Historic Royal Palaces

Historic Royal Palaces is a legally independent non-profit organization that administers the uninhabited palaces of the British royal family on behalf of the British Ministry of Education. The organization managed:

• The Tower of London
• Hampton Court Palace
• Kensington Palace - only the public spaces.
• Banqueting House
• Kew Palace

These responsibilities include the maintenance and care of the palaces and the associated parks and gardens. It aims to bring the public through various measures, the palaces, eg by opening the locks for sightseeing. Overall, about 3.2 million people a year visit the obligations enters palaces.

The organization is funded by admission fees, economic activities, donations and membership fees, it receives no public funding. Even through publications of books and brochures to fund the organization.

The interior of most of the palaces belonging to the British Crown, the weapons collection in the Tower of London, the Royal Armouries.

The uninhabited palaces still owned by the British royal family, under UK law and may not sell this. After the Crown Lands Act 1851, however, the British state is responsible for the management of disused palaces. From the 19th to the late 20th century, the palaces were supervised by different government agencies. The co-management came in 1989, when the Historic Royal Palaces were established as a department within the Ministry of Environment. As part of the privatization of the 1990s in the United Kingdom, the Historic Royal Palaces became independent on 1 April 1998. They are also encouraged since neither the British government from the British royal family.

The Board of Trustees of Historic Royal Palaces sit both emissaries of the royal household and the constable of the Tower.