St James's Palace

About St James's Palace

Royal palace in London, England

St James's Palace is the oldest and most senior royal palace in London, standing in the City of Westminster on Pall Mall north of St James's Park, and it gives its name to the Court of St James's, the monarch's royal court, to which all ambassadors and high commissioners to the United Kingdom are still accredited. Although no longer the principal residence of the monarch, it is the ceremonial meeting place of the Accession Council that proclaims a new sovereign, the office of the Marshal of the Diplomatic Corps and the London residence of several members of the royal family. It was built by order of Henry VIII in the 1530s (between 1531 and 1536) on the site of an isolated leper hospital dedicated to St James the Less, and for most Tudor and Stuart monarchs it was secondary in importance to the Palace of Whitehall, surrounded at first by a deer park and gardens and used as a hunting lodge, a retreat from the formal court and occasionally a royal guest house. After Whitehall Palace burned down in 1698 it took on administrative functions for the monarchy and grew in importance under the Hanoverian monarchs, before Buckingham Palace began to displace it in the early 19th century, a move formalised by Queen Victoria in 1837. Together with Hampton Court it is one of only two surviving palaces of Henry VIII's many residences. Its most famous feature is the red-brick Tudor gatehouse with octagonal towers and clock at the end of St James's Street, the most prominent surviving part of the original building; the palace now houses offices, official societies and collections, its Chapel Royal is still used for royal family occasions, and official receptions are regularly held here.

Where:

London, United Kingdom