Surprising royal residence that has double the number of visitors than Buckingham Palace

Although Buckingham Palace is one of the most well-known royal residences, Windsor Castle has racked up double the amount of visitors in the year 2024-2025. The popular residence, which is close to where the Prince and Princess of Wales reside with their three children, is based 25 miles from London.

According to the Royal Collection Trust's annual review, Windsor Castle saw 1,367,000 visitors in the year 2024-2025. Not as popular, Buckingham Palace only saw 683,000 people visit in the same space of time. Two other residences were also featured on the list, both of which ranked lower on visitors than both Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace.

Unlike Windsor Castle, Buckingham Palace isn't open all year around - but that didn't stop the residence from having record year with visitors across the past year.

Buckingham Palace had a record-breaking number of visitors during its summer opening in 2024.

The opening of the East Wing, including a special tour, was a major attraction - with almost 6,000 visitors taking the tour in addition to the State Room.

Although largely avoiding Windsor Castle to avoid troubling memories of his late ex-wife, the King now spends more time at the Windsor-based residence.

The late Queen Elizabeth II also spent a lot of her last few years in Windsor, with it also being the place that she died back in 2022.

According to a member of staff who has worked for both the late Queen and King Charles, the castle is "coming to life again", as reported back in 2023.

Windsor Castle was also a popular residence for Prince William and Prince Harry during their childhoods, as well as their royal cousins such as Zara Tindall.