The Royal Family have agreed to pay income tax to the British state, and King Charles III has revealed that he has paid £12.9 million in tax for the year 2024-25. This is far more than any tourist guide will pay and reflects the fact that Charles is one of the richest people to have occupied the throne of the United Kingdom.

On a cold, windy night, I am leaving Soho. Outside, I pause to check my messages (as tourist guides should always do), and that is when it happens. For an instant, I feel a shove, sharp enough to make me step back…but when I turn, there is no one there. Except him. He is already halfway down Great Pulteney Street, slipping into a wrought iron doorway I swear was not open a moment ago.

The ancient DNA project connected to Winchester Cathedral is one of those rare historical investigations that feels almost unreal when you first hear about it. Hidden high above the cathedral chancel are a series of painted wooden mortuary chests which are believed to contain the bones of some of the most important people from Anglo-Saxon England.

With the news that the Natural History Museum (NHM) has surpassed the British Museum in visitor numbers (seven million as opposed to six million a year) a new focus on the collection of dinosaur fossils and models has started. Many of the dinosaur models were gifts from Andrew Carnegie, who was born in Scotland and never forgot his British roots. They include the model of a Diplodocus (‘Dippy’) which used to be seen as you entered the NHM.

Vincent Square in the Westminster area of London looks peaceful today, but it has a history that is far more interesting than many visitors might expect. I first looked into its name when I was meeting clients at a hotel there and discovered a story I did not know before. It is a good example of how even a familiar place in London can open up unexpected connections to the past.

A new museum recently opened in London is Banksy Limitless, a short walk from South Kensington tube station at 79 – 85 Old Brompton Road, SW7 3LD It is in an old Victorian building which was transformed into a museum in September 2025. The entrance fee is £25.

Buckingham Palace, the official residence of the British monarch, is one of the highlights of any visit to London. Did you know that just beside the palace are the Royal Mews, which you can also visit? The Mews are where the Royal Family have kept their fine horses and elegant carriages for centuries and where they have parked their luxury automobiles since Edward VII purchased the first royal car in 1901.

Since its introduction in 1993, the Buckingham Palace Summer Opening allows visitors a rare opportunity to explore the State Rooms of the monarch’s official London residence. 2024 was a record-breaking year for Buckingham Palace, which welcomed the most visitors in the history of its summer opening.

Most London Blue Badge Tourist Guides have had clients who want to get a snap of themselves by a red London phone box, often with Big Ben in the background. It is almost a rite of passage for a visitor to London and so the red boxes at the end of Whitehall often have long queues of people waiting outside for the chance to take a picture of themselves. The phone booths are rarely put to their original use – namely, to make phone calls. Now, of course, the mobile phone reigns supreme and most people have a smartphone in their pocket.

London has more than 20 hospitals that serve its population of over 9 million people. Most of these are run by the NHS, but a few are private hospitals, often run by the British United Provident Association, a private health provider, which usually, like the NHS, goes by its initials. BUPA was founded in 1947 and provides competition for the NHS, and some companies offer private health for their employees as a perk to attract applicants. Most people are happy enough, however, to rely on the NHS for healthcare provision.

The BBC is one of the most trusted of British institutions. ‘I heard it on the BBC,’ is a common claim as to the verity of a statement around the world. The implication is that it must be right because the BBC said it. People trust the organisation in the way they often do not trust statements made by their own governments, where the media outlets are all too often controlled by the very governments who want their statements taken on trust.

David Bowie was one of those singers who made it through to the mainstream and when he died of cancer at the age of sixty-nine, having just failed to reach his biblical allotment of three score years and ten, politicians of all different stripes were lining up to praise him even if they had little time for his music when he was alive. People spontaneously wanted to express their grief at his passing and many of them went to a Brixton mural to do so.