St James's Palace: The Court of St James's
Why is it significant?
In front of you rises a red brick gatehouse with two octagonal towers, battlements, a big clock face and a soldier in a bearskin standing guard. It looks almost like a toy fort... but legally it is the most senior royal palace in the kingdom.
Key Facts
| Place | St James's Palace: The Court of St James's |
|---|---|
| Address | St James's Palace, Marlborough Road, London SW1A 1BS, United Kingdom |
| Geo Coordinates | 51.50470, -0.13810 |
| Part of Walk | Crowns, Pelicans and Bearskins: Royal London from The Mall to St James's |
| Generated | Generated |
In front of you rises a red brick gatehouse with two octagonal towers, battlements, a big clock face and a soldier in a bearskin standing guard. It looks almost like a toy fort... but legally it is the most senior royal palace in the kingdom.
Henry the Eighth built St James's Palace in the 1530s, at the same time as he was marrying Anne Boleyn. The site had been a hospital for women with leprosy, dedicated to Saint James the Less, which is where the whole district takes its name. Henry wanted a hunting lodge and a private retreat away from the crowds of Whitehall, and the park you crossed earlier was his deer park.
The palace has seen a great deal of royal life and death. Mary the First died here in 1558. Charles the First spent his last night here before he walked to the scaffold in 1649. And in 1840 Queen Victoria married Prince Albert in the Chapel Royal inside, wearing white satin and lace, and helped make the white wedding dress a fashion.
Here is the paradox. Since 1837 the monarchs have lived down the road at Buckingham Palace, yet officially the court has never moved. Foreign ambassadors to Britain are still accredited to the Court of St James's, not to Buckingham Palace. And when a monarch dies, the Accession Council meets in this palace. On the 10th of September 2022, Charles the Third was proclaimed King from the balcony over Friary Court, the courtyard just round the corner to your left, with trumpeters in gold coats.
Members of the royal family still have offices and apartments inside, and Clarence House, which you saw from the Mall, is joined to it at the back. Now turn left and walk east along Pall Mall, with the palace walls on your right, until you reach a broad red brick mansion behind its gates.