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London

Richmond-upon-Thames

Themes	Explorers and Adventurers	Nobel Prize Winners
Actors and Directors	Famous People	Places of Interest
Anglo-Saxons and Danes	Historic Events	Prime Ministers
AONB (National Landscapes)	Inventors and Scientists	Royal Consorts and Heirs
Artists and Architects	Monarchs	World Heritage Sites
Composers and Musicians	National Parks	Writers and Poets

London | Richmond-upon-Thames

The County of London was formed in 1889 from parts of the ancient counties of Middlesex, Kent and Surrey, with the City of London remaining an independent body.

In 1965 Greater London was formed, taking in the rest of Middlesex (which no longer existed as a county) together with parts of Essex and Hertfordshire and further areas of Kent and Surrey.

Greater London is made up of 13 Inner and 19 Outer London boroughs together with the City of London.

Richmond-upon-Thames once lay in Middlesex (west of the river Thames) and Surrey (east of the River Thames) and is today one of the 19 boroughs making up Outer London. The River Thames forms the northern and southern border of the borough.

London Boroughs

Anglo-Saxons and Danes

Anglo-Saxon Kings

Danish Kings

Part of the borough (Twickenham) once lay in Middlesex which once formed the kingdom the kingdom of the Middle Saxons, so named because their kingdom lay between those of the East Saxons (Essex) and the West Saxons (Wessex).

Artists and Architects

In 1788 the portrait and landscape painter Thomas Gainsborough was buried at St Anne's Church in Kew.

Thomas Gainsborough

Explorers and Adventurers

Richard Francis Burton was buried at Mortlake in 1890. Burton had set out with John Hanning Speke in 1856 to find the source of the Nile. In 1858 they became the first Europeans to reach Lake Tanganyika but Burton, suffering from malaria, had to turn back and it was Speke travelling on alone who discovered the river's source which he named Lake Victoria.

Richard Francis Burton

Monarchs

Sheen
Palace

Sheen Palace

Edward III died at Sheen Palace (then in Surrey) in 1377. He had ruled for half a century since 1327 and was buried at Westminster Abbey.

Edward III

Monarchs buried at Westminster Abbey

Richmond Palace

In 1497 Sheen Palace (then in Surrey) burnt down and Richmond Palace was built in its place. It was here that Henry VIII's father Henry VII died in 1509. He had been the first Tudor monarch and had ruled since wrestling the Crown from the Yorkists in 1485. He is buried at Westminster Abbey.

Henry VII

Monarchs buried at Westminster Abbey

The last Tudor monarch, Henry VIII's daughter Elizabeth I, died at Richmond Palace (then in Surrey) in 1603. She had ruled since 1558 and was buried at Westminster Abbey.

Elizabeth I

Monarchs buried at Westminster Abbey

Hampton Court Palace

Henry VIII's son Edward VI was born at Hampton Court Palace (then in Surrey) in 1537. He succeeded his father on his death in 1547 but only ruled for a short period, dying young in 1553.

Edward VI

In 1540 Henry VIII married his fifth wife Catherine Howard at Hampton Court Palace (then in Surrey).

Catherine Howard

Henry VIII

Hampton Court Palace (then in Surrey) was also where Henry VIII married his sixth and last wife Katherine Parr in 1543.

Henry VIII

Katherine Parr

William of Orange was fatally injured after falling from his horse while riding in the grounds of Hampton Court Palace (then in Surrey) in 1702. Born in 1650 in the Hague, in the Netherlands as the grandson of Charles I, he married his cousin Mary II, a granddaughter of Charles I. They ruled jointly from the Glorious Revolution of 1689 until Mary's death in 1694, from when William ruled alone. William was from the Dutch House of Orange-Nassau.

William III

Glorious Revolution

Kew Palace

The future William IV married Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen at Kew Palace (then in Surrey) in 1818.

William IV

Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen

White Lodge

Edward VIII was born at White Lodge in Richmond Park (then in Surrey in 1894. In December 1936 he became the only British monarch to voluntarily abdicate so that he could marry the American divorcee Wallace Simpson. He had ruled since January of the same year but was never crowned.

Edward VIII

Places of Interest

Stately Homes and Palaces

Hampton Court Palace (then in Surrey) was Henry VIII's favourite residence. It was here that five of his six wives lived, where in 1543 he married his sixth wife Catherine Parr and where he spent three of his honeymoons. His third wife Jane Seymour died there after giving birth to the future Edward VI in 1537. In 1647 Charles I escaped from imprisonment at the Palace, but was soon back in prison, held at Carisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Wight until his trial and eventual execution in London in 1649.

Hampton Court

Kew Palace (once in Surrey).

Prime Ministers

19th Century

Henry Addington, Prime Minister from 1801-04, died at White Lodge at Richmond Park (then in Surrey) in 1844 and is buried in Mortlake churchyard.

Henry Addington

Twice Prime Minister from 1846-51 and 1865-66, Earl Russell died at Richmond Park (then in Surrey) in 1878.

Earl Russell

Royal Consorts and Heirs

Sheen Palace

In 1394 Anne of Bohemia, the first wife of Richard II, died of plague at Sheen Palace (then in Surrey). She had been Queen since their marriage in 1382. After her death Richard had the Palace destroyed. She was buried at Westminster Abbey.

Royal consorts buried at Westminster Abbey

Hampton Court Palace

In 1537 Henry VIII's third wife Jane Seymour died at Hampton Court Palace (then in Surrey) shortly after giving birth to the King's long awaited male heir, the future Edward VI. Only Queen since the previous year she was buried in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle and would be the only wife to be buried alongside Henry.

Jane Seymour

Royal consorts buried at Windsor

Anne of Denmark, wife of James I, died in 1619 at Hampton Court Palace (then in Surrey). She had become Queen of Scotland when she married James in 1589 and in 1603 of England. She was buried at Westminster Abbey. In 1600 she had given birth to the future Charles I.

Anne of Denmark

Royal consorts buried at Westminster Abbey

Kew Palace

Charlotte Sophia of Mecklenburg-Strelitz died at Kew Palace (then in Surrey) in 1818. Married to George III she had been Queen since their wedding in 1761. She is buried in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. She gave birth to the future George IV in 1762 and William IV in 1765 and was also the grandmother of Queen Victoria.

Charlotte Sophia of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

Royal consorts buried at Windsor

World Heritage Sites

The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew were designated a World Heritage Site by the UNESCO in 2003.

Writers and Poets

The poet Alexander Pope died in 1744 at Twickenham where he is also buried.

Alexander Pope

A man should never be ashamed to own he has been in the wrong, which is but saying, in other words, that he is wiser today than he was yesterday.
Miscellanies (1727)