When William the Conqueror arrived in the former Roman city of London, he set about building the Tower of London the very first of the royal palaces of London. This was a fearsome looking castle, right on the banks of the River Thames - a carefully calculated show of power and influence.
Hard to imagine, given the Tower of London's later grizzly reputation of imprisonment and torture, it was orginally a royal palace.
Later, when the influence of Westminster grew as the seat of government, a new royal palace was built at Whitehall, also alongside the River Thames. This was because, at that time, travel along the smooth river was both safe and swift, compared with travel on land.
Whitehall was used as a royal palace until the time of King Henry VIII, who famously had six wives, two of which were domiciled in the Tower of London prior to execution.
Following Henry VIII's schism with The Pope in Rome, over his divorce plans, Henry instituted one of the biggest land grabs in English history when he seized the wealth and lands of the monasteries.
This gave him the wealth and appetite for more palaces, so he set about building a new palace, named after Saint James, just north of Whitehall. He also seized Hampton Court Palace, on the Thames out in the country west of London, from his former friend, Cardinal Wolsey, who refused to sanction his divorce plans.
St James's Palace remained the seat of the monarch right up to Victorian times. The present London residence of Queen Elizabeth II is Buckingham Palace, just a short distance from St James's Palace, which is now the London home of her son and heir, Charles, The Prince of Wales.
Another London palace of note is Kensington Palace, which was the home of Her Royal Highness, the late Princess Diana, following her separation and divorce from the Prince of Wales and up until the time of her untimely death in Paris.
It is the practice of the Queen to spend weekends at Windsor Castle, some fifteen miles to the west of London. This brings full circle the history of the royal palaces as Windsor Castle was also built by William the Conqueror when he built the Tower of London.
© copyright 2006 Jon Michael and London Vacation Secrets