What Will Happen to the Buckingham Palace Renovations When Prince Philip Dies?

Buckingham Palace in London is Queen Elizabeth II‘s official working residence. It also where the monarch and Prince Philip lived for many years and raised their children.

It has 828,000 square feet of living space and boasts 775 rooms. These include 19 Staterooms, 52 royal and guest bedrooms, 188 bedrooms for staffers, 92 offices, and 78 bathrooms. 

But the palace is currently undergoing a massive renovation, which Philip is actually overseeing. The project is said to continue for another seven years which would make the Duke of Edinburgh 105. While no one likes to think about it, there have been questions about what would happen with the renovations if the queen’s husband doesn’t make it that long.

The work being done to Buckingham Palace will cost upwards of $475 million but it is necessary to repair the palace’s aging infrastructure.

“The palace’s electrical cabling, plumbing, and heating have not been updated since the 1950s,” said Sir Michael Stevens, who holds the position of keeper of the privy purse.

“The building’s infrastructure is now in urgent need of an overhaul to avoid the very real danger of catastrophic failure leading to fire or flood, and incalculable damage to the building and priceless works of art in the royal collection.”

Although Prince Philip currently lives at Wood Farm Cottage on the Sandringham estate, 100 miles away from Buckingham Palace, he is reportedly briefed on the work being done by his family members in London.

“The Duke of Edinburgh was very involved in the 1992 restoration of Windsor Castle. He is keen for us to follow a phased approach in the re-servicing project [at Buckingham Palace], and said, ‘You will learn from your mistakes,’” a royal source told The Telegraph.

Prince Philip has insisted that he doesn’t want too much of a fuss made upon his death, however, the palace does have a specific protocol to follow for when that does happen.

An official announcement notifying the public of his passing will be made soon after by The BBC. Should he die in the middle of the night, the news will be broadcast on the network at 8 a.m. local time.

Philip reportedly does not want a full state funeral and the mourning period after his death will last for eight days. If he dies before the queen, then she will go into mourning for 30 days.

As for what will happen to the renovation project? Well, the palace has already started planning for that as well.

In early February, it was reported that there is a position open for a project planner. That person will need to “support the strategic planner and facilitate communication between the in-house Programme Management Office and the contractors and consultants.”

House Beautiful noted that the starting salary for the full-time position is $49,000 and applications are being accepted until Nov. 2.

The job opening means that in the event of Philip’s death or if he becomes incapable of making decisions, someone will be able to step in and take over the direction of the renovations. Therefore, the entire project will not have to be halted.

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