The Handbook to Edinburgh - Softcover

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The Palace of Holyroodhouse: The splendid royal palace that conceals a gruesome and grisly past.

At the foot of the Royal Mile stands one of the most imposing royal residences in the world. For over nine centuries Holyrood has been the scene of pomp and glory and of bloodshed and turbulence. It is still the official Scottish home of Britain's Royal Family.

Glittering pageantry vies with a notorious murder and a splendid but grisly funeral in the crowded history of the Palace of Holyroodhouse, official Scottish residence of Britain's Royal Family. Down the centuries, the palace has seen dark events as well as grand designs, riot combined with revelry, fire and bloodshed along with the splendours of court life.

Bonnie Prince Charlie, Mary, Queen of Scots, Oliver Cromwell and the King he beheaded, Charles I a note of grimness and tragedy runs through many of the names so inextricably linked with the fortunes of the Palace. It came into existence as a guest house associated with the medieval abbey which was founded in 1128 by King David I after a hunting accident that he barely survived. According to legend, the King was knocked from his horse and wounded in the thigh by a stag which then tried to finish him off. But a cross miraculously appeared between its antlers, the King clutched it, and the animal slunk away, suitably crushed. In thankfulness for his deliverance, David bequeathed the land to Augustinian canons then living in Edinburgh Castle and he ordered them to build the Abbey of Holyrood, known as the 'Church of the Holy Cross'.

The guest house for royal visitors was built to the west of the now-ruined abbey. Scottish kings lodged there in its earliest use as a royal residence, and James II was born, crowned, married and buried within its walls. In 1501 James IV decided to transform the guest house into a palace fit for a king and spent large sums on new buildings. An imposing four-storey corner tower was built with a gabled roof and balustrade, it is the northwest tower of the present building and still the most eye-catching feature. After James IV's death at the battle of Flodden Field, his son carried on the work of creating royal apartments and had reception rooms and bedchambers built above the ground floor vaults.

lt was on the second floor that Mary, Queen of Scots had her rooms, and some of the original decoration survives in the painted ceilings and freize of her bedchamber. Mary, regarded by Catholics as the rightful Queen of England, was dining in her small supper room in the west turret on March 9, 1566, along with guests who included her Italian secretary and hated favourite, David Rizzio. Protestant plotters accompanied by Mary's second husband, Henry, Lord Darnley, burst in over the Queen's protests and dragged Rizzio to an antechamber where they stabbed him to death. His body was left with 56 dagger wounds. A brass tablet marks the spot.