St. James's Palace

By
Carly Baker

St. James Palace is located in the Liberty of Westminster on St. James Park. It was built in the 1530s during the reign of Henry VIII, in the Tudor Style, on the site of what once was a Leper hospital. (Burchard, 2011). Henry VIII commissioned this property to be built as somewhat as a secondary/vacation home as a means to escape court life for himself and his then wife Anne Boleyn. The initials “HA” for “Henry and Anne” are carved in several locations around the palace and its surrounding structures. (BBC, 2014)

This palace was not intended to be the prime residence for the monarchs, rather it was used a replacement for Whitehall which was largely destroyed in a fire in 1698. In his letters, De Saussure makes note of its seeming ill-suitedness for a grand monarch “The Palace does not give you the impression from outside of being the residence of a great king, but it is a large and roomy building.” (De Saussure, 1725) De Saussure’s sentiment is consistent with the general attitudes of the public on the residence, as author Wolf Burchard writes, “St. James was much criticized for being an inappropriate residence for the kings of Great Britain.” (Burchard, 2011)

Upon entering the first court of St. James’s, Saussure is greeted by a gargantuan Whale Carcass which fastened to the wall - This carcass is befitting to the preceding Scientific Revolution, which promoted the explorations of anatomy and the natural sciences (Encyclopædia Britannica, 2019). Further continuing one will reach the grand staircase above which is the Yeoman’s (Royal Guard’s) room. “This room is filled with guns, pistols, swords, and halberds beautifully arranged in perfect order” (De Saussure, 1725).

From the Yeoman’s room one will find that of the “Gentlemen Pensioner’s”, or the Presence Room. At this location, important visitors and guests wait for the King to open his apartments for reception. This room is furnished beautifully and its walls are decorated by tapestries. The Kings apartments are one room over. The King’s bedchamber is elaborately decorated with velvet and gold, the bed rests on an alcove and sectioned off from the room via “balustrades of gilded wood” (De Saussure, 1725).

Adjacent to his ante-chamber is the Drawing room in which the king “gives audiences and receives ambassadors” these rooms overlook the park gardens and are suitably decorated with velvet upholsteries, grand paintings and tapestries, and chandeliers and décor made from precious metals such as silver and gold (De Saussure, 1725)

Inside the palace enclosure are two chapels – the first being the Chapel Royal in which Saussure regards as “in no manner remarkable” (De Saussure, 1725). In this chapel, the king attends divine service every Sunday and Friday. The second Chapel is much larger and finer than the former, and was built by Queen Catherine, wife of Charles II for Roman Catholic services, though later this becomes the location of the French and Dutch Protestant services (De Saussure, 1725).

 

Courtyard of St James's Palace in 1875 
from Old and New London by E. Walford (1878)

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