and the Royal Victorian Order which are also in The Queen's gift.

Members of the Royal Family are additional to the established number of 24 Companions. The Duke of Edinburgh was created a Knight in 1947, The Prince of Wales in 1958, The Duke of Kent in 1985, The Princess Royal in 1994, The Duke of Gloucester in 1997 and Princess Alexandra in 2003.

As the appointment of new members is entirely at the discretion of The Queen, it would be conjecture to say when, or indeed, if, The Duke of York and The Earl of Wessex will be appointed to the Order.
 

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