Whitehall Palace Burns Down: England's Largest Royal Residence Destroyed
The Palace of Whitehall burned on January 4, 1698. A Dutch laundrywoman left linen too close to a charcoal fire. The flames spread through buildings that had been added haphazardly over two centuries until the whole complex was burning. The fire destroyed 1,500 rooms — the largest palace in Europe at the time. Only the Banqueting House survived, the same building outside which Charles I had been executed 49 years earlier. William III, who was staying at Kensington when the fire started, never rebuilt it. The English monarchy never had a London palace that size again.
January 4, 1698
328 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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