Holyrood Palace

The Palace of Holyroodhouse ( or ), also known as Holyrood Palace, is the official residence of the monarch of the United Kingdom in Scotland. Located at the bottom of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, at the opposite end to Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood has served as the principal royal residence in Scotland since the 16th century, and is a setting for state occasions and official entertaining.

The palace adjoins Holyrood Abbey, and the gardens are set within Holyrood Park. The King's Gallery was converted from existing buildings at the western entrance to the palace and was opened in 2002 to exhibit works of art from the Royal Collection.

King Charles III spends one week in residence at Holyrood at the beginning of summer, where he carries out a range of official engagements and ceremonies. The 16th-century historic apartments of Mary, Queen of Scots, and the State Apartments, used for official and state entertaining, are open to the public throughout the year, except when members of the royal family are in residence. The palace also serves as the official residence of the Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland during the annual meeting of the General Assembly.

Text adapted from “Holyrood Palace” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Holyrood Palace ranks #79 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #5 of the 167 mapped in Scotland. Founded 1671, it is older than 25% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 580 atlas entries founded in the 17th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 40,203 times in the last 60 days, more than 99% of the atlas. 16 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Edinburgh, 1 km away. See how Scotland compares in the castle statistics.

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