Walk of the Week: Past The Palace

Every Sunday we’ll pluck just one walk from the vast London Walks repertoire and put it centre stage.

You can check out the full schedule at www.walks.com.

But if you only take one walking tour this week, why not make it…

PAST THE PALACE Hidden Places & Hidden History

2.30 pm on Tuesdays from EmbankmentTube (Villiers Street exit)

There's no need to book. A London Walk takes about two hours and costs £10 or £8 for concs. Kids under 15 accompanied by their parent[s] go free

This one isn't on the balcony – it's through the keyhole. It's hideaways and nooks and crannies and boltholes with a difference: they're royal hideaways and nooks and crannies and boltholes. It's where the goings on went down. It's kings who were queens. It's 16 coffin bearers, beheaded lovers and a questionable birthright. It's a square coffin, a fake lesbian wedding and "a bat instead of a woman". It's curses and betrayals, heartaches and hearth-aches and unhealthy habits. It's ugly sisters and poisonous makeup and war and head lice. It's between the kings' sheets and a cabinet particulaire and a royal brothel. It's £40 million of debt, swinging parties, debauchery and treachery. It's unofficial history, real history. It's guides with that tiara tingle. (Here's how a walker put it: "This walk had my head spinning. Not just because of the dizzying array of funny and fascinating stories and often hilarious incidents but also because of the star power of the guide herself. What a wonderful way to spend an afternoon in London.") It's a royally, royally good walk. A royally, royally good walk. Guided by Karen or Katy.

The Past the Palace – Hidden Places & Hidden History walk takes place every Tuesday at 2.30 pm

Meet Karen or Katy just outside the Villiers Street exit of Embankment Tube

A London Walk costs £10 – £8 concession. To join a London Walk, simply meet your guide at the designated tube station at the appointed time. Details of all London Walks can be found at www.walks.com.