Holyrood Palace or the Palace of Holyroodhouse,
was completed in 1678 to serve as the Royals main
residence in Edinburgh / Scotland. The Palace that
can be seen today was built for Charles II Stuart,
King of Scotland, England and Ireland 1660 -
Remains of an earlier Gothic Palace from 1505 are
incorporated in the building, including the Mary
Queen of Scots Chambers, where a brutal murder took
place in 1566.
The Palace is situated 1 mile north of Edinburgh
Castle in the grounds of the now ruined 1100s
Holyrood Abbey. The Abbey was used by many early
Royals for weddings and burials.
You can visit the Palace Grounds, Abbey, Royal
Apartments, Mary Queen of Scots Chambers, Queens
Gallery, and Cafe.
The present Holyrood Palace was built to replace a
smaller palace on this site from 1505, and as a
replacement of the large Linlithgow
Palace 19 miles west of Edinburgh.
Linlithgow Palace had been built in the 1400s, and
had fell into disrepair by the 1640s.
There are also Royal Palaces and Great Halls in
the two vast fortresses of Edinburgh
Castle and Stirling Castle.
The Royals used the Palaces in the castles during
times of conflicts from the 1300s - 1700s. The
Palaces in the castles were not as large, having to
be built inside the castle walls.
History of Holyrood Palace
The first Kings to gain control of all Scotland
were descendants of Malcolm III (Canmore) 1031 –
Before this time, Scotland had many rulers in a
number of areas.
Malcolm III and his wife who became Saint
Margaret, used Dunfermline Abbey and its Palace as
their top Royal residence, now a partial ruin.
1100s - Edinburgh Castle and Stirling Castle are
built for David I to serve as secure Royal
residences, and large military forts so he could
attempt to take control of all Scotland, and extend
its borders south into lands disputed with
1128 - David I founds the Augustinian Holyrood
Abbey one mile north of Edinburgh Castle.
The straight road between the Castle and Abbey
become known as the Royal Mile.
1326 - Robert the Bruce held a parliament at the
Abbey. Bruce had become King of Scotland during the
First War of Scottish
Independence 1296 - 1328.
Robert the Bruce descendants were the Stuart kings
that ruled Scotland until 1707, and Scotland and
England from 1603 to 1707.
1370 - David II is buried at Holyrood Abbey. The
following years see a number of Royals married and
buried at the Abbey.
1400s, Royal apartments are built at Holyrood
1505 - a Gothic Palace is built next to the Abbey
for James IV.
1544 - during the War with England over Henry VIII
wanting the young Mary Queen of Scots
to mary his son to unite the two countries, Holyrood
was looted and burned.
1559 - the Reformation leading to the banning of
Christian Catholicism in favour of Christian
Protestantism, led to Reformers destroying the Abbey
Holyrood Abbey is left to fall into a ruin from
1561 - Mary Queen of Scots takes up residence in
the Royal apartments in the northwest tower of
Mary married her two Scots husbands at Holyrood,
Lord Darnley in 1565, and the 4th Earl of Bothwell in
1566 - Mary's private secretary, the Italian David
Rizzio, is murdered in front of Mary in her private
Rizzio was stabbed 56 times
by Lord Darnley and his friends as Darnley blamed him
for getting Mary pregnant.
1567 February - Lord Darnley is murdered in the
orchard of Kirk o' Field house,
close to Holyrood, where he had been living.
Queen Mary and her top nobleman, the 4th Earl of
Bothwell, were suspected of being behind the
Mary enraged many people after she was seen
playing golf at St Andrews only a few days after
1567 April - Mary was traveling from Linlithgow
Palace to Edinburgh when Bothwell and 800 men took
her to his castle at Dunbar.
1567 May - Mary married Bothwell in the Great Hall
at Holyrood. It is unclear if this was a consensual
or forced marriage.
1567 July - Mary is forced to abdicate in favour
of her one year old son James, who became King of
Scotland at that time, and King of Scotland and
England in 1603.
Scottish Nobles had rebelled against the marriage
of Mary to Bothwell, forcing Bothwell to flee the
country, and Mary to abdicate. Mary was imprisoned by
the Nobles in Loch Leven Castle by
Perth north of Edinburgh.
1568 - Mary escapes and moves to England.
1587 - Mary is executed by beheading at Fotheringhay Castle
by Peterborough in England.
Mary's cousin, Queen Elizabeth of England, had her
executed as some Nobles in England and Scotland, were
accused of plotting to have the Catholic Mary replace
the Protestant Queen Elizabeth.
1603 - Queen Elizabeth dies without leaving an
heir. Mary Queen of Scots son James VI of Scotland,
becomes King of England as well, uniting the two
The Stuart's then ruled England and Scotland till
1707, with the exception of 11 years during the
English Civil War.
1660 - Charles II is restored to the throne after
the English Civil War.
1678 - the new Holyrood Palace is completed for
Charles II to serve as the Royals main residence when
1707 - Queen Anne Stuart dies without leaving an
heir. Her German cousin George becomes George I, King
of Great Britain. This was the end of the Stuart
1745 - Bonnie Prince Charlie controled Holyrood
for five weeks during the Jacobite Risings, an
attempt to have the Stuart's returned to the throne.
The Jacobite's failed to capture Edinburgh Castle at
that time, as forces loyal to George II repelled the
1746 - the Battle of Culloden sees the defeat of
the Jacobite's, the last major battle on the British
1746 to today - Few Royals have stayed at Holyrood
Palace. The present Queen only spends about one week
each summer at the Palace.
The Royals prefer living at Balmoral Castle in
the northeast of Scotland, a remote peaceful location
with more privacy.
2011 - The Queen's granddaughter Zara Phillips
married England rugby player Mike Tindall at the
Canongate Kirk on the
Royal Mile. Holyrood Palace was used for the wedding
celebrations, said to be an exceptionally lively