By Royal invitation - Inside Prince Charles & Camilla's London home

The Prince of Wales selected treasured mementoes to greet The Australian Women’s Weekly’s Juliet Rieden, when she was invited behind the gates of Clarence House for a private tour of the royal home.

- Juliet Rieden

Standing outside the “Birthday Gates” of Clarence House, it’s impossible not to be reminded of the Queen Mother. As a child growing up in England, I remember crowds gathering every year outside these big black gates in Stable Yard Road, hoping to greet the former Queen Elizabeth who would step outside her front door on August 4 to receive birthday wishes from the people. It was one of those peculiarly British rituals which underlined the public affection for the royal family and started in 1970, continuing until Her Royal Highness’s final birthday at the age of 101. The custom resulted in the current moniker for the gates, and as The Australian Women’s Weekly is welcomed inside for a privileged private tour of the house and gardens, currently the London home of Prince Charles, his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall, and a privileged swarm of London’s bee population, I can’t help but notice reminiscences of the Queen Mother everywhere.

Clarence House, nestled in a perfect oasis of calm just behind The Mall, is a unique royal residence which I suspect holds a special place in the hearts of all the family who have lived here. It was built in the 1820s for the Duke of Clarence, who later became King William IV, and has been altered and refurbished over the centuries for seven very different royal occupants.

Prince Charles became Heir Apparent to the British throne at the tender age of three when he was living at Clarence House, and all of a sudden his childhood was turned upside down. Together with his sister Anne, their cosy world moved across Green Park to the vast corridors of Buckingham Palace. His mother was no longer a princess, but Queen Elizabeth II, at just 25.