Palace of Holyroodhouse - Edinburgh

The Palace of Holyroodhouse is located at the eastern end of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, Scotland.  The palace, sitting beneath the Salisbury Crags and Arthur’s Seat, an extinct volcano, has been a royal residence for over 500 years.  In 1128 David I founded an Augustinian abbey on the grounds of the future palace.  By 1250 a new building was completed to cater to the needs of the burgeoning community, and the new abbey became the residence of choice for the royal family.  James II was born at Holyrood in 1430 and would be married and buried there as well.  The palace as it stands today began construction in 1528 under the direction of James V.  It supplanted an earlier palace on the site built by James IV.  Holyrood’s most famous occupant was Mary Queen of Scots, who took up residence here in 1561.  It was here that she married her second husband, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, in 1565.  In 1566 it was Darnley who murdered Mary’s secretary, David Rizzio, in her private apartment.  The jealous Darnley found Rizzio in the pregnant Queen’s bedchamber, dragged him to an outer room, stabbed him 56 times, and left him to die.  Darnely died under mysterious circumstances in 1567, after which Mary married her third husband, James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, here at the palace.  In future years the palace would host James VI, Charles II, Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie), George VI and Queen Victoria.  In the 1850’s the palace opened to tourists, first with Mary’s rooms, then with Charles II’s apartments.  The palace is still the home to the Queen of Scotland and is occupied by her for one week each year.

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