As a bit of a fan of tunnels under London, I am often asked about the oft-rumoured tube tunnel that allegedly links Buckingham Palace to, depending on the rumour, Downing Street or Green Park.

It is claimed that the tube was built so that the Royal Family can escape in times of war or insurrection.

Sadly, the rumours are utterly unfounded.

There are indeed some tunnels under London that are pseudo-secret, but they can be inferred from sealed files in the National Archives or provable tales from the people who built them in the first place.

However, Annie Mole carried a report about The Queen visiting Aldgate station yesterday to unveil a memorial plaque for the July 7th bombings. Her Majesty was also photographed standing next to a specially mocked up tube station sign that read “Buckingham Palace”.

I give it all of about 15 minutes before that photo is cited by tin-foil wearing brigade as PROOF that there is a secret tube station at Buckingham Palace.

If you want to read about the real “secret tunnel” under Whitehall – click here.

Update: In the time it took me to type this (inc coffee breaks), someone has already questioned the existence of a tube tunnel under Buckingham Palace on Annie Mole’s photo!

Another Update: Think about it — if you needed to escape from Buckingham Palace in a hurry, would you take a slow train to Heathrow, or take a helicopter to a designated military airfield? The tunnel claims simply make no sense.

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16 comments
  1. paul says:

    i was was told there was a tunnel between buckingham palace & windsor castle has any one else heard this?

    • ianvisits says:

      *Bangs head on desk in despair*

    • Daniele Mandelli says:

      Lol. It may be necessary to evacuate the palace but NOT London, in a non CBRN event. In which case what evidence is there for a small tunnel from Buckingham Palace under the front courtyard to Welligton Barracks, for example?
      Or, the Whitehall tunnels link to the palace via the Victoria street area, or straight down the mall from the Admiralty Citadel. I think either of these options highly likely.

      Scenario, you have a situation where royals need to get out of the palace safely, during say a mass terrorist attack on the building. Answer is a classified connection to safety nearby. Feasable. Unlike the secret tunnels to Heathrow stories where the distance is so long so many workers would have been needed, with spoil to dispose of too.

    • Peter versus Pan says:

      Nonsense — it’s to the White House!

      Haven’t you seen it in any blockbuster movie? Now, if that isn’t proof …

  2. Duffpaddy says:

    I heard it went to Balmoral.

  3. Antonio Rodríguez says:

    No conspiranoic/ocultist theory holds when you apply the Occam’s Razor. But, when have this stopped the people that spread them?

  4. paul says:

    When you get your facts correct then write until then keep your bull shit trap shut the people who built them are long dead for a start and yes there is a tube station under the Palace for such a Need of escape etc. Fancy challenging it bring it on as unlike you I know what I am on about backed by fact and not attention seeking drivel.

  5. Jimbob says:

    What about a deep rail to a bunker under Northwood Hills HQ? Just another “tin-foil hat” theory, but with all thoughts considered, in the event of a nuclear strike, a heli-evac would be riskier than an underground transport system to a buried safe-haven. After all, depending on strike locations, nowhere above ground could be considered safe in case of multiple strikes, yet an underground bunker… Just saying… food for thought…

    • Ian Visits says:

      Ignoring the slight problem that the tube network would be crushed by pressure waves in the ground from an even fairly modest sized Hydrogen bomb exploding over London.

  6. Neo says:

    Having lived in Windsor for 30 years, a family friend who worked at Heathrow as a senior policeman (now retired) told me of a tunnel between windsor castle/grounds to heathrow. No idea if any truth in it but heathrow is only 1 or 2 miles as the bird flys. Ive always wondered this. However agree it easier and quicker to fly in a helicopter!

  7. David Winter says:

    If there are tunnels, surely they would connect to bomb shelters …. not rail lines. Logically, since air warfare began, escape from attack by helicopter would be fraught with danger. Inconspicuous armoured vehicle with commercial livery might be the go.

  8. Jon says:

    The Victoria Line goes very close to the Palace. It isn’t unusual for strategic buildings in capital cities to have access to railway tunnels for emergency use (one from the old Communist Party headquarters in Warsaw has recently been repurposed as an emergency exit). If this is the case, any access to the Victoria line would have been made many decades ago and fortunately never used. Probably full of cobwebs.

  9. Marcus says:

    I think these dodgy rumours stemmed from the days before there were helicopters, when a tube train would be the most credible option. In some ways, it’s a pity the rumours aren’t true, but I did enjoy your article – thank you. The other rumour I had heard was that there were some secret tunnels under government buildings, again a long time ago, and particularly in the Whitehall area. Is there any truth in those rumours, or have they been discredited too?

  10. Michael says:

    Looking at a map of the area and the direction of it I suspect that the “long lake” in St James`s Park was dug out as a good (undercover) way of excavating a tunnel from Buck House to 10 Downing Street/The Churchill War Bunker/The Palace Of Westminster/New Scotland Yard/The Thames at Victoria Embankment…..It`s pretty much a straight line under the lake to all of those places.

    • ianvisits says:

      So you’re saying that a lake dug as a canal in the 1670s for King Charles II was actually dug in 1930s-60s?

      Uh huh.

  11. D Shaw says:

    Hi, I often wondered about the the tunnel between Buckingham palace and Windsor castle. I visited some sports fields just north of Heathrow ,the changing rooms has an air shaft , looking on a A to Z map you can see other sports fields going from Windsor in a north easterly Arc towards the direction off the A40 and the railway. Carefull inspection of these other sport fields show changing rooms centred in the middle off the grounds I counted 3 or 4 from memory, along an arc as described, from Windsor to the main line to padding -ton. Each changing room is in line with the previous changing room.

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