The palace is built on a cushioned base with gigantic Doric pillars that open windows and balconies. The towering balustrade with the series of Spanish kings, which Charles III lowered to give the structure a more classicist look, crowns the cornice.

The 1973 façade renovation, which replaced certain statues, revealed Sachetti's design. The Italian had fourteen vases and installed Juan Pascual de Mena and Domingo Martínez statues of Aztec tlatoani Moctezuma II and Inca Atahualpa in the corners.

The main façade is the southern façade, which has an attic above the balustrade with statues of Philip V and his first wife Maria Luisa Gabriela of Savoy at the ends and Ferdinand VI and Barbara de Braganza in the center. Three panels above the attic portrayed the Zodiac sun. The middle panel was removed to install the clock, leaving only the two side panels. The central panel with the sun at its height included an allegory of the Spanish monarchy with a castle in high relief and two Hercules columns and a lion. Isidro González Velázquez reused the columns and lion in the Real Canal de Manzanares head.

Charles III replaced the four emperors flanking the main doorway with Tuscan columns supporting a large balcony and moved them to the central courtyard.

Juan Domingo Olivieri and his studio sculpted over half of Ferdinand VI's palace statues. He created several heraldic symbols, masks, and allegorical figures in obscure locations.