St James's Palace survive, but most were remodelled in the 19th century. The palace was commissioned by Henry VIII, on the site of a former leper hospital dedicated to Saint James the Less. The new palace, secondary in the king's interest to Henry's Whitehall Palace, was constructed between 1531 and 1536 as a smaller residence to escape formal court life. Much smaller than the nearby Whitehall, St James's was arranged around a number of courtyards, including the Colour Court, the Ambassador's Court and the Friary Court. The most recognisable feature is the north gatehouse; constructed with four storeys, the gatehouse has two crenellated
Coronation of the British monarch only a short procession on foot from Westminster Hall to the abbey. For the coronation of George IV in 1821, a state procession from St James's Palace to the abbey was instituted, and this pageantry is an important feature of the modern event. In early modern coronations, the events inside the abbey were usually recorded by artists and published in elaborate folio books of engravings, the last of these was published in 1905 depicting the coronation which had taken place three years earlier. Re-enactments of the ceremony were staged at London and provincial theatres; in 1761, a production featuring the