Palace Doors Swing Open -- Queen's Estate Awes 4Th Estate

LONDON - Once they fended off the Germans, defeated the Spanish and beat the French, but yesterday the British royal family surrendered to the force that, perhaps, threatens it most. The queen invited the press into Buckingham Palace.

The very people who brought shame on the House of Windsor by publishing photographs of the Duchess of York having her toes sucked by her American "financial consultant" or by revealing that the Prince of Wales, the heir to the throne, fantasized about becoming a tampon, were ushered in to see the royals' principal residence for the first time. They were there to describe the home to a waiting nation - because only a select handful have ever been inside. The first members of the public to tour the palace, completed in 1705, won't be admitted until today, but they were already lining up yesterday.

For the fourth estate, entry into the lion's den was clearly a humbling experience. "It's class, real class," whispered Arthur Edwards, royal photographer for The Sun, Britain's best-selling and most notorious tabloid daily newspaper. "I'm all glitzed out," said a Liverpool Daily Post journalist.

They moved in hushed silence, the result of awe and the fact that their tape recorders and cameras had been confiscated on entry (the royals are vigilant in their protection of "crown copyright"). They cooed at the treasure that lay within.

French furniture, Chinese porcelain, Italian sculpture housed under ceilings of inlaid gold and lit by vast, pendulous chandeliers. One scribe was heard marveling at the plushness of the scarlet carpets, until he was set straight by Deputy Surveyor of the Queen's Works of Arts Hugh Roberts. These were temporary floor coverings, he said, laid down in place of the original, antique rugs. ("Surely the first time in history the queen has laid out a red carpet for her subjects?" quipped The London Evening Standard.)

The hordes will not stop until Oct. 1, when the palace will close again, reopening this time next year. With each guest paying 8 pounds (about $12) admission, the queen hopes to raise $3 million toward the restoration of that other royal home, Windsor Castle, damaged by fire last year. The palace is expecting 8,000 visitors a day. Whether the tourists will feel they are getting their money's worth is less certain.

"People want to see Diana's wedding dress and the queen's underwear drawer," said Louise Evans of the Australian Associated Press. "What you want is to see (Prince) Harry coming down the Great Staircase on a mountain bike," agreed the man from the Liverpool paper.

Both were disappointed. True, the works by van Dyck, Rembrandt and Rubens in the first-floor Picture Gallery were a treat, and the sculpture and furniture in the Silk Tapestry Room (which contains no tapestries and no silk) were impressive, but they were not what the scribes were looking for.

"It's just like a museum or a gallery really, nothing more," sighed Catherine Ostler of the society magazine Tatler. "Which is a shame because everyone thought it was a house. There's nothing personal here at all."