Dunfermline Palace

The south facade and the gatehouse of the ruins of Dunfermline Palace

Dunfermline Palace on an engraving by William Miller

Dunfermline Palace was a Royal Scottish palace in Dunfermline , Fife . Its ruin is now a tourist attraction and is managed by Historic Scotland .

King Malcolm III of Scotland had declared Dunfermline the capital of the Kingdom of Scotland around the year 1100 ; his residence was in the Malcolm Tower, a few hundred meters to the west. Until the late 16th century, Dunfermline Palace was the preferred residence of the Scottish kings from the early 11th century; both King David II and James I of Scotland and King Charles I of England were born here.

Dunfermline Palace is adjacent to the former Dunfermline Abbey ; the gatehouse - originally one of the city gates of medieval Dunfermline - is the link between the two complexes. The structure that is still visible today is based on the renovations and extensions that were carried out around 1500 during the reign of Jacob IV .

In 1589 James IV of Scotland gave the palace as a morning gift to his wife Anne of Denmark ; three of their children were born here - Elisabeth Stuart (1596), Charles I of England (1600) and Robert Stuart, Duke of Kintyre (1602).

After the unification of the two kingdoms of England and Scotland in 1603, the previously independent Scottish court was dissolved, and the now London- based kings of the United Kingdom no longer showed any interest in Dunfermline Palace. The last king who occasionally used the palace for residential purposes was Charles II . In 1651 - during the Scottish-English Civil War led by Oliver Cromwell - the facility was destroyed.

Today all that remains of Dunfermline Palace are the cellar vaults, the large castle kitchen and the south wall, from which one has an impressive view of the Firth of Forth .

Web links

Commons : Dunfermline Palace - collection of images, videos and audio files

56.0694 -3.4638Coordinates: 56 ° 4 ′ 9.8 " N , 3 ° 27 ′ 49.7" W.