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Historic Royal Palaces

Historic Royal Palaces is an independent charity that manages six of the United Kingdom's royal palaces, five in London and one in Northern Ireland: as well as the Great Pagoda at Kew Gardens.

The Tower of London
Hampton Court Palace
Kensington Palace (State Apartments and Orangery)
The Banqueting House, Whitehall
Kew Palace with Queen Charlotte's Cottage
Hillsborough Castle, Northern Ireland
Great Pagoda at Kew Gardens

Historic Royal Palaces has managed the London palaces since 1989, and Hillsborough Castle since 2014. Occupied royal palaces, such as Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle, are maintained by the Royal Household Property Section, and some are open to the public.

Historic Royal Palaces was originally set up in 1989 as an executive agency of the Department of the Environment. In 1998 it became an independent charity, which is contracted by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport to manage the London palaces on behalf of 'The King in Right of Crown', and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland to manage Hillsborough Castle. It receives no funding from the Government or the Crown, depending on the support of visitors, members, donors, volunteers and sponsors. More than 4 million people visited the palaces in the 2014–15 financial year.

The organisation is jointly curated by Lucy Worsley and Tracy Borman, and the current Chief Executive is John Barnes, who has been in place since 2017.

In 2023, the University of Manchester partnered with Historic Royal Palaces to carry out research on the British monarchy's link to slavery with full access to the Royal Archives and the Royal Collection. The study is expected to be completed by 2026.