Is it the nostalgia? The sight of the Buckingham Palace guards, resplendant in their crimson and gold and moving around at regular intervals like the clockwork toys many of us played with as children?

Is it the fantasy of catching a glimpse of the privilege that exists beyond the walls of Buckingham Palace? The privilege afforded to individuals who, like us, were born and will die ordinary mortals but who will live their lives surrounded by the wealth and advantages that only exists in fairytales?

The gold Buckingham Palace coaches drawn by magnificent horses, the diamond-encrusted crowns, the ermine and the servants! The Changing of the Guard beneath the Buckingham Palace windows.

Surely these are not trappings of life that exist in the real world….are they?

It's perhaps something of an irony that Buckingham Palace, a place where mere mortals can only hope to press their faces against the railings or, at best buy an entry ticket, has been a rallying point for the British people at times of national rejoicing and, indeed, crisis.

Even today, TV war documentories invariably repeat the historic television shots of 100,000 people filling The Mall, the long road leading to Buckingham Palace, and pressing against the Palace railings in celebration of the end of the second world war as the British King and Queen and their young children waived gaily from the Buckingham Palace balcony high overhead.

Or consider the outpouring of grief after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, the pungent carpet of flowers layed against and spreading out from the ornate Buckingham Palace railings for an acre or so and holding back the respectful, tearful human tide.

Located in the City of Westminster, along The Mall, Buckingham Palace is the primary residence of the British Queen, more properly called Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland (plus the 16 Commonwealth states - yes but I don't have the room!!).