Palace of Placentia

The Palace of Placentia was built by King Henry VII in Greenwich, London on the banks of the River Thames.

It was the birth-place of King Henry VIII in 1491, and figured heavily in his life. Following his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, Placentia was the birth-place of Queen Mary Tudor (later Queen Mary I of England) in February 1516. After his marriage to Anne Boleyn, his daughter, later Queen Elizabeth I, was born at Placentia in 1533, and he married Anne of Cleves there in 1540.

Both Mary and Elizabeth lived at Placentia for some years during the 16th century, but it fell into disuse during the English Civil War (1642-49), serving time as a biscuit factory and a prisoner-of-war camp, before being replaced by new buildings (forming part of Greenwich Hospital) in the late 17th century.