St Paul’s Cathedral is often second choice when it comes to competing against Westminster Abbey. Visitors to London, inquisitive to know about the traditions of royalty, are not going to want to see celebrities of earlier times unless it is Churchill, Lady Diana’s wedding or Margaret Thatcher. For most Americans, the American Chapel is the draw – they are patriotic and that is the bait on the hook!

The Linnean Society is one of a number of learned societies that have made Burlington House their home. It was founded in 1788 by the amateur botanist Sir James Edward Smith who, spurred on by the President of the Royal Society, Sir Joseph Banks, purchased the natural history collection of the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus, who is known as the father of taxonomy – the classification and naming of biological organisms based on shared characteristics.

The Royal Family of the United Kingdom is financed in a number of different ways. Its main source of income is the Sovereign Grant (the Civil List until 2012), which currently costs £86.3 million a year. This comes in the form of a grant from the government that meets the costs of the royal residences, staffing, travel and state visits, public engagements, and official entertainment.