The King's residence in Scotland, an abbey ruin behind it, and the room where Rizzio was stabbed fifty-six times.
Holyroodhouse stands at the bottom of the Royal Mile, a mile downhill from the castle, and the contrast is the point: a fortress at one end and a palace at the other, with the city strung between them.
It grew out of Holyrood Abbey, founded in 1128 by David I. The story is that the king was hunting on a holy day, was thrown by his horse before a stag, and grasped a cross — a holy rood — that appeared between its antlers. The abbey guesthouse became a royal lodging, and by the sixteenth century the lodging had become the palace and the abbey was secondary.
The abbey is now a roofless ruin in the grounds and is the most atmospheric thing on the site.
Mary Queen of Scots
The north-west tower holds her apartments, reached by a narrow turnpike stair, and they are the reason most people come.
In March 1566, Mary’s secretary David Rizzio was dragged from her supper room by a group of nobles including her husband Lord Darnley, and stabbed fifty-six times in the outer chamber. Mary was six months pregnant and a pistol was held to her. A brass plaque marks the spot, and for centuries a stain on the floorboards was shown to visitors as his blood.
Darnley was murdered himself eleven months later. Mary was deposed the year after that and eventually executed in England in 1587.
The rest
The State Apartments are seventeenth-century, rebuilt for Charles II, with plaster ceilings by John Houlbert and George Dunsterfield that are among the best in Britain. The Great Gallery holds 96 portraits of Scottish monarchs painted by Jacob de Wet in two years under a contract that required a certain number per month — many of them are invented, and several look suspiciously alike.
The Queen’s Gallery by the entrance shows rotating exhibitions from the Royal Collection and is ticketed separately or combined.
Practicalities
Timed tickets, booked online. An audio guide is included and is good. The palace closes for royal visits, usually around Holyrood Week at the end of June, and for state occasions — always check.
The gardens are open with the ticket. Immediately behind is Holyrood Park and Arthur’s Seat, and opposite is the Scottish Parliament, so the three make a natural afternoon.
More Landmarks
Edinburgh Castle
A fortress on a volcanic plug that has been besieged more often than anywhere else in Britain, holding the oldest crown jewels in the islands.
The Scottish Parliament
A building that came in ten times over budget, three years late, won the Stirling Prize, and is free to walk into.
St Giles' Cathedral
The High Kirk of Edinburgh, where Knox preached the Reformation and a woman allegedly threw a stool at a bishop.