Official St James Palace London Web Site
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 is considered the most senior royal palace in the UK and gives its name to the Royal Court (the "Court of St. James's").
On the southwest side of trafalager square admiralt arch frames a splendid view fo the mall, the sweeping boulveard that edges st james's park. The park is the oldest of the parks built by charles 2nd the king who had been excilled in france, wanted to re-create the formal gardens he had mush admired there, and ordered that this one be built on the site of a swamp. the bird sanctuary on the duck island is now howe to exoctic water fowl and pelicans. ST james palace north of the mall was built as a hunting lodge in 1532 by henry VIII and is now the london home and office of the prince of wales. The palace was the official residence of the court before buckingham palace was first used for that purpose in 1837.
The palace was commissioned by Henry VIII, on the site of a former leper hospital dedicated to Saint James the Less (from whom the Palace and its nearby Park take their names); the hospital was disbanded in 1532. The new palace, secondary in interest to Henry's Whitehall Palace, was constructed 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. It became the principal residence of the monarch in London in 1698, during the reign of William III and Mary II when Whitehall Palace was destroyed by fire, and became the administrative centre of the monarchy (a role it still retains). Two of Henry VIII's children died there: Henry Fitzroy 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 a 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.
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