The old red-brick palace which stands at the foot of St. James's Street, looking up towards the busy throng of Piccadilly, still gives the diplomatic title to the Court of Great Britain, though it has long been neglected by royalty. It stands serene amid the traffic of Pall Mall, having gained with the passing of ages some of that [pg 49] dignity with which it was said to be lacking in the eighteenth century, when Sir John Fielding wrote "it reflects no honour on the kingdom, and is the jest of foreigners." Certainly less romantic in its history than Westminster or Whitehall, it yet remains to-day a Tudor palace, while its more picturesque rivals have crumbled away.
Long before the palace was erected, a small hospital stood upon its site, its inmates being fourteen chaste maidens, victims of the deadly malady of leprosy. The position had been chosen carefully, owing to its extreme loneliness, it being then completely surrounded by fields. In course of time eight brothers had been added to the hospital, which was known as St. James the Less, and the whole property had been granted by Henry VI. to his new foundation, Eton College. When Henry VIII. took possession of Wolsey's palace in Whitehall, he purchased the hospital and all the green fields round it, in order to obtain a park for his new residence. One is glad to learn that the unfortunate leprous maidens were pensioned off for the rest of their lives.
King Henry immediately set to work to build a sort of country manor-house for himself, surrounding the park with a brick wall, and at the same time draining it, for originally it was a somewhat dreary marsh. It is said that Holbein, the artist, drew up the plans for the palace, which were carried out by Thomas Cromwell, Wolsey's secretary, who rose in Henry's favour upon his master's fall. But whoever was the architect, the palace is essentially Tudor, and remains so in spite of the various additions made by the later monarchs. The gatehouse, with its four octagon towers and its clock, is the most familiar feature of the palace. Unfortunately, [pg 50] from a sentimental point of view, the clock is a new one; an older one, bearing the date 1731, was removed in 1831, and is now at Hampton Court Palace. Perhaps the most interesting part of the interior is the Old Presence Chamber, now known as the Tapestry Room, from the fine tapestry representing Venus and Mars, which had been made for Charles I., but had been put away in a chest and apparently forgotten, till it was discovered and hung up for the wedding of George IV. The stone Tudor fireplace in this room bears the initials H. and A. for Henry and Anne Boleyn, united most inappropriately, considering their later history, by a true lover's knot.
The Gate Tower of St. James's Palace.
In spite of Henry's early enthusiasm, he was not often at the palace, which, indeed, was seldom used for any length of time, till after the fire at Whitehall, and even then Kensington Palace was preferred. It was more usually occupied by the heir to the throne, or some of the younger members of the royal family. Unhappy Queen Mary, soured by her early misfortunes, neglected by her husband, and despairing of the restoration of her Church, died after a weary illness on November 17, 1558, in the palace which she had always [pg 51] loved. Her successors did not reside there, Queen Elizabeth only coming for brief periods, and James I. giving it to his son, Prince Henry, who died there of a malignant fever, imputed, as was customary at that time, to poison.
On the death of his brother, Charles I., as Prince of Wales, took up his residence in St. James's Palace, spending the early years of his married life there, most of his children being born within its walls. Associated with the hopeful time of his young manhood, the palace also recalls his last days upon earth, before the final scene at Whitehall. Arriving on January 19, 1649, Charles spent the remainder of his life there, with the exception of the few days of his trial when he was lodged in the precincts of the old pala............