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After the civil war Parliament sold it to a metalsmith to be broken up; he hid it until the Restoration, and in 1675 it was set up here facing down Whitehall towards the Banqueting House where the king had been beheaded.\n\nA plaque beside it marks the centre of London, from which road distances to the city are measured. In 1892 a Jacobite society asked to lay wreaths on the anniversary of the execution and Gladstone's government refused; they came on 30 January 1893 regardless, police were sent, and after a confrontation they were allowed to finish. The newspapers found it funny.","note_links":null,"reading":null,"figure":{"src":"/img/charles-i-at-charing-cross.jpg?v=90197a35","thumb":"/img/charles-i-at-charing-cross-480.jpg?v=db81f3c1","width":682,"height":1024,"alt":"A photograph of Charles I at Charing Cross.","caption":"","credit":"Photo by Flickr: L'habitant / Tony, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons","credit_url":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Charles_I,_Trafalgar_Square.jpg","thumb_width":320,"alt_generic":true},"figures":null,"from":"monuments/charles-i-at-charing-cross","country":null,"country_name":null,"also":null,"years":null,"plaque":null,"rank":null,"also_in":[{"name":"Art","href":"/art/charles-i-at-charing-cross/"},{"name":"Power & Politics","href":"/politics/charles-i-at-charing-cross/"},{"name":"Monuments & Ruins","href":"/monuments/charles-i-at-charing-cross/"}],"maps_q":"Charles I at Charing Cross, Trafalgar Square, WC2N 5DS, London","in_area":{"slug":"westminster","name":"Westminster"},"bank":1,"near_all":[{"n":"Trafalgar Square & Nelson's Column","s":"nelsons-column","c":"art","cn":"Art","m":50},{"n":"Diwali on the Square","s":"diwali-on-the-square","c":"whats-on","cn":"What\u2019s On","m":80},{"n":"Trafalgar Theatre","s":"trafalgar-theatre","c":"venues","cn":"Performance venues","m":83}],"near_same":[{"s":"admiralty-arch","m":91},{"s":"household-cavalry-museum","m":259},{"s":"horse-guards","m":287},{"s":"trooping-the-colour","m":369},{"s":"george-vi-and-queen-elizabeth-memorial","m":486},{"s":"remembrance-sunday-at-the-cenotaph","m":528}]},{"slug":"charles-i-bust-st-margarets","name":"Charles I bust, St Margaret's","area":"Westminster","address":"St Margaret's Church, Parliament Square, SW1P 3JX","station":"Westminster","walk":3,"lat":51.499894,"lng":-0.126723,"hours":null,"hours_raw":null,"hours_source":null,"hours_url":null,"hours_short":null,"hours_checked":null,"hours_extra":null,"photo_search":["Charles I bust St Margaret's Westminster","St Margaret's Church east porch"],"runs":null,"website":null,"instagram":null,"attrs":[],"osm":"way/54486345","types":["church","free","statue"],"deep":null,"scope":null,"scope_icon":null,"route":null,"venue_group":null,"geo":null,"geo_zone":null,"verdict":"The martyr king in lead on a church wall, facing the man who signed his death warrant.","note":"The Church of England kept 30 January, the day Charles I was beheaded in 1649, as a day of fasting for two centuries, and a devotional society still marks it. That society, the Society of King Charles the Martyr, gave this lead bust to St Margaret's, the Commons' own parish church, and in 1956 it went up above the east porch facing the statue of Oliver Cromwell across the road. It is the only place in London where the two of them look at each other.","note_links":null,"reading":null,"figure":{"src":"/img/own-charles-i-bust-st-margarets.jpg?v=91a4c1bc","thumb":"/img/own-charles-i-bust-st-margarets-480.jpg?v=e75c649e","width":1024,"height":682,"thumb_width":480,"alt":"A weathered lead bust of Charles I, long-haired and bearded, in a carved Gothic stone niche on a church wall, with dark ironwork below it","caption":"Set high on the east wall, easy to walk under without seeing."},"figures":null,"from":"politics/charles-i-bust-st-margarets","country":null,"country_name":null,"also":null,"years":null,"plaque":null,"rank":null,"also_in":[{"name":"Power & Politics","href":"/politics/charles-i-bust-st-margarets/"}],"maps_q":"Charles I bust, St Margaret's, St Margaret's Church, Parliament Square, SW1P 3JX, London","in_area":{"slug":"westminster","name":"Westminster"},"bank":1,"near_all":[{"n":"Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey","s":"poets-corner-westminster-abbey","c":"literary","cn":"Literary London","m":71},{"n":"Parliament Square statues","s":"parliament-square-statues","c":"art","cn":"Art","m":81},{"n":"Millicent Fawcett statue","s":"millicent-fawcett-statue","c":"monuments","cn":"Monuments & Ruins","m":92}],"near_same":[{"s":"oliver-cromwell-statue","m":62},{"s":"westminster-abbey","m":71},{"s":"houses-of-parliament","m":159},{"s":"remembrance-sunday-at-the-cenotaph","m":312},{"s":"the-cenotaph","m":312},{"s":"trooping-the-colour","m":472}]},{"slug":"clarence-house","name":"Clarence House","area":"Pall Mall","address":"Stable Yard Road, Victoria, SW1A 1BB","station":"Green Park","walk":5,"lat":51.503983,"lng":-0.138436,"hours":null,"hours_raw":"Aug","hours_source":"web","hours_url":"https://www.rct.uk/visit/clarence-house","hours_short":"Open in August only, by guided tour","hours_checked":"2026-09-05","hours_extra":null,"runs":null,"website":"https://www.rct.uk/visit/clarence-house","instagram":null,"attrs":["stepfree"],"osm":"way/54478457","types":["charles","elizabeth","inside","palace"],"deep":null,"scope":null,"scope_icon":null,"route":null,"venue_group":null,"geo":null,"geo_zone":null,"verdict":"The Queen Mother's house for half a century and Charles's for twenty years, where Elizabeth and Philip lived as a young couple.","note":"Nash built it for the Duke of Clarence in 1827 and it has been the spare royal house ever since: Princess Elizabeth and Philip moved in in 1949 with the baby Charles, left for the palace when she became Queen, and her mother took it for the next fifty years, receiving the birthday crowds at the gate each August until she was a hundred and one. Charles and Camilla lived here from 2003 until his accession. It opens for one month a year, in August, when the ground-floor rooms are shown as the Queen Mother had them, with her paintings and the china.","note_links":null,"reading":null,"figure":{"src":"/img/clarence-house.jpg?v=5fa07d8b","thumb":"/img/clarence-house-480.jpg?v=7886d9f2","width":768,"height":1024,"alt":"Clarence House's cream stucco front, near Green Park","caption":"","credit":"Photo by ChiralJon, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons","credit_url":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Clarence_House_(52359180521).jpg","thumb_width":360},"figures":null,"from":"museums/clarence-house","country":null,"country_name":null,"also":null,"years":null,"plaque":null,"rank":null,"also_in":[{"name":"Museums","href":"/museums/clarence-house/"}],"maps_q":"Clarence House, Stable Yard Road, Victoria, SW1A 1BB, London","in_area":{"slug":"st-jamess","name":"St James's"},"bank":1,"near_all":[{"n":"Garibaldi's stay at Lancaster House","s":"giuseppe-garibaldi","c":"world","cn":"The World in London","m":50},{"n":"Berry Bros. & Rudd","s":"berry-bros-rudd","c":"shopping","cn":"Shopping","m":176},{"n":"Dukes Bar","s":"dukes-bar","c":"cocktails","cn":"Cocktails","m":177}],"near_same":[{"s":"lancaster-house","m":50},{"s":"st-jamess-palace-the-chapel-royal","m":70},{"s":"spencer-house","m":180},{"s":"victoria-memorial","m":280},{"s":"george-vi-and-queen-elizabeth-memorial","m":348},{"s":"st-jamess-park-and-green-park","m":357}]},{"slug":"college-of-arms","name":"College of Arms","area":"The City","address":"130 Queen Victoria Street, EC4V 4BT","station":"Mansion House","walk":3,"lat":51.512175,"lng":-0.098744,"hours":[[10.0,16.0],[10.0,16.0],[10.0,16.0],[10.0,16.0],[10.0,16.0],null,null],"hours_raw":"Mo-Fr 10:00-16:00","hours_source":"web","hours_url":"https://www.college-of-arms.gov.uk/contact-us","hours_short":null,"hours_checked":"2026-09-08","hours_extra":null,"runs":null,"website":"https://www.college-of-arms.gov.uk/","instagram":null,"attrs":[],"osm":"way/111354093","types":["free","inside"],"deep":null,"scope":null,"scope_icon":null,"route":null,"venue_group":null,"geo":null,"geo_zone":null,"verdict":"Where the Crown's heralds work, and where a coat of arms is still granted in the sovereign's name.","note":"The officers of arms - the kings of arms, the heralds and the pursuivants, with titles like Garter, Clarenceux and Rouge Dragon - are members of the Royal Household, and they work here. They grant arms by delegated royal authority, advise on the peerage and on precedence, and they are the people you see in tabards at a coronation or a state funeral, because organising those is their other job.\n\nRichard III gave the heralds their charter of incorporation in 1484 and Philip and Mary granted the one they work under in 1555. You can put your head round the door on a weekday and see the Earl Marshal's Court, free, but the evening tours - through the Officer in Waiting, up to twenty people - open the Waiting Room and the Record Room too, and that is where the manuscripts come out.","note_links":null,"reading":null,"figure":{"src":"/img/own-college-of-arms-2.jpg?v=e594270b","thumb":"/img/own-college-of-arms-2-480.jpg?v=27e797de","width":768,"height":1024,"thumb_width":360,"alt":"A raised wooden throne with a velvet cushion under a carved canopy, a gilt crown on either side, painted heraldic crests on the bench below, a cherub with a baton and the royal arms above, portraits on the panelled walls and a carved chandelier.","caption":"The entrance hall also doubles as a rarely used court room."},"figures":[{"src":"/img/own-college-of-arms-3.jpg?v=1fb3fe52","thumb":"/img/own-college-of-arms-3-480.jpg?v=760faea1","width":1024,"height":768,"thumb_width":480,"alt":"Dark carved panelling over a doorway: swags of flowers and leaves around a framed document under glass, a gilt eagle and a small shield on the shelf, a portrait in a gold frame to the left and an oval one to the right."},{"src":"/img/own-college-of-arms-4.jpg?v=fdd4a6d6","thumb":"/img/own-college-of-arms-4-480.jpg?v=bf41d954","width":768,"height":1024,"thumb_width":360,"alt":"A panelled library under a gallery with a red iron balustrade and arched windows: shelves of bound volumes behind open cupboard doors, ledgers stacked on the counter, and a desk in front with a notice reading Silence is Golden.","caption":"The library."}],"from":"museums/college-of-arms","country":null,"country_name":null,"also":null,"years":null,"plaque":null,"rank":null,"also_in":[{"name":"Museums","href":"/museums/college-of-arms/"},{"name":"Power & Politics","href":"/politics/college-of-arms/"}],"maps_q":"College of Arms, 130 Queen Victoria Street, EC4V 4BT, London","in_area":{"slug":"the-city","name":"The City"},"bank":1,"near_all":[{"n":"The Wren Coffee","s":"the-wren-coffee","c":"coffee","cn":"Coffee","m":122},{"n":"Tower of St Mary Somerset","s":"tower-of-st-mary-somerset","c":"monuments","cn":"Monuments & Ruins","m":156},{"n":"Temple Bar","s":"temple-bar","c":"monuments","cn":"Monuments & Ruins","m":237}],"near_same":[{"s":"st-pauls-cathedral","m":180},{"s":"tower-of-london","m":1617},{"s":"charles-i-at-charing-cross","m":2071},{"s":"trooping-the-colour","m":2102},{"s":"horse-guards","m":2124},{"s":"household-cavalry-museum","m":2127}]},{"slug":"diana-memorial-fountain","name":"Diana Memorial Fountain","area":"Knightsbridge","address":"Hyde Park, W2 2UH","station":"Knightsbridge","walk":10,"lat":51.504631,"lng":-0.17146,"hours":null,"hours_raw":null,"hours_source":"web","hours_url":"https://www.royalparks.org.uk/visit/parks/hyde-park/diana-memorial-fountain","hours_short":"Daily from 10:00; closes 16:00 in winter and 20:00 in high summer","hours_checked":"2026-09-23","hours_extra":"Closed for repairs to its water system since July 2026, according to the Royal Parks; the granite is still there to sit on.","runs":null,"website":"https://www.royalparks.org.uk/visit/parks/hyde-park/diana-memorial-fountain","instagram":null,"attrs":[],"osm":"relation/1972843","types":["diana","free","statue"],"deep":null,"scope":null,"scope_icon":null,"route":null,"venue_group":null,"geo":null,"geo_zone":null,"verdict":"A ring of Cornish granite with water running round it, opened by the Queen in 2004, and the one memorial in London children are meant to paddle in.","note":"Kathryn Gustafson won the competition with something that is not a statue at all: an oval stream of water in a granite channel, five hundred and forty-five pieces cut by machine and laid by hand, that runs down both sides of the slope by the Serpentine, tumbling in one direction and swirling in the other, to a still pool at the bottom. It was meant to be touched, and after early arguments it is - you sit on the edge with your feet in it. The Queen opened it in July 2004, with the Spencers beside her, in a rare joint appearance.","note_links":null,"reading":null,"figure":{"src":"/img/diana-memorial-fountain.jpg?v=49843241","thumb":"/img/diana-memorial-fountain-480.jpg?v=cee71dee","width":1024,"height":815,"alt":"Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain , en:Hyde Park , London , England","caption":"","credit":"Photo by C. G. P. Grey, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons","credit_url":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Diana,_Princess_of_Wales_Memorial_Fountain.JPG","thumb_width":480},"figures":null,"from":null,"country":null,"country_name":null,"also":null,"years":null,"plaque":null,"rank":null,"maps_q":"Diana Memorial Fountain, Hyde Park, W2 2UH, London","in_area":{"slug":"hyde-park-kensington-gardens","name":"Hyde Park & Kensington Gardens"},"bank":1,"near_all":[{"n":"Serpentine Lido","s":"serpentine-lido","c":"outdoors","cn":"Outdoors & Nature","m":214},{"n":"Serpentine","s":"serpentine","c":"museums","cn":"Museums","m":252},{"n":"Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum","s":"polish-institute-and-sikorski-museum","c":"museums","cn":"Museums","m":368}],"near_same":[{"s":"albert-memorial","m":497},{"s":"hyde-park","m":586},{"s":"kensington-gardens","m":635},{"s":"queen-victoria-statue-kensington-palace","m":1010},{"s":"diana-statue-the-sunken-garden","m":1052},{"s":"kensington-palace","m":1149}]},{"slug":"diana-memorial-playground","name":"Diana Memorial Playground","area":"Bayswater","address":"Kensington Gardens, W2 4RU","station":"Queensway","walk":2,"lat":51.509052,"lng":-0.188189,"hours":null,"hours_raw":null,"hours_source":"web","hours_url":"https://www.royalparks.org.uk/visit/parks/kensington-gardens/diana-memorial-playground","hours_short":"Daily from 10:00, closing between 16:00 in winter and 19:45 in high summer; adults only with a child","hours_checked":"2026-09-23","hours_extra":"Closes between 15:45 in midwinter and 19:45 in midsummer.","runs":null,"website":"https://www.royalparks.org.uk/visit/parks/kensington-gardens/diana-memorial-playground/","instagram":null,"attrs":[],"osm":"way/26791118","types":["diana","free","statue"],"deep":null,"scope":null,"scope_icon":null,"route":null,"venue_group":null,"geo":null,"geo_zone":null,"verdict":"A pirate ship on a beach in Kensington Gardens, opened on what would have been Diana's thirty-ninth birthday.","note":"Opened on 30 June 2000 near the palace where she lived, the playground was built on the site of an earlier one funded by J. M. Barrie and takes its story from Peter Pan: a wooden galleon moored in sand, tepees, a treehouse, sculptures to find and a mermaid's fountain, all designed so children with and without disabilities play together, which was the Princess's own condition. Only adults with a child under twelve get in, so it is one of the few public spaces in London that belongs entirely to children.","note_links":null,"reading":null,"figure":{"src":"/img/diana-memorial-playground.jpg?v=a6d952d4","thumb":"/img/diana-memorial-playground-480.jpg?v=7aec331a","width":1024,"height":768,"alt":"Wooden pirate ship. Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Playground, Kensington Gardens. 2011-06-06 in London","caption":"","credit":"Photo by Mark Ahsmann, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons","credit_url":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pirate_ship,_Diana,_Princess_of_Wales_Memorial_Playground,_Kensington_Gardens_7_June_2011.jpg","thumb_width":480},"figures":null,"from":null,"country":null,"country_name":null,"also":null,"years":null,"plaque":null,"rank":null,"maps_q":"Diana Memorial Playground, Kensington Gardens, W2 4RU, London","in_area":{"slug":"hyde-park-kensington-gardens","name":"Hyde Park & Kensington Gardens"},"bank":1,"near_all":[{"n":"Wagner's lodging, Orme Square","s":"richard-wagner","c":"world","cn":"The World in London","m":225},{"n":"New West End Synagogue","s":"new-west-end-synagogue","c":"sacred","cn":"Sacred London","m":267},{"n":"The Orangery, Kensington Palace","s":"the-orangery-kensington-palace","c":"architecture","cn":"Architecture","m":273}],"near_same":[{"s":"diana-statue-the-sunken-garden","m":384},{"s":"queen-victoria-statue-kensington-palace","m":434},{"s":"kensington-palace","m":440},{"s":"kensington-gardens","m":623},{"s":"albert-memorial","m":1038},{"s":"diana-memorial-fountain","m":1257}]},{"slug":"diana-statue-the-sunken-garden","name":"Diana statue, the Sunken Garden","area":"Bayswater","address":"Kensington Palace, W8 4PX","station":"Queensway","walk":7,"lat":51.50575,"lng":-0.186555,"hours":[[10.0,17.75],[10.0,17.75],[10.0,17.75],[10.0,17.75],[10.0,17.75],[10.0,17.75],[10.0,17.75]],"hours_raw":"Mo-Su 10:00-17:45","hours_source":"web","hours_url":"https://www.hrp.org.uk/kensington-palace/whats-on/the-sunken-garden/","hours_short":null,"hours_checked":"2026-09-05","hours_extra":"Seen from the Cradle Walk that rings the garden; free, without a palace ticket. Last entry 17:40.","runs":null,"website":"https://www.hrp.org.uk/kensington-palace/whats-on/the-sunken-garden/","instagram":null,"attrs":[],"osm":"node/8883963018","types":["diana","free","statue","william"],"deep":null,"scope":null,"scope_icon":null,"route":null,"venue_group":null,"geo":null,"geo_zone":null,"verdict":"The statue William and Harry commissioned of their mother, unveiled together on her sixtieth birthday in the garden she loved.","note":"Ian Rank-Broadley's bronze shows Diana as she was in the last years, short-haired in a belted shirt, with three children around her standing for the generations her work touched; the brothers unveiled it on 1 July 2021, one of the last things they did together. It stands in the Sunken Garden Edward VII laid out in 1908, which the palace gardeners had already replanted in white for the twentieth anniversary of her death, and it is seen from the arched Cradle Walk round the edge, where the crowds are mostly quiet.","note_links":null,"reading":null,"figure":{"src":"/img/diana-statue-the-sunken-garden.jpg?v=c39b4740","thumb":"/img/diana-statue-the-sunken-garden-480.jpg?v=b109ab94","width":719,"height":1024,"alt":"Statue of Diana, Princess of Wales","caption":"","credit":"Photo by Sahaib3005, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons","credit_url":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Statue_of_Diana,_Princess_of_Wales_3_(rotated).jpg","thumb_width":337},"figures":null,"from":null,"country":null,"country_name":null,"also":null,"years":null,"plaque":null,"rank":null,"maps_q":"Diana statue, the Sunken Garden, Kensington Palace, W8 4PX, London","in_area":{"slug":"hyde-park-kensington-gardens","name":"Hyde Park & Kensington Gardens"},"bank":1,"near_all":[{"n":"The Orangery, Kensington Palace","s":"the-orangery-kensington-palace","c":"architecture","cn":"Architecture","m":127},{"n":"Ta'mini Lebanese Bakery Kensington Church Street","s":"tamini-lebanese-bakery-kensington-church-street","c":"bakeries","cn":"Bakeries","m":466},{"n":"Kensington Church Street","s":"kensington-church-street","c":"shopping","cn":"Shopping","m":510}],"near_same":[{"s":"queen-victoria-statue-kensington-palace","m":55},{"s":"kensington-palace","m":127},{"s":"diana-memorial-playground","m":384},{"s":"kensington-gardens","m":464},{"s":"albert-memorial","m":719},{"s":"diana-memorial-fountain","m":1052}]},{"slug":"diana-princess-of-wales-memorial-walk","name":"Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Walk","area":"Knightsbridge","address":"St James's Park, Green Park, Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens","station":"Hyde Park Corner","walk":6,"lat":51.505897,"lng":-0.158256,"hours":null,"hours_raw":null,"hours_source":null,"hours_url":null,"hours_short":null,"hours_checked":null,"hours_extra":"The Royal Parks publish the route as a PDF map on their own page; the plaques are set into the paths and the walk can be joined anywhere along it.","runs":null,"website":"https://www.royalparks.org.uk/diana-princess-wales-memorial-walk","instagram":null,"attrs":[],"osm":"relation/1119532","types":["diana","free","park","statue"],"deep":null,"scope":"7 miles","scope_icon":null,"route":null,"venue_group":null,"geo":{"type":"MultiLineString","coordinates":[[[-0.17593,51.50342],[-0.175,51.50359],[-0.17471,51.50372]],[[-0.1765,51.50289],[-0.17653,51.503],[-0.17593,51.50342]],[[-0.1765,51.50289],[-0.17778,51.50284]],[[-0.17778,51.50284],[-0.17847,51.50278],[-0.17844,51.50261]],[[-0.17844,51.50261],[-0.18089,51.50237],[-0.18207,51.50218],[-0.18278,51.50192],[-0.1829,51.50182]],[[-0.1829,51.50182],[-0.18411,51.50204]],[[-0.18411,51.50204],[-0.18424,51.50202]],[[-0.18538,51.50457],[-0.18424,51.50202]],[[-0.18698,51.50819],[-0.18538,51.50457]],[[-0.18698,51.50819],[-0.18626,51.50807],[-0.18455,51.50764]],[[-0.18351,51.50767],[-0.18455,51.50764]],[[-0.18115,51.5065],[-0.182,51.50719],[-0.18296,51.50758],[-0.18351,51.50767]],[[-0.18115,51.5065],[-0.17875,51.50694],[-0.17848,51.50683]],[[-0.17848,51.50683],[-0.17839,51.50691],[-0.17827,51.50687]],[[-0.17827,51.50687],[-0.17813,51.50702]],[[-0.17813,51.50702],[-0.17586,51.50748],[-0.17567,51.50759]],[[-0.17562,51.50792],[-0.17567,51.50759]],[[-0.17609,51.51108],[-0.17593,51.51044],[-0.17618,51.50947],[-0.17612,51.50915],[-0.17583,51.50866],[-0.17562,51.50792]],[[-0.17518,51.51128],[-0.17609,51.51108]],[[-0.17518,51.51128],[-0.17494,51.51006],[-0.17464,51.50915],[-0.17454,51.50901],[-0.17384,51.50863],[-0.17316,51.50808],[-0.17288,51.5073]],[[-0.17288,51.5073],[-0.1722,51.50693]],[[-0.1722,51.50693],[-0.17213,51.50686]],[[-0.17213,51.50686],[-0.17212,51.50684]],[[-0.17212,51.50684],[-0.17192,51.50688],[-0.17161,51.50683]],[[-0.17161,51.50683],[-0.17123,51.50673],[-0.17107,51.50676],[-0.17056,51.5072],[-0.17044,51.5074],[-0.17045,51.5076]],[[-0.17026,51.50759],[-0.17004,51.50761]],[[-0.17045,51.5076],[-0.17026,51.50759]],[[-0.17004,51.50761],[-0.17011,51.50807]],[[-0.17011,51.50807],[-0.16951,51.50814]],[[-0.16951,51.50814],[-0.16931,51.50808],[-0.16847,51.50822],[-0.16785,51.50817],[-0.16728,51.50832]],[[-0.16676,51.50815],[-0.16728,51.50832]],[[-0.16525,51.50841],[-0.16676,51.50815]],[[-0.16525,51.50841],[-0.16523,51.50852]],[[-0.16138,51.50906],[-0.16331,51.50885],[-0.16501,51.50851],[-0.16523,51.50852]],[[-0.16138,51.50906],[-0.16117,51.50912]],[[-0.16117,51.50912],[-0.1606,51.50776]],[[-0.1606,51.50776],[-0.15668,51.50844]],[[-0.15668,51.50844],[-0.15632,51.50803]],[[-0.15632,51.50803],[-0.15592,51.50754]],[[-0.15592,51.50754],[-0.1557,51.50728]],[[-0.1557,51.50728],[-0.15559,51.50715]],[[-0.15559,51.50715],[-0.15547,51.50701]],[[-0.15547,51.50701],[-0.15499,51.50646]],[[-0.15499,51.50646],[-0.15482,51.50626]],[[-0.15482,51.50626],[-0.15412,51.50545]],[[-0.15412,51.50545],[-0.15401,51.50532]],[[-0.15401,51.50532],[-0.15368,51.50494]],[[-0.15368,51.50494],[-0.15354,51.50478]],[[-0.15354,51.50478],[-0.15342,51.50462]],[[-0.15342,51.50462],[-0.15335,51.50455]],[[-0.15335,51.50455],[-0.15315,51.5043],[-0.15311,51.50403]],[[-0.15311,51.50403],[-0.15279,51.50383],[-0.15303,51.50353]],[[-0.15303,51.50353],[-0.15292,51.50352]],[[-0.15292,51.50352],[-0.15288,51.5035]],[[-0.15288,51.5035],[-0.1528,51.50346]],[[-0.1528,51.50346],[-0.15264,51.50327]],[[-0.15264,51.50327],[-0.15262,51.50319]],[[-0.15262,51.50319],[-0.1526,51.50316]],[[-0.1526,51.50316],[-0.15253,51.50309]],[[-0.15253,51.50309],[-0.15252,51.50306]],[[-0.15248,51.503],[-0.15252,51.50306]],[[-0.15248,51.503],[-0.15245,51.50295]],[[-0.15245,51.50295],[-0.15235,51.50292]],[[-0.1521,51.50289],[-0.15235,51.50292]],[[-0.1521,51.50289],[-0.15193,51.50286],[-0.15174,51.50259],[-0.15094,51.50254]],[[-0.15094,51.50254],[-0.15069,51.50254]],[[-0.15069,51.50254],[-0.15026,51.50256],[-0.15001,51.50265]],[[-0.15001,51.50265],[-0.1497,51.50264]],[[-0.1497,51.50264],[-0.14949,51.50261]],[[-0.14949,51.50261],[-0.14923,51.50259]],[[-0.14923,51.50259],[-0.14888,51.50266]],[[-0.14465,51.50535],[-0.14556,51.50439],[-0.14633,51.50391],[-0.14888,51.50266]],[[-0.14474,51.50546],[-0.14465,51.50535]],[[-0.14474,51.50546],[-0.1443,51.50568]],[[-0.1443,51.50568],[-0.14117,51.50266]],[[-0.14117,51.50266],[-0.14076,51.50273],[-0.1403,51.50272],[-0.13958,51.50249]],[[-0.13948,51.50242],[-0.13958,51.50249]],[[-0.13948,51.50242],[-0.13634,51.50371]],[[-0.13634,51.50371],[-0.13633,51.50371]],[[-0.13633,51.50371],[-0.13617,51.50356]],[[-0.13617,51.50356],[-0.1361,51.5035]],[[-0.1361,51.5035],[-0.1359,51.50359]],[[-0.13578,51.50348],[-0.1359,51.50359]],[[-0.13578,51.50348],[-0.13531,51.50251]],[[-0.13531,51.50251],[-0.1351,51.50212]],[[-0.1351,51.50212],[-0.13508,51.50208]],[[-0.13002,51.50233],[-0.13127,51.50214],[-0.13181,51.50226],[-0.13372,51.50221],[-0.13508,51.50208]],[[-0.12954,51.50367],[-0.13002,51.50233]],[[-0.13086,51.5042],[-0.1299,51.50392],[-0.12954,51.50367]],[[-0.13086,51.5042],[-0.13128,51.50408],[-0.13194,51.5035],[-0.13256,51.50325],[-0.13303,51.50316],[-0.1343,51.50312],[-0.13472,51.50285],[-0.13536,51.5026],[-0.13702,51.50224],[-0.13902,51.5017],[-0.13932,51.50138],[-0.13933,51.50116],[-0.13893,51.50082],[-0.13859,51.50071]],[[-0.13859,51.50071],[-0.13878,51.50053]],[[-0.13895,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miles of plaques through four royal parks: less a pilgrimage than the best excuse in London to spend a whole day outdoors.","note":"Ninety plaques by Alec Peever, each with a rose at its centre, are set into the paths of St James's Park, Green Park, Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, and following them makes a loop of about seven miles that never leaves grass and trees for more than a street crossing. The route passes the palaces and houses of Diana's London - Kensington Palace, Buckingham Palace, Clarence House, St James's Palace and Spencer House - and her fountain and playground along the way, but the point of it is the walk itself: the lake in St James's Park, the Serpentine, the Long Water, the Round Pond, with a bench and a cafe never far off. Opened on 30 June 2000, and there is no need to do it in one go; it can be picked up at any plaque and left at any gate.","note_links":null,"reading":null,"figure":{"src":"/img/diana-princess-of-wales-memorial-walk.jpg?v=49be8f67","thumb":"/img/diana-princess-of-wales-memorial-walk-480.jpg?v=5477703f","width":1024,"height":768,"alt":"One of the bronze roses set into the pavement to mark the Diana Memorial Walk","caption":"","credit":"Photo by Andres Rueda, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons","credit_url":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Diana,_Princess_of_Wales_Memorial_Walk_%E2%80%93_St_James%27s_Park_Lake.jpg","thumb_width":480},"figures":null,"from":null,"country":null,"country_name":null,"also":null,"years":null,"plaque":null,"rank":null,"maps_q":"Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Walk, London","bank":1},{"slug":"george-vi-and-queen-elizabeth-memorial","name":"George VI and Queen Elizabeth memorial","area":"St James's","address":"Carlton Gardens, The Mall, SW1Y 5AD","station":"Piccadilly Circus","walk":6,"lat":51.505217,"lng":-0.133807,"hours":null,"hours_raw":null,"hours_source":null,"hours_url":null,"hours_short":null,"hours_checked":null,"hours_extra":null,"runs":null,"website":"https://www.royalparks.org.uk/visit/parks/st-jamess-park","instagram":null,"attrs":[],"osm":"node/454536529","types":["elizabeth","free","statue"],"deep":null,"scope":null,"scope_icon":null,"route":null,"venue_group":null,"geo":null,"geo_zone":null,"verdict":"The Queen's parents together above the Mall: the King of 1955 and the Queen Mother added beside him in 2009, with reliefs of the war years.","note":"William McMillan's statue of George VI in the robes of the Garter went up on the steps between Carlton House Terrace and the Mall in 1955, three years after his death; the Queen unveiled Philip Jackson's bronze of her mother beside it in 2009, with two bronze reliefs below showing the couple among the bombed-out East Enders of 1940 and the King with the racing crowd. The Crown's first episodes are this couple's last years, and the two of them look down the processional route their daughter travelled for seventy years.","note_links":null,"reading":null,"figure":{"src":"/img/george-vi-and-queen-elizabeth-memorial.jpg?v=53529ebc","thumb":"/img/george-vi-and-queen-elizabeth-memorial-480.jpg?v=2063b0b1","width":1024,"height":683,"alt":"The statues of George VI and Queen Elizabeth on the steps above the Mall","caption":"","credit":"Photo by Prioryman, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons","credit_url":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:George_VI_and_Queen_Elizabeth_Monument,_Pall_Mall,_London.jpg","thumb_width":480},"figures":null,"from":null,"country":null,"country_name":null,"also":null,"years":null,"plaque":null,"rank":null,"maps_q":"George VI and Queen Elizabeth memorial, Carlton Gardens, The Mall, SW1Y 5AD, London","in_area":{"slug":"st-jamess","name":"St James's"},"bank":1,"near_all":[{"n":"De Gaulle's headquarters, Carlton Gardens","s":"charles-de-gaulle","c":"world","cn":"The World in London","m":45},{"n":"Cugoano at Schomberg House","s":"ottobah-cugoano","c":"world","cn":"The World in London","m":142},{"n":"Marlborough House","s":"marlborough-house","c":"politics","cn":"Power & Politics","m":156}],"near_same":[{"s":"st-jamess-park-and-green-park","m":278},{"s":"st-jamess-palace-the-chapel-royal","m":297},{"s":"clarence-house","m":348},{"s":"lancaster-house","m":398},{"s":"admiralty-arch","m":399},{"s":"spencer-house","m":446}]},{"slug":"greenwich-park","name":"Greenwich Park","area":"Greenwich","address":"Greenwich Park, Blackheath Gate, Charlton Way, SE10 8QY","station":"Maze Hill","walk":2,"lat":51.477201,"lng":0.000906,"hours":[[6.0,20.0],[6.0,20.0],[6.0,20.0],[6.0,20.0],[6.0,20.0],[6.0,20.0],[6.0,20.0]],"hours_raw":"Mo-Su 06:00-20:00","hours_source":"web","hours_url":"https://www.royalparks.org.uk/visit/parks/greenwich-park","hours_short":null,"hours_checked":"2026-09-03","hours_extra":null,"runs":null,"website":"https://www.royalparks.org.uk/visit/parks/greenwich-park","instagram":null,"attrs":[],"osm":"way/4483968","types":["free","park"],"deep":null,"scope":null,"scope_icon":null,"route":null,"venue_group":null,"geo":null,"geo_zone":null,"verdict":"The oldest enclosed royal park, on the hill above the palace where Henry VIII and Elizabeth I were born.","note":"Greenwich Palace, the Tudors' favourite, stood where the Old Royal Naval College is now, and the park behind it was theirs; Charles II's Royal Observatory on the hill gave the world its meridian and the view from the statue of Wolfe takes in the Queen's House, the Naval College and the Thames. The Crown used the college's baroque courts below for palace scenes.","note_links":null,"reading":null,"figure":{"src":"/img/own-greenwich-park.jpg?v=029fc7d9","thumb":"/img/own-greenwich-park-480.jpg?v=89f76025","width":1024,"height":768,"thumb_width":480,"alt":"The view from Greenwich Hill down over the Queen's House to the towers of Canary Wharf","caption":"Down the hill, over the Queen's House to Canary Wharf."},"figures":[{"src":"/img/own-greenwich-park-2.jpg?v=bbce2bf0","thumb":"/img/own-greenwich-park-2-480.jpg?v=b4ba0769","width":768,"height":1024,"thumb_width":360,"alt":"Two people at the railing on Greenwich Hill, looking across the park to Canary Wharf's towers","caption":"The view from the hill, Canary Wharf behind."}],"from":"outdoors/greenwich-park","country":null,"country_name":null,"also":null,"years":null,"plaque":null,"rank":null,"also_in":[{"name":"Outdoors & Nature","href":"/outdoors/greenwich-park/"},{"name":"Views","href":"/views/greenwich-park/"}],"maps_q":"Greenwich Park, Blackheath Gate, Charlton Way, SE10 8QY, London","in_area":{"slug":"greenwich","name":"Greenwich"},"bank":0,"near_all":[{"n":"Prime Meridian","s":"prime-meridian","c":"whats-on","cn":"What\u2019s On","m":122},{"n":"Royal Observatory, Greenwich","s":"royal-observatory-greenwich","c":"museums","cn":"Museums","m":145},{"n":"Greenwich Park Anglo-Saxon Barrows","s":"greenwich-park-anglo-saxon-barrows","c":"sacred","cn":"Sacred London","m":251}],"near_same":[{"s":"old-royal-naval-college","m":812},{"s":"tower-of-london","m":6410},{"s":"college-of-arms","m":7919},{"s":"st-pauls-cathedral","m":7990},{"s":"houses-of-parliament","m":9144},{"s":"oliver-cromwell-statue","m":9193}]},{"slug":"guards-museum","name":"Guards Museum","area":"Victoria","address":"Petty France, Victoria, SW1H 9HF","station":"St James's Park","walk":2,"lat":51.500048,"lng":-0.136125,"hours":[[10.0,16.0],[10.0,16.0],[10.0,16.0],[10.0,16.0],[10.0,16.0],[10.0,16.0],[10.0,16.0]],"hours_raw":"Mo-Su 10:00-16:00","hours_source":"web","hours_url":null,"hours_short":null,"hours_checked":null,"hours_extra":null,"runs":null,"website":"https://theguardsmuseum.com/","instagram":"guardsmuseum","attrs":[],"osm":"node/4749096025","types":["ceremony","collection","inside"],"deep":null,"scope":null,"scope_icon":null,"route":null,"venue_group":null,"geo":null,"geo_zone":null,"verdict":"The story of the five regiments of Foot Guards, in the barracks the palace guard marches out of.","note":"Wellington Barracks on Birdcage Walk is where the King's Guard forms up before it crosses to the palace, and the museum inside tells the regiments' history from Waterloo to Afghanistan with uniforms, bearskins you can weigh, medals and the colours themselves. Small, cheap and staffed by former Guardsmen, who are the point; the Guards' Chapel next door was hit by a flying bomb during the Sunday service in 1944.","note_links":null,"reading":null,"figure":{"src":"/img/guards-museum.jpg?v=1724ffa1","thumb":"/img/guards-museum-480.jpg?v=7a070871","width":640,"height":480,"alt":"Armoured car at entrance to the Guards Museum, Birdcage Walk, Westminster, London. 14 January 2006. Photographer: Fin Fahey","caption":"","credit":"Photo by Tarquin Binary, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons","credit_url":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Guards_museum_armoured_car_1.jpg","thumb_width":480},"figures":null,"from":"museums/guards-museum","country":null,"country_name":null,"also":null,"years":null,"plaque":null,"rank":null,"also_in":[{"name":"Museums","href":"/museums/guards-museum/"}],"maps_q":"Guards Museum, Petty France, Victoria, SW1H 9HF, London","in_area":{"slug":"westminster","name":"Westminster"},"bank":1,"near_all":[{"n":"Old Westminster","s":"old-westminster","c":"tours","cn":"Guided Tours","m":135},{"n":"Royal London and the Guard Change","s":"royal-london-and-the-guard-change","c":"tours","cn":"Guided Tours","m":135},{"n":"This is London: the Highlights Tour","s":"this-is-london-the-highlights-tour","c":"tours","cn":"Guided Tours","m":135}],"near_same":[{"s":"st-jamess-park-and-green-park","m":341},{"s":"victoria-memorial","m":367},{"s":"kings-gallery","m":445},{"s":"buckingham-palace","m":460},{"s":"clarence-house","m":465},{"s":"lancaster-house","m":467}]},{"slug":"hampton-court-palace","name":"Hampton Court Palace","area":"Hampton","address":"Clock Court, Hampton Wick, KT8 9AU","station":"Hampton Court","walk":7,"lat":51.403663,"lng":-0.337735,"hours":[[10.0,17.5],[10.0,17.5],[10.0,17.5],[10.0,17.5],[10.0,17.5],[10.0,17.5],[10.0,17.5]],"hours_raw":"Mo-Su 10:00-17:30","hours_source":"web","hours_url":"https://www.hrp.org.uk/hampton-court-palace/visit/opening-times/","hours_short":null,"hours_checked":"2026-09-05","hours_extra":"Last admission an hour before closing; shorter hours in winter. About 30 to 40 minutes by train from Waterloo to Hampton Court station, across the bridge from the gate. The gardens have free open days through the year.","runs":null,"website":"https://www.hrp.org.uk/hampton-court-palace/","instagram":null,"attrs":[],"osm":"relation/21104","types":["inside","palace","victoria"],"deep":null,"scope":null,"scope_icon":null,"route":null,"venue_group":null,"geo":null,"geo_zone":null,"verdict":"Henry VIII's palace and William and Mary's, given to the public by Victoria in 1838 and the grandest of the royal houses to walk through.","note":"Two palaces in one: the Tudor courtyards, Great Hall and kitchens that Wolsey built and Henry took, and the baroque state apartments Wren added for William and Mary, joined at the back like a stately mistake. Victoria opened it to the public in the first year of her reign, and it has been a day out ever since - the maze, the Great Vine, the real tennis court, the gardens along the Thames and the costumed Henry who may or may not speak to you. 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The parade ground behind is where the sovereign takes the salute at Trooping the Colour in June and where Beating Retreat is played; the museum next door lets you watch the stables through a glass wall.","note_links":null,"reading":null,"figure":{"src":"/img/horse-guards.jpg?v=05e51432","thumb":"/img/horse-guards-480.jpg?v=f14ec0ae","width":1024,"height":682,"alt":"The Horse Guards building on Whitehall, its clock tower above the archway","caption":"","credit":"Photo by Txllxt TxllxT, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons","credit_url":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:London_-_Whitehall_-_Horse_Guards_Building_1753_by_William_Kent_-_Palladian_architecture_02.jpg","thumb_width":480},"figures":null,"from":null,"country":null,"country_name":null,"also":null,"years":null,"plaque":null,"rank":null,"also_in":[{"name":"Power & Politics","href":"/politics/horse-guards/"}],"maps_q":"Horse Guards, Whitehall, SW1A 2AX, London","in_area":{"slug":"westminster","name":"Westminster"},"bank":1,"near_all":[{"n":"Banqueting House, Whitehall","s":"banqueting-house-whitehall","c":"museums","cn":"Museums","m":81},{"n":"The Spy Bar","s":"the-spy-bar","c":"cocktails","cn":"Cocktails","m":85},{"n":"Old Admiralty Building: Room 40 and Room 39","s":"old-admiralty-building-room-40-and-room-39","c":"secrets","cn":"Secrets & Espionage","m":160}],"near_same":[{"s":"household-cavalry-museum","m":29},{"s":"trooping-the-colour","m":91},{"s":"admiralty-arch","m":242},{"s":"remembrance-sunday-at-the-cenotaph","m":242},{"s":"the-cenotaph","m":242},{"s":"charles-i-at-charing-cross","m":287}]},{"slug":"household-cavalry-museum","name":"Household Cavalry Museum","area":"Horse Guards Parade","address":"Whitehall, Covent Garden, SW1A 2AX","station":"Charing Cross","walk":4,"lat":51.50501,"lng":-0.127247,"hours":[[10.0,18.0],[10.0,18.0],[10.0,18.0],[10.0,18.0],[10.0,18.0],[10.0,18.0],[10.0,18.0]],"hours_raw":"Mo-Su 10:00-18:00","hours_source":"web","hours_url":"https://householdcavalrymuseum.co.uk/","hours_short":null,"hours_checked":"2026-09-05","hours_extra":"Until 17:00 from November to March; last admission an hour before closing.","runs":null,"website":"https://householdcavalrymuseum.co.uk/","instagram":"householdcavalrymuseum","attrs":["stepfree"],"osm":"node/5071252726","types":["ceremony","collection","inside"],"deep":null,"scope":null,"scope_icon":null,"route":null,"venue_group":null,"geo":null,"geo_zone":null,"verdict":"A glass wall into the working stables of the mounted regiment that rides at every state occasion.","note":"The museum in the eighteenth-century stables at Horse Guards shows the Life Guards and Blues and Royals from the Restoration to today - the cuirasses, the helmets, the standards and the horses' own kit - and, through a glazed screen, the troopers grooming and tacking up for the guard. The regiments escort the sovereign to the State Opening, the coronation and every state visit, so what is being polished here appears on the Mall the next morning.","note_links":null,"reading":null,"figure":{"src":"/img/household-cavalry-museum.jpg?v=d402d06d","thumb":"/img/household-cavalry-museum-480.jpg?v=6bd1462b","width":1024,"height":682,"alt":"Household Cavalry Museum - Joy of Museums, for information see: www.joyofmuseums.com","caption":"","credit":"Photo by Joyofmuseums, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons","credit_url":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Household_Cavalry_Museum_-_Joy_of_Museums.jpg","thumb_width":480},"figures":null,"from":"museums/household-cavalry-museum","country":null,"country_name":null,"also":null,"years":null,"plaque":null,"rank":null,"also_in":[{"name":"Museums","href":"/museums/household-cavalry-museum/"}],"maps_q":"Household Cavalry Museum, Whitehall, Covent Garden, SW1A 2AX, London","in_area":{"slug":"westminster","name":"Westminster"},"bank":1,"near_all":[{"n":"The Spy Bar","s":"the-spy-bar","c":"cocktails","cn":"Cocktails","m":83},{"n":"Banqueting House, Whitehall","s":"banqueting-house-whitehall","c":"museums","cn":"Museums","m":103},{"n":"Old Admiralty Building: Room 40 and Room 39","s":"old-admiralty-building-room-40-and-room-39","c":"secrets","cn":"Secrets & Espionage","m":131}],"near_same":[{"s":"horse-guards","m":29},{"s":"trooping-the-colour","m":120},{"s":"admiralty-arch","m":213},{"s":"charles-i-at-charing-cross","m":259},{"s":"remembrance-sunday-at-the-cenotaph","m":271},{"s":"the-cenotaph","m":271}]},{"slug":"houses-of-parliament","name":"Houses of Parliament & Big Ben","area":"Westminster","address":"Parliament Square, Westminster, SW1A 0AA","station":"Westminster","walk":3,"lat":51.499387,"lng":-0.124566,"hours":null,"hours_raw":null,"hours_source":"web","hours_url":"https://www.parliament.uk/visiting/visiting-and-tours/","hours_short":"Guided tours, booked ahead; ninety minutes, adult tickets from \u00a340","hours_checked":"2026-09-23","hours_extra":null,"runs":null,"website":"https://www.parliament.uk/visiting/","instagram":null,"attrs":[],"osm":"relation/1567699","types":["charles","elizabeth","inside","palace"],"deep":null,"scope":null,"scope_icon":null,"route":null,"venue_group":null,"geo":null,"geo_zone":null,"verdict":"Westminster Hall, where the Queen lay in state for five days in 2022 and a quarter of a million people filed past; the State Opening every autumn.","note":"The lying-in-state was the last great scene of the reign: the coffin on its catafalque under the eleventh-century hall's hammerbeam roof, the guard changing every twenty minutes, the queue winding five miles down the south bank and the grandchildren's vigil. It is the same hall where Churchill and the Queen Mother lay, where Charles I was tried and where the Queen addressed both Houses at her jubilees. The State Opening, when the monarch reads the government's speech from the throne in the Lords in the Imperial State Crown, is the other yearly piece of royal theatre, and the guided tours go through the Lords and the Robing Room.","note_links":null,"figure":{"src":"/img/houses-of-parliament.jpg?v=d60b87cf","thumb":"/img/houses-of-parliament-480.jpg?v=88dbd74f","width":1024,"height":576,"alt":"The Palace of Westminster along the Thames, the Victoria Tower at one end and the Elizabeth Tower at the other, with Westminster Bridge beyond","caption":"","credit":"Photo by Christian David, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons","credit_url":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Palace_of_Westminster_seen_from_the_north_bank_of_the_Thames,_London.jpg","thumb_width":480},"figures":[{"src":"/img/own-houses-of-parliament-2.jpg?v=05177be8","thumb":"/img/own-houses-of-parliament-2-480.jpg?v=42d5a73f","width":1024,"height":768,"thumb_width":480,"alt":"Victoria Tower Gardens under autumn plane 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The Diana Memorial Fountain is on the south bank of the Serpentine, and the Queen Elizabeth Gate at the corner.","note_links":null,"reading":null,"figure":{"src":"/img/hyde-park.jpg?v=46b24428","thumb":"/img/hyde-park-480.jpg?v=ce02576a","width":1024,"height":387,"alt":"View of Hyde Park, London","caption":"","credit":"Photo by Alvesgaspar, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons","credit_url":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hyde_Park_July_2015-1.jpg","thumb_width":480},"figures":null,"from":"outdoors/hyde-park","country":null,"country_name":null,"also":null,"years":null,"plaque":null,"rank":null,"also_in":[{"name":"Outdoors & Nature","href":"/outdoors/hyde-park/"},{"name":"30 Things to See First","href":"/see-first/hyde-park/"}],"maps_q":"Hyde Park, W2 2UH, London","in_area":{"slug":"hyde-park-kensington-gardens","name":"Hyde Park & Kensington Gardens"},"bank":1,"near_all":[{"n":"Boating on the Serpentine","s":"boating-on-the-serpentine","c":"whats-on","cn":"What\u2019s On","m":145},{"n":"Reformers' Tree","s":"reformers-tree","c":"politics","cn":"Power & Politics","m":302},{"n":"Serpentine Lido","s":"serpentine-lido","c":"outdoors","cn":"Outdoors & Nature","m":388}],"near_same":[{"s":"diana-memorial-fountain","m":586},{"s":"marble-arch","m":781},{"s":"queen-elizabeth-gate","m":844},{"s":"wellington-arch","m":1015},{"s":"albert-memorial","m":1082},{"s":"kensington-gardens","m":1125}]},{"slug":"kensington-gardens","name":"Kensington Gardens","area":"Kensington","address":"Kensington Gardens, W2 2UH","station":"Lancaster Gate","walk":1,"lat":51.506694,"lng":-0.180023,"hours":[[6.0,20.0],[6.0,20.0],[6.0,20.0],[6.0,20.0],[6.0,20.0],[6.0,20.0],[6.0,20.0]],"hours_raw":"Mo-Su 06:00-20:00","hours_source":"web","hours_url":"https://www.royalparks.org.uk/visit/parks/kensington-gardens","hours_short":null,"hours_checked":"2026-09-03","hours_extra":null,"runs":null,"website":"https://www.royalparks.org.uk/visit/parks/kensington-gardens","instagram":null,"attrs":[],"osm":"way/3986346","types":["diana","free","park","victoria","william"],"deep":null,"scope":null,"scope_icon":null,"route":null,"venue_group":null,"geo":null,"geo_zone":null,"verdict":"Kensington Palace's own park: Diana's playground and statue, Victoria's statue and Albert's memorial in one walk.","note":"The palace's grounds were opened to the public by Victoria's predecessors and became the most royal of the parks: the Round Pond and the Broad Walk in front of the palace, the Albert Memorial at the south edge, the Sunken Garden with Diana's statue, the memorial playground in the north-west corner, and the Peter Pan statue by the Long Water for the children who have finished with the palace. Nannies, prams and the odd royal protection officer.","note_links":null,"reading":null,"figure":{"src":"/img/kensington-gardens.jpg?v=79546bc8","thumb":"/img/kensington-gardens-480.jpg?v=e8e12d6e","width":876,"height":1024,"alt":"A panorama of 4 segments taken by myself with a Canon 5D and 24-105mm f/4L IS lens","caption":"","credit":"Photo by Diliff, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons","credit_url":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hyde_Park_Albert_Memorial_Jan_2006.jpg","thumb_width":410},"figures":null,"from":"outdoors/kensington-gardens","country":null,"country_name":null,"also":null,"years":null,"plaque":null,"rank":null,"also_in":[{"name":"Outdoors & Nature","href":"/outdoors/kensington-gardens/"}],"maps_q":"Kensington Gardens, W2 2UH, London","in_area":{"slug":"hyde-park-kensington-gardens","name":"Hyde Park & Kensington Gardens"},"bank":1,"near_all":[{"n":"Peter Pan statue","s":"peter-pan-statue","c":"art","cn":"Art","m":355},{"n":"Serpentine","s":"serpentine","c":"museums","cn":"Museums","m":406},{"n":"Edward Jenner statue","s":"edward-jenner-statue","c":"science","cn":"Science & Engineering","m":469}],"near_same":[{"s":"queen-victoria-statue-kensington-palace","m":438},{"s":"diana-statue-the-sunken-garden","m":464},{"s":"albert-memorial","m":506},{"s":"kensington-palace","m":583},{"s":"diana-memorial-playground","m":623},{"s":"diana-memorial-fountain","m":635}]},{"slug":"kensington-palace","name":"Kensington Palace","area":"Kensington Gardens","address":"Kensington Garen, W8 4PX","station":"Queensway","walk":8,"lat":51.505088,"lng":-0.188054,"hours":[[10.0,18.0],[10.0,18.0],[10.0,18.0],[10.0,18.0],[10.0,18.0],[10.0,18.0],[10.0,18.0]],"hours_raw":"Mo-Su 10:00-18:00","hours_source":"web","hours_url":"https://www.hrp.org.uk/kensington-palace/visit/opening-times/","hours_short":null,"hours_checked":"2026-09-05","hours_extra":"Last entry 17:00. Shorter hours from November to February, and some weekday closures in the low season - check the palace's calendar. The Queen's State Apartments are closed until spring 2027; the gardens are free.","runs":null,"website":"http://www.hrp.org.uk/kensington-palace/","instagram":null,"attrs":["stepfree"],"osm":"relation/904705","types":["diana","inside","palace","victoria","william"],"deep":null,"scope":null,"scope_icon":null,"route":null,"venue_group":null,"geo":null,"geo_zone":null,"verdict":"Diana's home for sixteen years and the London address of William and Catherine, where Victoria was born and the flowers piled against the gates in 1997.","note":"Victoria was born here in 1819 and woke here at eighteen to be told she was Queen; the state apartments and her childhood rooms are the visit. 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The colonnades and courts have stood in for Buckingham Palace and half the capitals of Europe in The Crown, Bridgerton and Les Mis\u00e9rables; the Painted Hall, Thornhill's forty thousand square feet of baroque ceiling, is the ticketed part and the one to lie on the floor for.","note_links":null,"reading":null,"figure":{"src":"/img/own-old-royal-naval-college.jpg?v=28c95fad","thumb":"/img/own-old-royal-naval-college-480.jpg?v=e62ca94a","width":1024,"height":768,"thumb_width":480,"alt":"The Old Royal Naval College's colonnades and courts from the lawn, between plane trees","caption":"Wren's courts from the lawn."},"figures":null,"from":"museums/old-royal-naval-college","country":null,"country_name":null,"also":null,"years":null,"plaque":null,"rank":null,"whats_on":[{"slug":"film-tour-wigs-weddings-powder-and-palaces","name":"Film Tour: Wigs, Weddings, Powder and Palaces","href":"/museums/old-royal-naval-college/film-tour-wigs-weddings-powder-and-palaces/","verdict":"Bridgerton and The Crown's locations, with a lesson in fan etiquette thrown in.","runs":null,"types":["family","history","tour"],"clue":["Guided tour","History"]},{"slug":"old-royal-naval-college-600-years-of-history-tour","name":"Old Royal Naval College: 600 Years of History tour","href":"/museums/old-royal-naval-college/old-royal-naval-college-600-years-of-history-tour/","verdict":"Tudor palace to seamen's hospital to Wren's masterpiece, in forty-five minutes.","runs":null,"types":["history","tour"],"clue":["Guided tour","History"]},{"slug":"secret-dome-tour","name":"Secret Dome Tour","href":"/museums/old-royal-naval-college/secret-dome-tour/","verdict":"125 steps up inside Wren's dome to a 360-degree view of Greenwich and the river.","runs":null,"types":["heights","history","tour"],"clue":["Guided tour","History"]},{"slug":"the-painted-hall","name":"The Painted Hall","href":"/museums/old-royal-naval-college/the-painted-hall/","verdict":"Three thousand seven hundred square metres of baroque ceiling, painted over nineteen years.","runs":null,"types":["art","exhibition","history"],"clue":["Exhibition","Art & design"]},{"slug":"the-painted-hall-talk-and-tour-with-its-architects","name":"The Painted Hall: talk and tour with its architects","href":"/museums/old-royal-naval-college/the-painted-hall-talk-and-tour-with-its-architects/","verdict":"Forty thousand square feet of Baroque ceiling, explained by the people who repaired it.","runs":{"from":"2026-10-20","to":"2026-10-20"},"types":["art","history","talk","tour"],"clue":["Guided tour","Art & design"]},{"slug":"lost-worlds-by-luxmuralis","name":"Lost Worlds by Luxmuralis","href":"/museums/old-royal-naval-college/lost-worlds-by-luxmuralis/","verdict":"Wren's dome and the Painted Hall lit from cave art to Atlantis, after dark.","runs":{"from":"2026-11-06","to":"2026-11-15"},"types":["art","family","immersive","music"],"clue":["Immersive","Art & design"]}],"also_in":[{"name":"Museums","href":"/museums/old-royal-naval-college/"},{"name":"Power & Politics","href":"/politics/old-royal-naval-college/"}],"maps_q":"Old Royal Naval College, College Way, East Greenwich, SE10 9JF, London","in_area":{"slug":"greenwich","name":"Greenwich"},"bank":0,"near_all":[{"n":"Cutty Sark Museum","s":"cutty-sark-museum","c":"museums","cn":"Museums","m":223},{"n":"Trafalgar Tavern","s":"trafalgar-tavern","c":"pubs","cn":"Pubs","m":230},{"n":"Greenwich Market","s":"greenwich-market","c":"food-markets","cn":"Food Markets","m":241}],"near_same":[{"s":"greenwich-park","m":812},{"s":"tower-of-london","m":5601},{"s":"college-of-arms","m":7176},{"s":"st-pauls-cathedral","m":7239},{"s":"houses-of-parliament","m":8430},{"s":"oliver-cromwell-statue","m":8525}]},{"slug":"oliver-cromwell-statue","name":"Oliver Cromwell statue","area":"Westminster","address":"Cromwell Green, Old Palace Yard, SW1A 0AA","station":"Westminster","walk":2,"lat":51.499848,"lng":-0.125824,"hours":null,"hours_raw":null,"hours_source":null,"hours_url":null,"hours_short":null,"hours_checked":null,"hours_extra":null,"photo_search":["Oliver Cromwell statue Westminster","Cromwell statue Houses of Parliament"],"runs":null,"website":null,"instagram":null,"attrs":[],"osm":"node/381157978","types":["free","statue"],"deep":null,"scope":null,"scope_icon":null,"route":null,"venue_group":null,"geo":null,"geo_zone":null,"verdict":"The only man to have governed England without a crown, in bronze outside Parliament.","note":"Cromwell won the civil war against Charles I, sat on the court that condemned him, and ruled as Lord Protector from 1653 until his death in 1658 - offered the crown in 1657 and refusing it after six weeks of thinking about it. 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They stand at the Hyde Park Corner entrance beside Apsley House, on the route of the Diana memorial walk.","note_links":null,"reading":null,"figure":{"src":"/img/queen-elizabeth-gate.jpg?v=9acb581f","thumb":"/img/queen-elizabeth-gate-480.jpg?v=91ba76e8","width":768,"height":1024,"alt":"The central panel between the moving gates of the Queen Elizabeth Gate to Hyde Park in Mark 2011","caption":"","credit":"Photo by Chris McKenna, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons","credit_url":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Queen_Elizabeth_Gate,_Hyde_Park_in_March_2011.jpg","thumb_width":360},"figures":null,"from":null,"country":null,"country_name":null,"also":null,"years":null,"plaque":null,"rank":null,"maps_q":"Queen Elizabeth Gate, Hyde Park Corner, W1J 7NT, London","in_area":{"slug":"hyde-park-kensington-gardens","name":"Hyde Park & Kensington Gardens"},"bank":1,"near_all":[{"n":"Achilles statue","s":"achilles-statue","c":"art","cn":"Art","m":49},{"n":"Apsley House","s":"apsley-house","c":"museums","cn":"Museums","m":82},{"n":"Royal Artillery Memorial","s":"royal-artillery-memorial","c":"monuments","cn":"Monuments & Ruins","m":173}],"near_same":[{"s":"wellington-arch","m":205},{"s":"changing-the-guard","m":743},{"s":"buckingham-palace","m":764},{"s":"royal-mews","m":805},{"s":"kings-gallery","m":829},{"s":"hyde-park","m":844}]},{"slug":"queen-victoria-statue-kensington-palace","name":"Queen Victoria statue, Kensington Palace","area":"Bayswater","address":"Kensington Gardens, W8 4PX","station":"Queensway","walk":7,"lat":51.505391,"lng":-0.186007,"hours":null,"hours_raw":null,"hours_source":null,"hours_url":null,"hours_short":null,"hours_checked":null,"hours_extra":null,"runs":null,"website":"https://www.hrp.org.uk/kensington-palace/","instagram":null,"attrs":[],"osm":"node/5352928184","types":["free","statue","victoria"],"deep":null,"scope":null,"scope_icon":null,"route":null,"venue_group":null,"geo":null,"geo_zone":null,"verdict":"Victoria at eighteen, the year she became Queen, carved by her daughter and set in front of the palace where she was born.","note":"Princess Louise, the sculptor among Victoria's children, made the marble for the Golden Jubilee of 1887 and it was unveiled in 1893 on the east lawn of Kensington Palace, facing the Round Pond: the young Queen in her coronation robes, before the widow's black. It is the palace's front door for most visitors and the one image of Victoria in London that is not a matron.","note_links":null,"reading":null,"figure":{"src":"/img/queen-victoria-statue-kensington-palace.jpg?v=4b193e87","thumb":"/img/queen-victoria-statue-kensington-palace-480.jpg?v=790fc47f","width":683,"height":1024,"alt":"A photograph of Queen Victoria statue, Kensington Palace.","caption":"","credit":"Photo by Images George Rex from London, England, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons","credit_url":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Queen_Victoria_Statue_(48636218137).jpg","thumb_width":320},"figures":null,"from":null,"country":null,"country_name":null,"also":null,"years":null,"plaque":null,"rank":null,"maps_q":"Queen Victoria statue, Kensington Palace, Kensington Gardens, W8 4PX, London","in_area":{"slug":"hyde-park-kensington-gardens","name":"Hyde Park & Kensington Gardens"},"bank":1,"near_all":[{"n":"The Orangery, Kensington Palace","s":"the-orangery-kensington-palace","c":"architecture","cn":"Architecture","m":182},{"n":"Ta'mini Lebanese Bakery Kensington Church Street","s":"tamini-lebanese-bakery-kensington-church-street","c":"bakeries","cn":"Bakeries","m":472},{"n":"St Mary Abbot","s":"st-mary-abbot","c":"sacred","cn":"Sacred London","m":518}],"near_same":[{"s":"diana-statue-the-sunken-garden","m":55},{"s":"kensington-palace","m":145},{"s":"diana-memorial-playground","m":434},{"s":"kensington-gardens","m":438},{"s":"albert-memorial","m":666},{"s":"diana-memorial-fountain","m":1010}]},{"slug":"remembrance-sunday-at-the-cenotaph","name":"Remembrance Sunday at the Cenotaph","area":"Whitehall","address":"The Cenotaph, Whitehall, SW1A 2AX","station":"Westminster","walk":2,"lat":51.502679,"lng":-0.126091,"hours":null,"hours_raw":null,"hours_source":null,"hours_url":"https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-culture-media-sport","hours_short":"The second Sunday of November, 11:00","hours_checked":"2026-09-05","hours_extra":null,"runs":{"from":"2026-11-08","to":"2026-11-08","repeats":"yearly"},"website":"https://www.britishlegion.org.uk/get-involved/events/remembrance-events/remembrance-sunday","instagram":null,"attrs":[],"osm":null,"types":["ceremony","charles","elizabeth","free"],"deep":null,"scope":null,"scope_icon":null,"route":null,"venue_group":null,"geo":null,"geo_zone":null,"verdict":"Two minutes' silence on Whitehall at eleven, the King's wreath, and the veterans' march past.","note":"The Queen laid the first wreath at the Cenotaph every November for sixty-five years, then watched from the Foreign Office balcony, and the ceremony was hers as much as any: the maroons, the silence, the Last Post, the royal wreaths and then the Royal British Legion's march of veterans down Whitehall that takes an hour to pass. Charles has laid the wreath since 2017. The crowd stands behind barriers from Parliament Square to Trafalgar Square, and the earlier you come the closer you are.","note_links":null,"reading":null,"figure":{"src":"/img/remembrance-sunday-at-the-cenotaph.jpg?v=59b276f8","thumb":"/img/remembrance-sunday-at-the-cenotaph-480.jpg?v=4217b83b","width":1024,"height":638,"alt":"The Royal Family at the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday","caption":"","credit":"Photo by Number 10, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons","credit_url":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Members_of_the_Royal_Family_at_the_Cenotaph_in_London,_United_Kingdom_for_Remembrance_Sunday_on_14_November_2021_-_6.jpg","thumb_width":480},"figures":null,"from":"whats-on/remembrance-sunday-at-the-cenotaph","country":null,"country_name":null,"also":null,"years":null,"plaque":null,"rank":null,"also_in":[{"name":"What\u2019s On","href":"/whats-on/remembrance-sunday-at-the-cenotaph/"}],"maps_q":"Remembrance Sunday at the Cenotaph, The Cenotaph, Whitehall, SW1A 2AX, London","in_area":{"slug":"westminster","name":"Westminster"},"bank":1,"near_all":[{"n":"Whitehall & Downing Street","s":"whitehall-downing-street","c":"politics","cn":"Power & Politics","m":81},{"n":"Foreign Office & the former India Office","s":"foreign-office-the-former-india-office","c":"politics","cn":"Power & Politics","m":121},{"n":"Old Westminster by Gaslight","s":"old-westminster-by-gaslight","c":"tours","cn":"Guided Tours","m":167}],"near_same":[{"s":"trooping-the-colour","m":161},{"s":"horse-guards","m":242},{"s":"household-cavalry-museum","m":271},{"s":"charles-i-bust-st-margarets","m":312},{"s":"oliver-cromwell-statue","m":315},{"s":"westminster-abbey","m":375}]},{"slug":"richmond-park","name":"Richmond Park","area":"Richmond","address":"Richmond Park, TW10 5HS","station":"Norbiton","walk":11,"lat":51.441853,"lng":-0.276591,"hours":[[0,24],[0,24],[0,24],[0,24],[0,24],[0,24],[0,24]],"hours_raw":"24/7","hours_source":"web","hours_url":"https://www.royalparks.org.uk/visit/parks/richmond-park/faqs","hours_short":null,"hours_checked":"2026-09-06","hours_extra":"Those are the pedestrian gates, which stand open day and night except during the six-week deer culls in November and early December and again in February and early March: through those weeks they are locked from 8pm to 7.30am, apart from Friday and Saturday nights. Vehicle gates open at 7.30am, an hour earlier in summer time, and close at dusk.","runs":null,"website":"https://www.royalparks.org.uk/visit/parks/richmond-park","instagram":null,"attrs":[],"osm":"way/51260440","types":["elizabeth","free","park"],"deep":null,"scope":null,"scope_icon":null,"route":null,"venue_group":null,"geo":null,"geo_zone":null,"verdict":"The biggest royal park, still with its deer, and White Lodge, where the Queen's parents honeymooned and Edward VIII was born.","note":"Charles I enclosed it for hunting in 1637 and six hundred deer still graze it. In May the azaleas of the Isabella Plantation are the draw instead. White Lodge in the middle, a Georgian hunting lodge, was the birthplace of the future Edward VIII in 1894 and the first home of the Duke and Duchess of York, the Queen's parents, after their wedding in 1923; it is the Royal Ballet School now. King Henry's Mound has the protected view of St Paul's ten miles off.","note_links":null,"reading":null,"figure":{"src":"/img/richmond-park.jpg?v=e5021820","thumb":"/img/richmond-park-480.jpg?v=d8a21d72","width":768,"height":1024,"alt":"A red deer stag among the bracken in Richmond Park","caption":"","credit":"Photo by Julian Herzog ( Website ), CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons","credit_url":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Red_Deer_Cervus_Elaphus_Richmond_Park_2025_01.jpg","thumb_width":360},"figures":null,"from":"outdoors/richmond-park","country":null,"country_name":null,"also":null,"years":null,"plaque":null,"rank":null,"whats_on":[{"slug":"the-deer-rut-in-richmond-park","name":"The deer rut in Richmond Park","href":"/outdoors/richmond-park/the-deer-rut-in-richmond-park/","verdict":"Stags roaring and clashing antlers across the bracken, free, and the best wildlife spectacle in London.","runs":{"from":"2026-09-15","to":"2026-11-08"},"types":["free","nature"],"clue":[]}],"also_in":[{"name":"Outdoors & Nature","href":"/outdoors/richmond-park/"}],"maps_q":"Richmond Park, TW10 5HS, London","bank":0,"near_all":[{"n":"Isabella Plantation","s":"isabella-plantation","c":"outdoors","cn":"Outdoors & Nature","m":941},{"n":"Dorich House","s":"dorich-house","c":"museums","cn":"Museums","m":1333},{"n":"Richmond Hill","s":"richmond-hill","c":"views","cn":"Views","m":1880}],"near_same":[{"s":"kew-palace","m":4839},{"s":"hampton-court-palace","m":6254},{"s":"kensington-palace","m":9550},{"s":"diana-statue-the-sunken-garden","m":9677},{"s":"queen-victoria-statue-kensington-palace","m":9688},{"s":"diana-memorial-playground","m":9798}]},{"slug":"royal-mews","name":"Royal Mews","area":"Victoria","address":"Victoria Square, SW1W 0RB","station":"Victoria","walk":4,"lat":51.498919,"lng":-0.14425,"hours":[[10.0,17.0],null,null,[10.0,17.0],[10.0,17.0],[10.0,17.0],[10.0,17.0]],"hours_raw":"Th-Mo 10:00-17:00","hours_source":"web","hours_url":"https://www.rct.uk/visit/the-royal-mews-buckingham-palace","hours_short":null,"hours_checked":"2026-09-05","hours_extra":"Closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays; last admission 16:15; shorter hours from late October.","runs":null,"website":"https://www.rct.uk/visit/the-royal-mews-buckingham-palace","instagram":null,"attrs":[],"osm":"relation/78961","types":["charles","collection","diana","elizabeth","inside"],"deep":null,"scope":null,"scope_icon":null,"route":null,"venue_group":null,"geo":null,"geo_zone":null,"verdict":"The Gold State Coach of two coronations, the Glass Coach that took Diana to St Paul's, and the horses that pull them.","note":"The working stables of the palace, where the Windsor Greys and Cleveland Bays live and the carriages of every state occasion wait between them: the Gold State Coach of 1762, four tons of gilded oak that carried Elizabeth II in 1953 and Charles III back from the Abbey in 2023; the Diamond Jubilee State Coach with its wood from Nelson's Victory and Newton's apple tree; the Glass Coach in which Diana Spencer arrived at St Paul's; and the Rolls-Royces. The grooms and coachmen are about, and a wedding or a state visit empties the place.","note_links":null,"reading":null,"figure":{"src":"/img/royal-mews.jpg?v=6c6d6c8f","thumb":"/img/royal-mews-480.jpg?v=7f438ebf","width":771,"height":1024,"alt":"The Gold State Coach in the Royal Mews, with model horses harnessed in red and gold","caption":"The Gold State Coach, finished in 1762, in the Mews.","credit":"Photo by Dgp4004, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons","credit_url":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gold_State_Coach_in_the_Royal_Mews.jpg","thumb_width":361},"figures":null,"from":"museums/royal-mews","country":null,"country_name":null,"also":null,"years":null,"plaque":null,"rank":null,"also_in":[{"name":"Museums","href":"/museums/royal-mews/"}],"maps_q":"Royal Mews, Victoria Square, SW1W 0RB, London","in_area":{"slug":"westminster","name":"Westminster"},"bank":1,"near_all":[{"n":"The Veranda at The Goring","s":"the-veranda-at-the-goring","c":"afternoon-tea","cn":"Afternoon Tea","m":169},{"n":"Italian Cultural Institute","s":"italian-cultural-institute","c":"international-culture","cn":"International Culture","m":172},{"n":"Coffee Geek and Friends","s":"coffee-geek-and-friends","c":"coffee","cn":"Coffee","m":235}],"near_same":[{"s":"kings-gallery","m":155},{"s":"changing-the-guard","m":229},{"s":"buckingham-palace","m":239},{"s":"victoria-memorial","m":412},{"s":"guards-museum","m":576},{"s":"wellington-arch","m":607}]},{"slug":"spencer-house","name":"Spencer House","area":"St James's","address":"27 St James's Place, St James's, SW1A 1NR","station":"Green Park","walk":3,"lat":51.505153,"lng":-0.140252,"hours":[null,null,null,null,null,null,[10.5,16.0]],"hours_raw":"Su 10:30-16:00","hours_source":"web","hours_url":"https://www.spencerhouse.co.uk/frequently-asked-questions/","hours_short":null,"hours_checked":"2026-09-05","hours_extra":"Guided tours on Sundays, \u00a319.50; closed in August.","runs":null,"website":"https://www.spencerhouse.co.uk/","instagram":"spencer.house","attrs":[],"osm":"relation/16057566","types":["diana","inside","palace"],"deep":null,"scope":null,"scope_icon":null,"route":null,"venue_group":null,"geo":null,"geo_zone":null,"verdict":"The Spencers' London palace of the 1750s, the finest private house in the city and the one Diana's family gave up in 1926.","note":"Built for the first Earl Spencer by John Vardy and James Stuart, it is the great surviving eighteenth-century town house of London, with a Palm Room of gilded palm trees and a painted room that was the first neoclassical interior in Europe. The family let it in 1926 and Lord Rothschild's company restored it in the 1980s to a standard the Spencers could never have afforded; the eight state rooms open on Sundays. Diana grew up at Althorp, but this is the house the name belongs to in London, a few doors from St James's Palace.","note_links":null,"reading":null,"figure":{"src":"/img/spencer-house.jpg?v=de6c6e48","thumb":"/img/spencer-house-480.jpg?v=910474f1","width":1024,"height":750,"alt":"Spencer House (1752-4) by John Vardy. Spencer House was the home of the Earls of Spencer until 1895. This is the view from Green Park","caption":"","credit":"Photo by Steve Cadman, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons","credit_url":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Spencer_House.jpg","thumb_width":480},"figures":null,"from":"museums/spencer-house","country":null,"country_name":null,"also":null,"years":null,"plaque":null,"rank":null,"also_in":[{"name":"Museums","href":"/museums/spencer-house/"}],"maps_q":"Spencer House, 27 St James's Place, St James's, SW1A 1NR, London","in_area":{"slug":"st-jamess","name":"St James's"},"bank":1,"near_all":[{"n":"Dukes Bar","s":"dukes-bar","c":"cocktails","cn":"Cocktails","m":66},{"n":"The American Bar at The Stafford","s":"the-american-bar-at-the-stafford","c":"cocktails","cn":"Cocktails","m":83},{"n":"Chopin's house, St James's Place","s":"frederic-chopin","c":"world","cn":"The World in London","m":99}],"near_same":[{"s":"lancaster-house","m":167},{"s":"st-jamess-palace-the-chapel-royal","m":171},{"s":"clarence-house","m":180},{"s":"victoria-memorial","m":369},{"s":"george-vi-and-queen-elizabeth-memorial","m":446},{"s":"buckingham-palace","m":508}]},{"slug":"st-jamess-palace-the-chapel-royal","name":"St James's Palace & the Chapel Royal","area":"St James's","address":"Marlborough Road, SW1A 1BQ","station":"Green Park","walk":5,"lat":51.504548,"lng":-0.137973,"hours":null,"hours_raw":null,"hours_source":"web","hours_url":"https://www.rct.uk/visit/st-jamess-palace","hours_short":"Not open, except guided tours on selected dates, and no 2026 tickets are on sale; Chapel Royal services on Sunday mornings, October to July","hours_checked":"2026-09-23","hours_extra":"Charles III was proclaimed from the balcony over Friary Court on 10 September 2022, the ceremony the crowd could stand in the yard for.","runs":null,"website":"https://www.royal.uk/royal-residences-st-jamess-palace","instagram":null,"attrs":[],"osm":"relation/545040","types":["charles","church","diana","palace","victoria","william"],"deep":null,"scope":null,"scope_icon":null,"route":null,"venue_group":null,"geo":null,"geo_zone":null,"verdict":"The senior palace, where new monarchs are proclaimed from the Friary Court balcony and where Diana lay in the Chapel Royal before her funeral.","note":"Henry VIII built it, the court was formally based here until Victoria moved to Buckingham Palace, and ambassadors are still accredited to the Court of St James's. The Accession Council met here the morning after the Queen died and Garter King of Arms read the proclamation of Charles III from the gallery over Friary Court, with the crowd in the yard; Victoria married Albert in the Chapel Royal in 1840, Diana's coffin rested there for five days in September 1997, and George, Louis and Meghan were christened there. The Queen's Chapel across Marlborough Road, by Inigo Jones, shares the choir; both hold Sunday services the public can attend for most of the year.","note_links":null,"reading":null,"figure":{"src":"/img/st-jamess-palace-the-chapel-royal.jpg?v=b700bec1","thumb":"/img/st-jamess-palace-the-chapel-royal-480.jpg?v=0681f1fc","width":1024,"height":768,"alt":"St James's Palace, London","caption":"","credit":"Photo by Steven Brown, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons","credit_url":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St_James%27s_Palace,_London_-_geograph.org.uk_-_7963883.jpg","thumb_width":480},"figures":null,"from":null,"country":null,"country_name":null,"also":null,"years":null,"plaque":null,"rank":null,"also_in":[{"name":"Power & Politics","href":"/politics/st-jamess-palace-the-chapel-royal/"}],"maps_q":"St James's Palace & the Chapel Royal, Marlborough Road, SW1A 1BQ, London","in_area":{"slug":"st-jamess","name":"St James's"},"bank":1,"near_all":[{"n":"Berry Bros. & Rudd","s":"berry-bros-rudd","c":"shopping","cn":"Shopping","m":112},{"n":"Garibaldi's stay at Lancaster House","s":"giuseppe-garibaldi","c":"world","cn":"The World in London","m":112},{"n":"Lock & Co. 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Green Park is the plain one, the shortcut from Piccadilly to the palace gates, where the Canada Memorial stands and where the government has chosen to build the memorial to the late Queen. Both are on the Diana memorial walk and both are where London stands for a balcony appearance.","note_links":null,"reading":null,"figure":{"src":"/img/st-jamess-park-and-green-park.jpg?v=55f65c4e","thumb":"/img/st-jamess-park-and-green-park-480.jpg?v=f50bdb57","width":1024,"height":896,"alt":"The lake in St James's Park","caption":"","credit":"Photo by Paul Gillett, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons","credit_url":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St_James%27s_Park_Lake_-_geograph.org.uk_-_5536394.jpg","thumb_width":480},"figures":null,"from":"outdoors/st-jamess-park-and-green-park","country":null,"country_name":null,"also":null,"years":null,"plaque":null,"rank":null,"also_in":[{"name":"Outdoors & Nature","href":"/outdoors/st-jamess-park-and-green-park/"}],"maps_q":"St James's Park and Green Park, SW1A 2BJ, London","in_area":{"slug":"westminster","name":"Westminster"},"bank":1,"near_all":[{"n":"Queen Anne's Gate","s":"queen-annes-gate","c":"beautiful-streets","cn":"Beautiful Streets","m":241},{"n":"Marlborough House","s":"marlborough-house","c":"politics","cn":"Power & Politics","m":298},{"n":"Churchill War Rooms","s":"churchill-war-rooms","c":"museums","cn":"Museums","m":311}],"near_same":[{"s":"george-vi-and-queen-elizabeth-memorial","m":278},{"s":"guards-museum","m":341},{"s":"clarence-house","m":357},{"s":"st-jamess-palace-the-chapel-royal","m":360},{"s":"lancaster-house","m":395},{"s":"victoria-memorial","m":487}]},{"slug":"st-pauls-cathedral","name":"St Paul's Cathedral","area":"St Paul's","address":"St Paul's Churchyard, EC4M 8AD","station":"St Paul's","walk":2,"lat":51.513785,"lng":-0.098436,"hours":[[8.5,16.5],[8.5,16.5],[8.5,16.5],[8.5,16.5],[8.5,16.5],[8.5,16.5],null],"hours_raw":"Mo-Sa 08:30-16:30","hours_source":"web","hours_url":"https://www.stpauls.co.uk/visit-us","hours_short":null,"hours_checked":"2026-09-05","hours_extra":"Last entry 16:00, \u00a327; the dome galleries from 09:30. 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The colour is trooped through the ranks on Horse Guards Parade, the Household Division marches back down the Mall, and the family gathers on the palace balcony for the Royal Air Force flypast. Stand tickets are balloted in the winter; the Mall and the park are free.","note_links":null,"reading":null,"figure":{"src":"/img/trooping-the-colour.jpg?v=285f2236","thumb":"/img/trooping-the-colour-480.jpg?v=d2283a1a","width":1024,"height":682,"alt":"The Household Cavalry passing Buckingham Palace","caption":"","credit":"Photo by Lewis Clarke, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons","credit_url":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:London_,_Westminster_-_Household_Cavalry_-_Trooping_the_Colour_-_geograph.org.uk_-_5058480.jpg","thumb_width":480},"figures":null,"from":"whats-on/trooping-the-colour","country":null,"country_name":null,"also":null,"years":null,"plaque":null,"rank":null,"also_in":[{"name":"What\u2019s On","href":"/whats-on/trooping-the-colour/"}],"maps_q":"Trooping the Colour, Horse Guards Parade, SW1A 2AX, London","in_area":{"slug":"westminster","name":"Westminster"},"bank":1,"near_all":[{"n":"Banqueting House, Whitehall","s":"banqueting-house-whitehall","c":"museums","cn":"Museums","m":54},{"n":"Whitehall & Downing Street","s":"whitehall-downing-street","c":"politics","cn":"Power & Politics","m":81},{"n":"The Spy Bar","s":"the-spy-bar","c":"cocktails","cn":"Cocktails","m":131}],"near_same":[{"s":"horse-guards","m":91},{"s":"household-cavalry-museum","m":120},{"s":"remembrance-sunday-at-the-cenotaph","m":161},{"s":"the-cenotaph","m":161},{"s":"admiralty-arch","m":332},{"s":"charles-i-at-charing-cross","m":369}]},{"slug":"victoria-memorial","name":"Victoria Memorial","area":"Victoria","address":"Queen's Gardens, The Mall, SW1A 1AA","station":"St James's Park","walk":6,"lat":51.50184,"lng":-0.140587,"hours":null,"hours_raw":null,"hours_source":null,"hours_url":null,"hours_short":null,"hours_checked":null,"hours_extra":null,"runs":null,"website":null,"instagram":null,"attrs":[],"osm":"way/374945234","types":["elizabeth","free","statue","victoria"],"deep":null,"scope":null,"scope_icon":null,"route":null,"venue_group":null,"geo":null,"geo_zone":null,"verdict":"The gilded Victory over the roundabout in front of the palace, and the steps everybody stands on for the balcony.","note":"Thomas Brock's memorial of 1911 puts Victoria in marble facing the Mall with a golden Victory above her and figures of Courage, Constancy, Truth and Motherhood around the base, in a rond-point Aston Webb laid out as the climax of the processional route. 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The arch is English Heritage's and opens most days, with an exhibition on the funeral route's history and a view down Constitution Hill to the palace.","note_links":null,"figure":{"src":"/img/wellington-arch.jpg?v=1b3e2260","thumb":"/img/wellington-arch-480.jpg?v=3fc925e4","width":1024,"height":669,"alt":"Arco de Wellington","caption":"","credit":"Photo by Canaan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons","credit_url":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Arco_de_Wellington,_Hyde_Park.jpg","thumb_width":480},"figures":null,"from":"monuments/wellington-arch","country":null,"country_name":null,"also":null,"years":null,"plaque":null,"rank":null,"also_in":[{"name":"Museums","href":"/museums/wellington-arch/"},{"name":"Art","href":"/art/wellington-arch/"},{"name":"Monuments & Ruins","href":"/monuments/wellington-arch/"}],"maps_q":"Wellington Arch, Apsley Way, Hyde Park Corner, W1J 7JZ, London","in_area":{"slug":"westminster","name":"Westminster"},"bank":1,"near_all":[{"n":"Royal Artillery Memorial","s":"royal-artillery-memorial","c":"monuments","cn":"Monuments & Ruins","m":78},{"n":"Apsley House","s":"apsley-house","c":"museums","cn":"Museums","m":122},{"n":"The Withdrawing Room at The Lanesborough","s":"the-withdrawing-room-at-the-lanesborough","c":"afternoon-tea","cn":"Afternoon Tea","m":128}],"near_same":[{"s":"queen-elizabeth-gate","m":205},{"s":"changing-the-guard","m":572},{"s":"buckingham-palace","m":595},{"s":"royal-mews","m":607},{"s":"kings-gallery","m":646},{"s":"victoria-memorial","m":712}],"reading_url":"/long-reads/wellington-arch/","reading_mins":5},{"slug":"westminster-abbey","name":"Westminster Abbey","area":"Westminster","address":"20 Dean's Yard, SW1P 3PA","station":"Westminster","walk":3,"lat":51.499401,"lng":-0.127391,"hours":null,"hours_raw":null,"hours_source":"web","hours_url":"https://www.westminster-abbey.org/visit-us/opening-times","hours_short":"Monday to Saturday from 09:00 or 09:30; last entry varies by day, \u00a331","hours_checked":"2026-09-23","hours_extra":"Free for services, including evensong most days.","runs":null,"website":"https://www.westminster-abbey.org/","instagram":null,"attrs":[],"osm":"way/364313092","types":["charles","church","diana","elizabeth","inside","william"],"deep":null,"scope":null,"scope_icon":null,"route":null,"venue_group":null,"geo":null,"geo_zone":null,"verdict":"Where the century happened: Elizabeth's wedding and coronation, Diana's funeral, William and Catherine's wedding, the Queen's funeral and the coronation of Charles III.","note":"Every coronation since 1066 has been held here, on the Coronation Chair, and the last hundred years have added the scenes the Crown audience knows by heart. Elizabeth married in 1947 in a dress bought with ration coupons, and was crowned here in 1953 in the first coronation shown on television. Elton John sang Candle in the Wind at Diana's funeral in 1997, and her brother gave the address. William and Catherine married in 2011 under an avenue of trees planted down the nave. The Queen's coffin came here in September 2022, and Charles III was crowned the following May.\n\nAround all that is the church itself, Gothic and full of the dead: kings and queens, Newton, Darwin, Dickens, and the grave of the Unknown Warrior just inside the west door. Royal brides have laid their wedding bouquets on that grave since 1923, when the future Queen Mother left hers there on her way into the church.","note_links":null,"reading":null,"figure":{"src":"/img/own-westminster-abbey.jpg?v=58507ac6","thumb":"/img/own-westminster-abbey-480.jpg?v=b58d218d","width":768,"height":1024,"thumb_width":360,"alt":"One of Westminster Abbey's west towers in low sun, seen from the lane below","caption":"A west tower in the last of the sun."},"figures":[{"src":"/img/own-westminster-abbey-2.jpg?v=9f2f7e93","thumb":"/img/own-westminster-abbey-2-480.jpg?v=f4839108","width":1024,"height":768,"thumb_width":480,"alt":"The Abbey's pinnacles at night above lit street lamps and bare trees","caption":"The roofline at night."},{"src":"/img/own-westminster-abbey-3.jpg?v=b7af1268","thumb":"/img/own-westminster-abbey-3-480.jpg?v=00322be5","width":1024,"height":768,"thumb_width":480,"alt":"The Abbey gardens, a brick range in front and the transept's rose window behind","caption":"The gardens, with the rose window over the roofs."},{"src":"/img/own-westminster-abbey-4.jpg?v=c0e7f619","thumb":"/img/own-westminster-abbey-4-480.jpg?v=28d67876","width":1024,"height":768,"thumb_width":480,"alt":"The abbey's north front at dusk: a great rose window above three deep pointed porches crowded with carved figures, pinnacled turrets either side, and plane trees in leaf overhanging the view.","caption":"The north door of Westminster Abbey."},{"src":"/img/own-westminster-abbey-5.jpg?v=8253e0fc","thumb":"/img/own-westminster-abbey-5-480.jpg?v=38d05a3f","width":1024,"height":768,"thumb_width":480,"alt":"The fan vault of the Lady Chapel from below: carved stone fanning out into hanging pendants across the whole ceiling, rows of heraldic banners in green, blue, red and gold along both sides above the stalls, and tall stained glass at the east end.","caption":"The Lady Chapel with its intricate fan vaulted ceiling."}],"from":null,"country":null,"country_name":null,"also":null,"years":null,"plaque":null,"rank":null,"whats_on":[{"slug":"free-sunday-organ-recitals","name":"Free Sunday organ recitals","href":"/venues/westminster-abbey/free-sunday-organ-recitals/","verdict":"Half an hour on the Abbey organ at five on a Sunday, free, no ticket.","runs":{"from":"2026-09-13","to":"2026-11-08"},"types":["concert","free","music","classical"],"clue":["Concert","Classical"]}],"also_in":[{"name":"Performance venues","href":"/venues/westminster-abbey/"},{"name":"30 Things to See First","href":"/see-first/westminster-abbey/"},{"name":"Power & Politics","href":"/politics/westminster-abbey/"},{"name":"Sacred London","href":"/sacred/westminster-abbey/"}],"maps_q":"Westminster Abbey, 20 Dean's Yard, SW1P 3PA, London","in_area":{"slug":"westminster","name":"Westminster"},"bank":1,"near_all":[{"n":"Jewel Tower","s":"jewel-tower","c":"museums","cn":"Museums","m":122},{"n":"Supreme Court of the United Kingdom","s":"supreme-court-of-the-united-kingdom","c":"politics","cn":"Power & Politics","m":122},{"n":"Millicent Fawcett statue","s":"millicent-fawcett-statue","c":"monuments","cn":"Monuments & Ruins","m":141}],"near_same":[{"s":"charles-i-bust-st-margarets","m":71},{"s":"oliver-cromwell-statue","m":119},{"s":"houses-of-parliament","m":195},{"s":"remembrance-sunday-at-the-cenotaph","m":375},{"s":"the-cenotaph","m":375},{"s":"trooping-the-colour","m":531}]},{"slug":"windsor-by-train-from-waterloo","name":"Windsor, by train from Waterloo","area":"Waterloo","address":"South Western Railway from London Waterloo to Windsor & Eton Riverside, SE1 8SW","station":"London Waterloo","walk":1,"lat":51.50196,"lng":-0.11319,"hours":null,"hours_raw":null,"hours_source":null,"hours_url":"https://www.rct.uk/visit/windsor-castle","hours_short":"Castle Thursday to Monday, 10:00\u201317:15 from March to October and 10:00\u201316:15 in winter; closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays","hours_checked":"2026-09-05","hours_extra":"Direct trains from Waterloo; Paddington via Slough is the alternative. St George's Chapel closes to visitors on Sundays for services.","runs":null,"website":"https://www.rct.uk/visit/windsor-castle","instagram":null,"attrs":[],"osm":null,"types":["charles","church","elizabeth","inside","palace","trip","william"],"deep":null,"scope":"Day trip: train from Waterloo","scope_icon":"train","route":null,"venue_group":null,"geo":null,"geo_zone":null,"verdict":"The castle the Queen called home, and St George's Chapel, where she is buried with Philip, her parents and her sister, and where Harry married Meghan.","note":"Windsor was where Elizabeth II spent the war as a child, most weekends of her reign and the pandemic, and where she chose to be buried: the King George VI Memorial Chapel off the north aisle of St George's has her, Philip, her parents and Margaret's ashes under one black stone. The chapel also held Harry and Meghan's wedding in 2018 and Philip's funeral in 2020, the Queen alone in her pew; the State Apartments hold the Waterloo Chamber, St George's Hall rebuilt after the 1992 fire and Queen Mary's dolls' house, and the Changing of the Guard happens in the quadrangle. William and Catherine live in the park since 2022.","note_links":null,"reading":null,"figure":{"src":"/img/windsor-by-train-from-waterloo.jpg?v=dee409ec","thumb":"/img/windsor-by-train-from-waterloo-480.jpg?v=5603abb6","width":1024,"height":768,"alt":"Windsor Castle's grey Round Tower and battlemented walls on a hill above the Thames, seen across the river from a grass bank in evening light, with two boats moored below the trees.","caption":"","credit":"Photo by Michael Coppins, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons","credit_url":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Windsor_Castle,_across_the_River_Thames.jpg","thumb_width":480},"figures":[{"src":"/img/windsor-by-train-from-waterloo-2.jpg?v=9d38cee7","thumb":"/img/windsor-by-train-from-waterloo-2-480.jpg?v=8fa337bc","width":1024,"height":706,"alt":"A long stone range of the castle with rows of gothic windows running away to a round tower, a strip of lawn and shrubs along its foot.","caption":"","credit":"Photo by Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons","credit_url":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Castillo_de_Windsor,_Inglaterra,_2014-08-12,_DD_18.JPG","thumb_width":480},{"src":"/img/windsor-by-train-from-waterloo-3.jpg?v=e8b9a83b","thumb":"/img/windsor-by-train-from-waterloo-3-480.jpg?v=e9dc7071","width":1024,"height":768,"alt":"A straight tree-lined avenue running for miles across parkland to the castle on the horizon, seen from the top of a hill on a clear day.","caption":"The Long Walk, from Snow Hill in Windsor Great Park","credit":"Photo by Michael Coppins, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons","credit_url":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Windsor_Castle_and_The_Long_Walk.jpg","thumb_width":480},{"src":"/img/windsor-by-train-from-waterloo-4.jpg?v=dfb5d954","thumb":"/img/windsor-by-train-from-waterloo-4-480.jpg?v=5c4ca333","width":1024,"height":682,"alt":"The castle's towers and battlements glowing pink in low sun at the end of a straight avenue lined with autumn trees, with people walking towards it.","caption":"The Long Walk","credit":"Photo by Diliff, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons","credit_url":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Windsor_Castle_at_Sunset_-_Nov_2006.jpg","thumb_width":480},{"src":"/img/windsor-by-train-from-waterloo-5.jpg?v=4d3cc902","thumb":"/img/windsor-by-train-from-waterloo-5-480.jpg?v=d920c54a","width":1024,"height":576,"alt":"A wide lawn enclosed by long stone ranges with rows of tall windows and battlemented towers, under a cloudy sky.","caption":"The Quadrangle of the Upper Ward","credit":"Photo by The wub, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons","credit_url":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Windsor_Castle,_2015-05-03.jpg","thumb_width":480}],"from":null,"country":null,"country_name":null,"also":null,"years":null,"plaque":null,"rank":null,"maps_q":"Windsor, by train from Waterloo, London","bank":0}]}