former English royal residence located in Westminster (Westminster, City of), London, on a site between the Thames River and the present-day St. James's Park. York Place, the London residence of the archbishops of York since 1245, originally occupied the site.

Cardinal Wolsey enlarged the mansion and lived there until his fall, when Henry VIII acquired and reconstructed it, employed Hans Holbein the Younger in its decoration, and made it his principal residence. Inigo Jones designed a new palace for James I, but only the Banqueting House was completed (1622); this survived several fires, one of which (1698) destroyed most of the rest of the palace.