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British royal palace within Kew Gardens

Kew Palace is a British royal palace within the grounds of Kew Gardens on the banks of the River Thames. Originally a large complex, few elements of it survive. Dating to 1631 but built atop the undercroft of an earlier building, the main survivor is known as the Dutch House. Its royal occupation lasted from around 1728 until 1818, with a final short lived occupation in 1844. The Dutch House is Grade I listed, and open to visitors. It is cared for by an independent charity, Historic Royal Palaces, which receives no funding from the government or the Crown. Alongside the Dutch House is a part of its 18th century service wing, whilst nearby are a former housekeeper's cottage, brewhouse and kitchen block – most of these buildings are private, though the kitchens are open to the public. These kitchens, the Great Pagoda and Queen Charlotte's Cottage are also run by Historic Royal Palaces.

Beneath the Dutch House is the undercroft of a 16th century building. This was on land owned by John Dudley and restored to his son Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, childhood friend and court favourite of Elizabeth I, in 1558. It belonged to a west facing brick building and may be identifiable with a house in Kew in which Robert Dudley entertained Elizabeth in 1563 – one of Elizabeth's main palaces at that time was the nearby Richmond Palace. In 1619, the building above the undercroft was leased by Samuel Fortrey, who finally demolished all but the undercroft in 1631, erecting a new larger south facing manor house in its place. The father of the author Samuel Fortrey, Samuel Fortrey senior was a merchant descended from a family originating near Lille, though later confusion over his ancestry led to the building becoming known as the Dutch House. That name also originated in the house's supposedly Dutch style of architecture, known as Artisan Mannerist and dominated by Dutch gables – this style was actually more prevalent in London, East Anglia and East Kent than the Netherlands at the time. In 1697, Fortrey's descendants leased the building to Sir Richard Levett, a powerful merchant and the former Lord Mayor of the City of London, who later left it to his daughter Mary.

Facing the 1631 house was another mansion, possibly of Tudor origin. It was often visited by the diarist John Evelyn and passed from Richard Bennett to his daughter Dorothy, wife of Henry Capel. Dorothy and Henry remained childless and so the house then passed to Dorothy's great niece Elizabeth, wife of the Prince of Wales's secretary, Samuel Molyneux, and then of Molyneux's physician Nathaniel St André. This mansion, which was eventually pulled down in 1802,

Frederick began remodelling the gardens associated with the White House, but "after staying all day in the garden till night, in the damp rain and hail to look at his workmen" in 1751 he caught a chill which – combined with a pulmonary embolism – proved fatal. His widow Augusta continued living at the White House with their children and remodelling the gardens. She was advised by her husband's friend John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, and assisted by Sir William Chambers, one of the greatest masters of ornamental English gardening. Frederick's sister Amelia was probably still in the Dutch House throughout the 1730s and 1740s, but seems to have moved out in 1751 when she was made ranger of Richmond Park, which came with a residence at White Lodge. This meant the Dutch House could become a schoolhouse for Augusta's two eldest sons, George (the future George III) and Edward, where they were taught by Bute and Chambers. In 1760 George took the throne, and a year later he married Charlotte of Mecklenburg Strelitz, moving into Richmond Lodge as his summer residence as his family grew – he and Charlotte had fifteen children between 1762 and 1783. Chambers built the Orangery and Pagoda at Kew for Augusta in 1761–62 but later in that decade she mainly lived at Carlton House. However, Augusta nominally retained the Dutch House and White House until her death in 1772, when they passed to George, who demolished Richmond Lodge and switched his summer residence to the White House. He also used the latter building to house some of his art collection, including a number of Canaletto's works and The Tribuna of the Uffizi by Zoffany, who lived nearby and is buried at St Anne's Church. George continued the Dutch House's use as a schoolhouse, now for his two eldest sons George and Frederick. This led to it being known as 'the Prince of Wales's House' or 'the House Late the Prince of Wales's', though the future George IV never lived in it after his childhood. Small households of royal children were lodged in houses on Kew Green and the royal governess Lady Charlotte Finch also lived locally – in a watercolour of c. 1771–72 she is shown in the grounds of the Dutch House with some of the children. A map of 1771 delineated the land between the Dutch House and the river as still belonging to barrister Levett Blackborne, Lincoln's Inn barrister and grandson of Sir Richard Levett. This reflects the fact that the buildings and grounds were only leased by the royal family right up until 13 October 1781, when George III purchased the freehold from the Levetts for £20,000. Seven years later, George was kept in the White House during his first bout of 'madness' from November 1788 to March 1789, with his wife Charlotte and their daughters living on the upper floors and the Grooms of the Bedchamber in the Dutch House. The White House was then allowed to fall into disrepair, though it still proved possible to house him there during the second bout in 1801, whilst Charlotte and her daughters moved into the Dutch House to await news of George's recovery. The White House was finally demolished in 1802 and so on the onset of the third bout of 'madness' in 1804 George was housed in an upgraded single storey service wing of the Dutch House and possibly also on the ground floor of the Dutch House, with Charlotte and the princesses on the Dutch House's first and second floors. (That service wing was mainly demolished in 1881 but originally connected directly onto the west side of the Dutch House.)

George IV also planned to demolish the Dutch House, but this did not come to fruition. Possibly influenced by having been married there in 1818, his brother William IV commissioned plans for adding a west wing to it and bringing it back into use, but this too did not come about. William did offer the Dutch House to his sister in law Victoria, Duchess of Kent for her and her daughter (the future Queen Victoria), but she turned it down as "an old house quite unfit for the princess and me to occupy, being very inadequate in accommodation and almost destitute of furniture". Queen Victoria briefly sent three of her own children there in summer 1844, but the following year she and Prince Albert began remodelling Osborne House on the Isle of Wight as their summer residence. The Dutch House thus remained unoccupied until 1898, when she transferred it and Queen Charlotte's Cottage to Kew Gardens to mark her Diamond Jubilee. By this time the palace's stables and most of the Dutch House's service wing had been demolished, probably in 1881. A replica 17th century Dutch garden was added to the house's rear in 1969. The Dutch House remained open to the public until 1996, when a major restoration project commenced. This not only included physical restoration to the building, but also weaving of period draperies and other fabric décor carried out by master weaver Ian Dale of Scotland. An external lift shaft was added on the west wing for disabled access, in the place of a privy shaft which had been demolished in the 1880s. The building was used to hold a dinner hosted by Charles, Prince of Wales to celebrate the 80th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II on 21 April 2006 – a few days later it reopened as a visitor attraction. The Palace was featured in the 2006 BBC TV documentary series Tales from the Palaces. It is run by Historic Royal Palaces, which has also taken on responsibility for the Royal Kitchens (reopening them to the public in 2012) and the Pagoda (re opened to the public in 2018).