Palace of Holyroodhouse – the official residence of the king (Queen) of great Britain in Scotland. The Palace is situated in the old part of Edinburgh and the Royal Mile runs from Edinburgh castle.

Once this is the site of Holyrood Abbey (the Abbey of the Holy cross), founded by the Scottish king David I. To the Abbey of meetings were held by the nobility, and was a coronation and Royal wedding. At the end of the XV century in the Abbey were separate Royal apartments, and in the early sixteenth century, king James IV builds a Palace 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 to London. The Duke of Hamilton was appointed Keeper of the Palace, and his descendants still perform this honorable duty.

In the XVII century, the Palace hosts a large construction and restoration works, but after the Union of 1707, the Palace is not used for its intended purpose and is in decline. The Abbey is destroyed, but the first tourists appear here at the end of the eighteenth century. The then Duke of Hamilton admits wanting for a fee to look at apartments of Mary Queen of Scots in the North-West tower.

Only in 1822 king George IV revives the tradition of visits to Holyrood-house. And although the monarchs for a long time – up to Queen Victoria, stayed in this Palace, the Palace is being restored, rebuilt, re-finished and decorated. By special Royal decree apartments of Mary Queen of Scots remain in the form in which they were. In the early twentieth century to the visit of George V in the Palace produces electricity and Central heating. Since the 1920s, the Palace of Holyroodhouse – the official residence of the British monarch in Scotland. Elizabeth II has come here every summer, during the rest of the Palace is open for visits.

All the rooms are decorated alabaster stucco, frescoes by Dutch and Italian masters, tapestries. In a Large gallery that connects the former apartments of the king and Queen, hang the portraits of 110 Scottish kings from the legendary Fergus I, who ruled from 330 BC