The Banqueting House is the only surviving section of Whitehall Palace - which in its heyday was the largest royal palace in Europe. The palace started life in the fourteenth-century, was seized by Henry VIII in the 1520s then extended it dramatically.

When James I came to the throne (1603) he replaced the dilapidated Banqueting House with a new construction designed for entertaining and holding 'masques'. After a disastrous fire the Banqueting House was immediately rebuilt by the architect Inigo Jones (1622).

Whitehall Palace was destroyed by fire in 1698 and the surviving Banqueting House eventually became a royal chapel.

Today visitors can admire the architecture and the fabulous Ruben's ceiling painting commissioned by Charles I which is the only Rubens scheme painted by him to remain in its original position.

For further information contact:
www.hrp.org.uk