The Royal Mews in London opens the stable doors to Our Kent Family

Kings, queens and a bit of royal history. That's my tribe's thing.

Now when I say 'thing' I wouldn't go as far as to say they were Mastermind-ready experts, and they do spend an awful lot of time arguing about which of Henry VIII's wives met their demise first.

But give them a monarch and a bit of royal history and they'll listen intently.

With that in mind, together with a few school topics on London recently in the bag and the small matter of a Royal wedding in just over a month's time we trotted off to London and to The Royal Mews.

The Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace is responsible for all the road travel arrangements for The Queen and members of the Royal Family.

It is a working stables, built in the gardens of the palace in 1825, and is home to some of the Queen's horses and members of her staff, not to mention the vast collection of royal carriages and some cars.

It takes you through centuries of royal history, gives you a wonderful insight into what it takes to prepare for major State and ceremonial occasions (like a certain royal wedding for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in May) and for a few months every year between February and November it opens its stable doors to the public.

(Although just a word of warning on the above to double check with The Royal Mews online calendar before planning your visit as it will close to visitors during those months for special occasions like a royal wedding, Trooping the Colour or a State Visit when carriages, horses and staff are obviously busy elsewhere.)

It's a fascinating place.

The children were able to see a beautiful carriage horse or two in the stables and some being ridden undercover as we arrived, they were very close to all of the royal carriages - including the magnificent Gold State carriage which is utterly breathtaking set out in a room of its own.

You can see the tack room - from behind a glass window - where everything the horses require was being prepared, cleaned and polished.

And perhaps what was most fun for Phoebe, Amber, Oscar and Liv was the chance to climb aboard a replica Semi-State Landau (the carriage most popular with Queen Victoria) trying it for size and comfort, before donning a uniform and tacking up a small wooden pony to really test their royal household credentials.

Younger visitors can pick up trail sheets to help them spot things they may not otherwise have noticed as they wander around and there are normally during school holidays and breaks - special activities for youngsters including guided tours aimed especially at them and art and craft sessions for designing carriages or making your own crown, all of which we did.

The other wonderful thing about it being a busy and bustling working stables is that its staff - and the wardens on hand to guide visitors through on days when it's open to the public - will chat and tell you all that they do and know about working for the Royal Family which makes for a living history experience far superior to any regular museum trip.

It's worth noting that because The Royal Mews is a working stables you cannot eat or drink inside (we were there a couple of hours and the children managed just fine) and most of it, while undercover, is open to the elements so if the weather is inclement then you need to wrap up as if you were spending a morning or afternoon outside.

They do however, says Oscar, have very clean and nicely decorated toilets and baby-changing facilities for a stables (to be fair he is right) and there was many a chuckle from the four of them as they pondered whether the Queen would have used the same cubicles as them if she was popping by!

The children had a magical day - not least because when you're 9, 7, 6 or 4 it feels pretty special to think you've gone behind the scenes at Buckingham Palace.

And we're very much looking forward to watching the Royal wedding now - not least so we can all test our knowledge and probably argue a bit more about who knows what about a carriage, a horse or a royal occasion!

The Royal Mews, Buckingham Palace is on Buckingham Palace Road. The nearest tube stations are Victoria, Green Park, St James's Park and Hyde Park Corner.

Tickets begin at £11 for adults and £6.40 for children.

For further details visit The Royal Mews website.