By Kate Holton

LONDON, Aug 25 (Reuters) Archaeologists from a television team will celebrate the 80th birthday of Britain's Queen Elizabeth by digging up the manicured lawns and gardens at three of her palaces to trace their history.

The team have been given permission to excavate parts of Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, Scotland, for a television programme to be shown in instalments over the long Bank holiday weekend.

The Time Team programme, which is presented by Tony Robinson -- formerly the intellectually challenged Baldrick of cult comedy Blackadder -- hopes to identify civil war defences that are thought to be within the gardens of Buckingham Palace, the Queen's official London residence.

At Windsor Castle they hope to unearth Edward III's Round Table building which they believe lies under the Queen's ceremonial lawn, while in Edinburgh they will look at the development of the palace and one of its most famous residents -- Mary Queen of Scots.

''This is an exciting opportunity to get beneath the historical skin of three iconic and important buildings,'' Robinson said in a statement.

''Buckingham Palace has the largest garden in central London and, as it's hardly been touched, it's a rare time capsule of the earlier history of London -- not only from the 18th Century when the original Buckingham House was built, but also way back to the English Civil War and even earlier.'' The dig will run from Friday to Monday.

Robinson told the Daily Telegraph newspaper last week that the Royal family were very excited about the dig and curious to know what would be found.

REUTERS KR HT1625