Historic Royal Palaces is an independent charity created in 1998 to manage Britain's unoccupied royal palaces. These are:
- The Tower of London
- Hampton Court Palace
- Kensington Palace (State Apartments and Orangery only)
- Banqueting House, Whitehall
- Kew Palace with Queen Charlotte's Cottage
Historic Royal Palaces is contracted by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport to manage the palaces on The Queen's behalf. It receives no funding from the Government or the Crown, depending on the support of visitors, members, donors, volunteers and sponsors. It is a registered charity.
The occupied royal palaces are cared for and maintained by the Royal Household Property Section. They are all open to the public.
Famous quotes containing the words historic, royal and/or palaces:
“The first farmer was the first man, and all historic nobility rests on possession and use of land.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Not to these shores she came! this other Thrace,
Environ barbarous to the royal Attic;
How could her delicate dirge run democratic,
Delivered in a cloudless boundless public place
To an inordinate race?”
—John Crowe Ransom (1888–1974)
“We are born each morning, shelled upon
A sheet of light that paves
The palaces of sight, and brings again
The river shining through the field of graves.”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)