This Royal Palace Has an Underground Tunnel to a Nearby Martini Bar

Being the Queen of England comes with plenty of perks — and according to a new bit of royal gossip, that includes an underground tunnel leading from one of Elizabeth II's palaces to one of London's swankiest cocktail bars.

In a recent tweet, Richard Eden — the royals editor for British paper the Daily Mail — wrote about a conversation he had with Princess Eugenie's husband Jack Brooksbank, who also works as a brand ambassador for Casamigos. "The tequila salesman has claimed there's a tunnel beneath the streets of London which means the royals can discreetly slip to a cocktail bar from a palace. 'There is one to Dukes Bar from St. James's Palace,' he tells me," Eden writes. "'I haven't used it yet, but I'd love to check it out.' The bar is in the five-star Dukes Hotel and serves a £17 martini."

Now, some important qualifiers: Though once home to Kings and Queens, St. James's Palace hasn't been the official royal residence since Queen Victoria moved to Buckingham Palace in the 19th century. These days, St. James's Palace is instead used as offices and for ceremonial events — meaning the tunnel is more likely to be used by some royal bureaucrat than the Queen herself. Additionally, the palace was built in the 16th century, and what is now the Dukes London is only a block away, so it's not like the Queen specifically commissioned a long underground passageway to her favorite watering hole.

Still, the idea that you could be sipping a £17 martini in one of the fancier bars in London and have an entire royal crew enter into the building through a secret tunnel is a shareable story even if it's rarely used — because one of the biggest perks of being Queen isn't what you actually do, but what you could do if you really wanted to.

Meanwhile, the Queen's favorite drink is said to be a gin and Dubonnet. After hearing about this tunnel, I can only assume that the manager at Dukes Bar will have one ready to go from now on… you know… just in case.