Royal residences of Greenwich

Eltham was a favourite palace of the Plantagenet kings and their successors.

Given as a gift in 1305 to Edward, Prince of Wales (later Edward II) by Anthony Bek, Bishop of Durham under the Tudors, it became a royal nursery for the children of Henry VII. Despite also being raised at Eltham, the children of Henry VIII abandoned the palace, leaving it to decline as a farmhouse and then a private residence.

In the twentieth century the palace's fortunes were revived when textile heir Stephen Courtauld and his wife restored the surviving great hall. It was to adjoin their magnificent new modern art deco palace, designed by the architects Seeley and Paget.

When the Courtaulds left in 1944 the house was allocated to the Army Educational Corps, who remained there until 1992. English Heritage restored the 1930s interiors and gardens and, in 1999, the house and grounds opened to the public.