The Palace of Holyroodhouse, commonly referred to as Holyrood Palace, is the official residence of the monarch in Scotland. The palace stands at the bottom of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, at the opposite end to Edinburgh Castle. Holyrood Palace is the setting for state ceremonies and official entertaining.
Holyrood Abbey was founded by David I, King of Scots in 1128, and Holyrood Palace has served as the principal residence of the Kings and Queens of Scots since the 15th century. Queen Elizabeth II spends one week in residence at Holyrood Palace at the beginning of each summer, where she carries out a range of official engagements and ceremonies.
In the fifteenth century a guesthouse stood on the site of the present north range of the Palace, west of the Abbey and its cloister. Many of Scotland's medieval Kings stayed here before the palace's construction, and by the late 15th century Holyrood was a royal residence in all but name; not only was James II born at Holyrood in 1430, it was in Holyrood that he was crowned, married and laid to rest. Between 1498 and 1501, James IV constructed a new building, with Holyrood becoming a palace in the true sense of the word.
The palace was built around a quadrangle, situated west of the abbey cloister. It contained a chapel, gallery, royal apartments, and a great hall. The chapel occupied the present north range of the Great Quadrangle, with the Queen's apartments occupying part of the south range. A third range to the west contained the King's lodgings and the entrance to the palace. He also oversaw construction of a two storey gate house, fragments of which survive in the Abbey Courthouse. James V added to the palace between 1528 and 1536, beginning with the present north-west tower. In this tower are the famous suite of rooms once occupied by Mary, Queen of Scots.
The wooden ceilings of the main rooms are from Mary's time and the monograms MR (Maria Regina) and IR (Jacobus Rex) refer to Mary and her son, James VI. Shields commemorating Mary's marriage to Francis II of France are believed to have been carved in 1559 but put in their present position in 1617. The suite contains an audience chamber and the Queen's bedroom, leading from which are two turret rooms. It was in the northern turret room, on 9 March 1565, that the infamous murder of David Rizzio took place in Mary's presence. In later centuries, tourists were often convinced that they could see his blood stains on the floor.
After James VI became King of England in 1603 and moved to London, the palace was no longer the seat of a permanent royal court. James visited it again in 1617 as did Charles I in 1633, when he was crowned King of Scotland in Holyrood Abbey.
In 1650, either by accident or design, the palace was fired during the visit of Oliver Cromwell and his soldiers. Cromwell had the palace rebuilt, but his rebuilding was pulled down and Charles II had the palace re-constructed in its present form between 1671 and 1679 by Sir William Bruce. James VII and II lived at Holyrood between 1680 and 1682 while still Duke of Albany, in the aftermath of the Exclusion crisis.
After 1707, the Palace was used during the elections of Scottish representative peers. Bonnie Prince Charlie held court at Holyrood for five weeks during the 1745 Jacobite Rising, and following the French Revolution, George III allowed Louis XVI's youngest brother, the Comte d'Artois to live at Holyrood from 1796 to 1799. After their second exile, the French royals lived at Holyrood again from 1830 until 1832 when they moved to Austria.
In modern times, monarchs have spent at least one week every year formally holding court in the Palace in Edinburgh. The present Queen still uses it when she is in Scotland for State occasions (on non-State occasions, she stays at Balmoral). Its use has increased substantially since the setting up of the Scottish Parliament in 1999, with various members of the Royal Family, notably Prince Charles and Princess Anne often staying there. At the Palace the Queen meets and appoints the First Minister of Scotland. A meeting of the European Council was also held at the palace during the British presidency of the council in 1992.
The Queen's Gallery is located within the Palace complex, while the new Scottish Parliament Building is located across the road from the palace.
Architectural historian Dan Cruickshank selected the Palace as one of his eight choices for the 2002 BBC book The Story of Britain's Best Buildings.
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