Throughout the centuries, Britain's kings and queens have built or bought palaces to serve as family homes, workplaces and as centres of government.

The residences still standing today can be roughly divided into three categories:

Official Royal residences which are held in trust for future generations. As well as being family homes for members of the Royal Family, these are also working buildings which are used for housing the offices of staff from the Royal Household, entertaining official guests and hosting formal events and ceremonies. The best-known of these residences are probably Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle.

Private Estates are owned by The Queen and are often used to generate private income through farming or public access to Royal residences, they also house some well-known private residences such as Balmoral Castle and Sandringham House.

Unoccupied Royal residences are all other buildings in Great Britain which once housed members of the Royal Family and are therefore of historical interest. These buildings are owned by numerous bodies and individuals and many are open to the general public. Because of the sheer number of these buildings, it is impossible to provide a definitive list and only those run by Historic Royal Palaces are marked on the locations map.

The Historic Royal Palaces are a specific set of former Royal residences which are owned by The Queen on behalf of the nation and run by an independent charity known as Historical Royal Palaces. These palaces are: the Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace, the Banqueting House, Kensington Palace and Kew Palace.

Full details about visiting the State Rooms, the Royal Mews and The Queen's Gallery at Buckingham Palace, Clarence House, Windsor Castle and Frogmore House, the Palace of Holyroodhouse and The Queen's Gallery in Edinburgh are available from the Royal Collection website.

Visitor information for Balmoral is available from the Balmoral Castle website.

Visitor information for Sandringham is available from the Sandringham Estate website.

Information on visiting the Tower of London, Kensington Palace, Hampton Court Palace and the Banqueting House is available from the Historic Royal Palaces website.