Palace of Holyrood House - the official residence of the King (Queen) in Scotland, UK. The palace is located in the old part of Edinburgh and the Royal Mile connects it to the Edinburgh Castle.

Once this place was Holyrood Abbey (Abbey of the Holy Cross), founded by King David I. In Scotland the Abbey held the meeting of the nobility, the coronation and the royal wedding. By the end of the XV century in the abbey were some royal apartments, and in the beginning of the XVI century, King James IV palace building adjacent to the abbey. The royal residence moved from Edinburgh Castle to the Palace. After James VI became King of England and Scotland, he moved his residence in London. The Duke of Hamilton was appointed curator of the palace, and his descendants still carry out this honorable duty.

In the XVII century in the palace are the big construction and restoration work, but after the Union of 1707 the palace is not being used for its intended purpose and is in decline. The abbey is destroyed, but the first tourists come here at the end of the XVIII century. The then Duke of Hamilton admits wanting to look at the cost of apartments of Mary Stuart in the north-west tower.

Only in 1822, King George IV revives the tradition of visits to Holyrood House. Although monarchs for a long time - up to Queen Victoria - do not stop in the palace, the palace is restored, rebuilt, re-refined and decorated. By special decree of the royal apartments of Mary Stuart is stored in the form in which they were. At the beginning of the XX century for the visit of George V in the palace there is electricity and central heating. Since 1920, the Palace of Holyroodhouse - the official residence of the British monarch in Scotland. Elizabeth II arrives here every summer, the rest of the palace is open to the public.

Rooms of the palace are decorated with alabaster moldings, murals Dutch and Italian masters, tapestries. The Grand Gallery connecting the former apartments of the King and Queen, 110 portraits of Scottish kings, beginning with the legendary Fergus I, who ruled 330 BC