Stirling Palace was built for King James V and his second queen, Mary of Guise. It is one of the most remarkable and complete Renaissance buildings in Britain.

In 1538, James was preparing to marry his second French wife. To mark the arrival of his bride, James commissioned a new Palace in Stirling Castle. It was intended to be as fine as any princely residence she would have known in the richer kingdom of France.

The Palace was designed to display James V’s wealth, learning and sophistication, as well as asserting his right to rule.

Its elaborate decorative scheme, inside and out, was inspired by the European Renaissance. It draws on ideas from the Classical world, employing elaborate symbols and motifs to broadcast messages of power and prosperity, wisdom and justice.

Both the interiors and the exteriors would have been painted in bright colours, with plentiful gilding, overwhelming the visitor’s eye with richness and flamboyance.

The Palace comprises Royal Lodgings for the king and queen. Each apartment has three spacious rooms – in ascending order of privacy: an Outer Hall‚ an Inner Hall and a Bedchamber. Access to these rooms was restricted according to the importance of the visitor and the royal privilege extended to them.

Both the king’s and queen’s suites are on the same floor, arranged around a courtyard known as the Lion’s Den.

These rooms were used for a variety of purposes, including taking meals, greeting important visitors, dancing and entertainments, royal audiences and meetings about affairs of state.

But the bedchambers were rarely used for sleeping. The king and queen slept in small private chambers known as closets.

The Royal Lodgings have now been returned to something approaching their former glory. A major programme of research and re-presentation, lasting 10 years and costing £12 million, was completed in summer 2011.

Visitors can now glimpse life in one of the great royal residences of Scotland’s kings and queens. The decorative scheme is amazingly elaborate and colourful. It includes hand-woven tapestries, superb, hand-made furniture and painted replicas of the famous Stirling Heads – carved portraits in oak that once adorned the ceiling of James V’s magnificent Palace.

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