The Palace of Holyroodhouse is Her Majesty The Queen's official residence in Scotland commonly referred to as Holyrood Palace. It has served as the principal residence of the Kings and Queens of Scots since the 16th century and is now a setting for state occasions and official entertaining.The Castle is the opposite end of the Royal Mile located at the bottom of the Royal Mile.
Queen Elizabeth spends one week in residence at Holyrood Palace at the beginning of each summer when she carries out a range of official engagements and ceremonies.
The palace as it stands today was built between 1671–1678 in a quadrangle layout, approximately 230 feet from north to south and 230 feet from east to west, with the exception of the 16th-century north-west tower built by James V. Sir William Bruce designed the 3-storey plus attic classical palace for Charles II, upon the restoration of the monarchy.
The principal entrance is located on the west front in a recessed 2-storey range that links the 16th-century north-west tower with a matching south-west tower each with a pair of circular angle-turrets with ball-finialled, conical bell-cast roofs. The entry gateway is framed by massive coupled Roman Doric columns, with the carved Royal Arms of Scotland and an octagonal cupola with clock-face above.
Visiting in Autumn gave me a chance to see the trees in vibrant colour in the 10 acre gardens. The colourful leaves gave a beautiful backdrop to the ruins of the Abbey.
The naked ghost of one Bald Agnes (Agnes Sampson), stripped and tortured in 1592 after being accused of witchcraft is said to roam the palace. Luckily I did not see any ghost!
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