House & Family History: Eltham Palace began life, possibly in the 13th century, as an ecclesiastical palace. In 1305 the Bishop of Durham gifted Eltham to King Edward II and the Palace remained a royal residence until the 16th century. In the 1470s Edward IV, whose favorite residence this was, built the only fully surviving element of the Medieval palace, the Great Hall. The Grade I-listed room, which has the third-largest hammerbeam roof in England, is where the young Prince Henry, later Henry VIII, played as a child. After Henry VII rebuilt Greenwich Palace in the early 16th century, Eltham slipped into a long decline. By the mid-17th century the palace was mostly ruinous; it was during this time that Anthony van Dyck was given a grace-and-favour suite of rooms at Eltham as a country retreat. All that remains today of the Medieval palace is the Great Hall, fragments of walls of other buildings, and the 15th century bridge that crosses the moat. Eltham was restored in the 1930s by Stephen and Virginia Courtauld, who let the house on a 99-year lease from the Crown Estate (Stephen was a younger brother of Samuel Courtauld, founder of the Courtauld Institute of Art). The Courtaulds also added the Grade II*-listed Art Deco additions, the most famous of which are the Entrance Hall (designed by the Swedish designer Rolf Engströmer) and Mrs. Courtauld's bathroom, which was created by the Italian designer Piero Malacrida de Saint-August. According to legend, the incident that inspired Edward III's founding of the Order of the Garter in 1348 took place at Eltham Palace. In 1400 Henry IV hosted Manuel II Palaiologos, the only Byzantine emperor ever to visit England, at Eltham. In 1995 English Heritage assumed management of the palace.

Country Life: LXXXI, 534, 568 plan, 594 plan, 1937. CXXXVII, 1342, 1965. CLXI, 1412, 1977.

House Listed: Grade I

Park Listed: Grade II*

"Henry VIII" (1997 - TV documentary series). "High Heels and Low Lifes" (2001). "The Gathering Storm" (2002 - BBC TV movie, as Art Deco dining room in dinner scene with German guest). "I Capture the Castle" (2003). "Bright Young Things" (2003 - as the restaurant where Lord Balcairn [James McAvoy] and Adam Fenwick-Symes [Stephen Campbell Moore] have dinner). "Miss Marple: 4:50 From Paddington" [aka "Marple: What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw"] (2004 - TV series, as Noel Coward's home). "Agatha Christie's Poirot" (2004 - TV series, episode 11.3, "Death on the Nile," as Wode Hall). "Revolver" (2005). "Britain's Best" (2007 - TV documentary, episode 4, "Historic Houses"). "Agatha Christie's Poirot" (2010 - TV, Series XI, in the episode "Three Act Tragedy"). "The Crown" (2016 - TV series, as the location of the fashion show in the episode "Pride & Joy").

Past Seat / Home of: Anthony Bek, Bishop of Durham, early 14th century. King Edward II, 14th century. Prince Henry (later Henry VIII), 16th century. Sir John Shaw, 1st Bt., until 1680; Shaw family here until the late 19th century. Stephen Courtauld, 1933-44.

Current Ownership Type: The Crown / Royal Family

Primary Current Ownership Use: Visitor Attraction

Ownership Details: Eltham is owned by the Crown Estate and managed by English Heritage

House Open to Public: Yes

Phone: 02082-942-548

Email: [email protected]

Website: https://www.english-heritage.org.uk

Awards: Voted number 6 in the Top 10 Regal Wedding Venues in the UK in 2011 by "The Times."

Historic Houses Member: No