Buckingham Palace (London)
Buckingham Palace is one of the most famous houses in London, at the end of The Mall which runs from Trafalgar Square.
It is one of the residences of Her Majesty the Queen, and the sight of the Royal Standard flying means that she is at present in residence.
The Tyburn and Westbourne streams once flowed through the area, and it was here in 1605 that James I planted a grove of mulberry trees, in an uncuccessful attempt to produce silk.
In 1633, George Goring, the Earl of Norwich, built a house here named Goring House.
This burned down and was replaced in 1703 by the present house originally known as Buckingham House and built for John Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham, by John Nash, who designed Regents Park and Regent Street.
In 1765, George III bought the house from the Duke of Buckingham, as a home for his wife, Queen Charlotte.
His son, the former Prince Regent who was by now George IV, commissioned in 1825 a grander rebuilding by Nash, and it is essentially the rebuild that is now seen today.
When Queen Victoria succeeded in 1837, Buckingham Palace, as it was now known, became the Royal residence, and she caused more additions to be made.
Marble Arch, now at the corner of Oxford Street and Park Lane, was intended to be original entrance, but was considered unsuitable and moved to its present position.
Two of London's delightful parks, St. James's Park and Green Park, are close by.