LONDON. Aug 7: Step right up. ladles and gentlemen. to get your very own authentic Buckingham Palace wine glasses earrings of flower pot. Or perhaps you'd prefer a miniature replica of the royal residence to store your stationery In, reports AP

Tourtsto were confronted with such choices Saturday as the palace home of Queen Elizabeth II opened Its doors to the paying public for the first time

Led by a few groggy souls who had camped out since Tuesday and a New Zealander royalist to tuxedo and top hat. a procession of about 1,000 people moved forward as the ticket booths opened at 9:30 am (0830 GMT)

For eight weeks, the royal resilience will be open to those willing to pay the 8 pound 12 dollar entrance fee.

The monarch also Is offering what the palace calle "an exquisite range of commemorative gifts." priced from 2 pounds (3 dollars) for n postcard pack to 88 pounds (128 dollars) for a hand- painted enamel box.

Profits will be used to restore Windsor Castle, the queen s favourite weekend home, which was badly dama^ai tn ■ fire tn November

More than 7.000 tickets, each stamped with an entry time. w« be issued daily until October

1. Sundays excepted.

This Is a living place, not a dead museum like Versailles," said Norman Williams. 55. from Wrexham, north Wales.

Aaron and Marilyn Pincus from Los Angeles Joined the queue at 6 am (0500GMT). "We expect to be really knocked out by what we are going to see today." said Mr Pincus, a travel writer.

Paul Fa renal from Cologne. Germany, said Saturday that he'd read about the palace opening In German newspapers "and decided at 7 o’clock last night that I wanted to be here I just got on a bus and here I am."

Visitors will not sec the monarch. She embarked on her annual Scottish summer vacation Wednesday night aboard the royal yacht Britannia

The entry fee buys a walk around 18 rooms and halls with some of the world's richest fate Georgian and early Victorian decor, a breathtaking array of Old Masters, marble sculp lures, tapestries, ponr lain and antique furnl ture.

Some sectlona of the British tabloid press km busted the decor The Sun Newspaper de . clared In a banner headline Saturday "The

palace is gross, man," Its critic described the state rooms as "a mixture between a tandoori curry house and an over-the-top Hollywood film set from the 192Os."

In the eight weeks the queen Is away, more than 400.000 visitors are expected to. traipse through the world s grandest working palace, making It one of Britain s most popular tourist attractions.

Security la tight, searches delayed entry by about 30 minutes Friday

One Irish visitor and her 12 year-okt dau^iter were refused entry In the opening minutes Saturday after guards refused to let them carry thetr overnight camping gear Inside.

-We have been oul all night and we saw reports that there would be a place to put our lug a.' said a furious Marianne Champ out the gate "What was 1 supposed to do with a young gtrl of 12 - let her sleep uncov ered ail nlghtr

Each visitor was expected to spend Itoi 1/2 hours Inside, starting with the Imposing, gilt Clad Grand Staircase with Its ornate etched glass dome to the red and gold Bos? Room, deranted Anally Into the grounds w'nere the queen holds her famous garden parties.

Much of their time will be spent ad miring the

rich selection ol Rembrandts, Rubens and i Van Dycks In the 150- foot Picture Gallery , Another place to linger is the Green Drawing 1

Room vrtth Is sumptuous Regency furniture and Sevres porcelain, where statesmen from Gladstone to Churchill paced as they awaited audiences with the monarch

The Music Room, with five huge windows, he., seen royal christenings Queen Victoria z.nd her husband. Prince Albert, often sang dlUets ( to admiring courtiers there

In the scarlet Throne Ibom stand the thrones used by the queen and her husband, Prines Philip, at her coronation tn 1953.

The atmosphere ts more museum (han home Antique carpets have been repla.ced with new. । more durable ones A Gobellnz, tapestry panel Is among several works covr with prole, tlw plastic to keep off dirty fingers

The palate, official Ixmdon r eskienie ol British monarvhes since VlctO’.la was crowned In 1837. began as a man 4k>n built In 1703 for the (hike of Bur klngh jm

The 600 room palate now otx upylng the site la largely the work of London architect John Nash, commisalrjned by King George IV tn the 1 K2Os to turn ',t into 'a palate fit for a king."