LONDON : ‘Buck House’ Tours

Queen Elizabeth II will open Buckingham Palace, her London residence, to tourists again this year, beginning Sunday and running through Oct. 2. The royal palace in the center of the British capital threw its doors open to visitors for the first time last year. Over a similar two-month period, about 370,000 visitors toured the historic palace, 47% of them foreigners.

Palace officials say this year substantially more tickets will be available through travel agents. Otherwise visitors must line up to buy tickets on the day of their visit. “Buck House” was opened to the public to help defray costs of repairing fire-damaged Windsor Castle and last year made a net profit of $3.3 million.