Somerset Place (as Somerset House was known as in the sixteenth century) was Elizabeth’s first official London residence.  Its location on the Strand was a very convenient point on the processional route between the Tower of London and the Whitehall/Westminster enclave. 

Elizabeth was originally granted Durham Place in Henry VIII’s will but was persuaded by the Duke of Northumberland to exchange it for Somerset Place, which came into her possession in 1553. Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, had begun building Somerset Place during the Protectorate of his young nephew, Edward VI, to be a London base commensurate with his power and wealth.  It was only partially constructed when Somerset fell from his mighty position and was executed.  Consequently, it required substantial work, mostly on the interiors, to complete it for use by Elizabeth.

Northumberland appointed his son, Robert Dudley, to oversee the necessary works, which he did briefly before being taken to the Tower with the rest of his family after the failed attempt to put Lady Jane Grey on the throne.

It was to Somerset Place that Elizabeth came from Hatfield House, with her 2000 mounted and armed attendants dressed in Tudor green and white livery, in July 1553 after her sister Mary had successfully claimed the Crown.  It also became the focus of her power base in the months leading up to Mary’s death in 1558 and, following a brief sojourn at the Tower of London, was where she initially stayed in London when she became Queen.  Elizabeth held her first Privy Council meetings in London in the Great Council Chamber at Somerset Place, hosting 15 in total there before she moved into Whitehall Palace, which, as monarch, became her official London residence.

However, Elizabeth retained Somerset Place and used it primarily for hosting foreign ambassadors; and provided lodgings for some senior nobles there too.  Elizabeth’s first cousin, Henry Carey, Baron Hunsdon, had a suite of privy lodgings at Somerset Place and used it as his London base before he bought his own residence at Blackfriars.

Elizabeth continued to use Somerset Place from time to time and, indeed, made 14 visits to it across her reign, often when she wanted to be seen to be closer to her people, as part of a procession or for an important public event.  In 1585 she spent Lent there and heard her Lenten sermons sitting at a window in the outer court where she was seen by crowds of people.

After Elizabeth’s death, James VI and I granted it to his wife, Anne of Denmark, and it remained the official London residence of queen consorts throughout the seventeenth century.  In the eighteenth century, the Government demolished what had become the old-fashioned and dilapidated Tudor palace, replacing it with the impressive Neo-Classical building which remains at the heart of Somerset House today.  Now it is operated by Somerset House Trust as a public working arts centre.