St James's Palace westminster London palaces Pall Mall St James's Park sovereign royal UK Court Henry VIII
St. James's Palace is one of London's oldest palaces. It is situated in Pall Mall, just north of St. James's Park. Although no sovereign has resided there for almost two centuries, it has remained the official residence of the Sovereign and the most senior royal palace in the UK. For this reason it gives its name to the Royal Court (the "Court of St James's"). The palace was commissioned by Henry VIII, on the site of a former leper hospital dedicated to Saint James the Less, from which the Palace and its nearby Park retain their names; the hospital was disbanded in 1532. The new palace, secondary in the king's interest to Henry's Whitehall Palace, was constructed between 1531 and 1536 in the red-brick Tudor style around four courtyards: its gatehouse (illustration) survives on the north side, flanked by polygonal turrets with mock battlements, fitted with Georgian sash windows. Two of Henry VIII's children died there: Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset and Mary I (Mary's heart and bowels were buried in the palace's Chapel Royal). Elizabeth I was said to have spent the night there while waiting for the Spanish Armada to sail up the channel. Charles I slept rather less soundly—as it was his final bed before his execution. Oliver Cromwell then took it over, and turned it into barracks during the English Commonwealth period. It was then restored by Charles II (Charles I's son), who also laid out St. James's Park. It became the principal residence of the monarch in London in 1698, during the reign of William III and Mary II after Whitehall Palace was destroyed by fire, and became the administrative centre of the monarchy, a role it retains.
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