Published in Scotland Magazine Issue 3 on 5/7/2002.

This article is 76 months old and some information provided may be time sensitive. Please check all details of events, tours, opening times and other information before travelling or making arrangements.

The palace of Holyroodhouse

Through the years, so many turbulent events have taken place within its walls... Charles Douglas visits Scotland's very own royal residence

There are many fine and romantic castles in Scotland, but there is nowhere quite like the Palace of Holyroodhouse. It may not be the grandest of Europe’s Royal residences, but what makes Holyrood so special is that very same atmosphere of gloominess which confronted the 19-year-old Mary Stuart when she returned home to Scotland from France; that same haunting, romantic melancholy which the young Queen Victoria noted in her diary.

And in many ways it is not so very surprising that the Palace of Holyroodhouse should fire the imagination, for so much has taken place within and outwith those stone walls over a span of time approaching 900 years.

First there was the abbey church founded by the devout King David I who utilised all of the great abbeys he built around Scotland as instruments of government.

The 13th century was a golden age for Scotland, but from 1322 onwards, the abbey church of Holyrood was constantly under attack from invading English armies. The Stewart kings favoured Holyroodhouse as a royal residence, its close proximity to Edinburgh’s Flodden Wall and the gates of the city being of strategic importance. King James II was born here in 1430, and extensions to the domestic accommodation were well underway by the time of his marriage in 1449.

Then when King James IV became betrothed to Princess Margaret Tudor, sister of King Henry VIII of England, he decided that a residence of suitable proportions should be created to rival any in England. Indeed, the surroun.....

To read the rest of this article you can buy this issue or subscribe to Scotland Magazine to have every issue delivered direct to your door.

By Charles Douglas

Section : Historic Houses

Page number : 14