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Historic Royal Palaces is an independent charity that manages some of the United Kingdom's unoccupied royal palaces. These are: *
Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is sep ...
*
Hampton Court Palace Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. The building of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the chie ...
*
Kensington Palace Kensington Palace is a royal residence set in Kensington Gardens, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England. It has been a residence of the British royal family since the 17th century, and is currently the official L ...
(State Apartments and Orangery) * The
Banqueting House, Whitehall The Banqueting House, Whitehall, is the grandest and best known survivor of the architectural genre of banqueting houses, constructed for elaborate entertaining. It is the only remaining component of the Palace of Whitehall, the residence of ...
*
Kew Palace Kew Palace is a British royal palace within the grounds of Kew Gardens on the banks of the River Thames. Originally a large complex, few elements of it survive. Dating to 1631 but built atop the undercroft of an earlier building, the main surv ...
with
Queen Charlotte's Cottage Queen Charlotte's Cottage is an 18th-century cottage orné within the grounds of Kew Gardens on the banks of the River Thames in London. It is named after Queen Charlotte, who was responsible for its construction. Dating from 1772, the cott ...
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Hillsborough Castle Hillsborough Castle is an official government residence in Northern Ireland. It is the official residence of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland,
Historic Royal Palaces was originally set up in 1989 as an
executive agency An executive agency is a part of a government department that is treated as managerially and budgetarily separate, to carry out some part of the executive functions of the United Kingdom government, Scottish Government, Welsh Government or N ...
of the
Department of the Environment An environmental ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for the environment and/or natural resources. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of the Environment, ...
. In 1998 it became an independent charity, which is contracted by the
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport The secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport, also referred to as the culture secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for strateg ...
to manage the palaces on behalf of ' The King in Right of Crown'. It receives no funding from the Government or
the Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has differ ...
, depending on the support of visitors, members, donors, volunteers and sponsors. 4.25 million people visited the palaces in the 2014–15 financial year. Occupied royal palaces, such as
Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a London royal residence and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality. It ...
and
Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history. The original c ...
, are maintained by the Royal Household Property Section, and some are open to the public. The organisation is jointly curated by
Lucy Worsley Dr Lucy Worsley (born 18 December 1973) is a British historian, author, curator, and television presenter. She is joint chief curator at Historic Royal Palaces but is best known as a presenter of BBC Television series on historical topics. Earl ...
and Tracy Borman. The current Chief Executive is John Barnes, who has been in place since 2017.


See also

*
List of British royal residences British royal residences are palaces, castles and houses occupied by members of the British royal family in the United Kingdom. Some, like Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle, are owned by the Crown (ownership by the British monarch ...
*''
Tales from the Palaces ''Tales from the Palaces'' is a British television documentary series following the conservation teams inside Britain's Historic Royal Palaces: Hampton Court, the Tower of London, Kensington Palace, the Banqueting House and Kew Palace. It was p ...
''


References

{{Authority control Conservation in England Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Public corporations of the United Kingdom with a Royal Charter Royal residences in England 1998 establishments in the United Kingdom Charities based in England Heritage organisations in the United Kingdom