Apethorpe Palace formerly known as Apethorpe Hall, Apethorpe House or Apthorp Park, in Apethorpe, Northamptonshire, England is a Grade I listed country house dating back to the 15th century and was “favourite royal residence for James I”. Apethorpe is pronounced ‘Ap-thorp’. The main house is built around three courtyards lying on an east?west axis and is approximately 80,000 square feet in area. It is acknowledged as one of the finest Jacobean stately homes in England, and was the main seat of the Fane family, Earls of Westmorland.
Apethorpe holds a particularly important place in English history because of its ownership by, and role in entertaining, Tudor and Stuart monarchs. Elizabeth I inherited the palace from her father Henry VIII. Her successor James I personally contributed to its extension resulting in a set of impressive state rooms featuring some of the most important surviving plasterwork and fireplaces of the period. There were at least thirteen extended royal visits from the Stuart kings ? more than to any other house in the country ? between 1603 and 1636, and it was at Apethorpe that James met George Villiers, his favourite, later to become Duke of Buckingham. A series of court masques written by Ben Jonson for James I were performed while the King was in residence at Apethorpe. The palace was also lived in regularly by Charles I.
After funding an extensive programme of restoration, English Heritage (now rebranded Historic England) sold the house into private hands in 2014. Before the sale English Heritage and the new owner agreed to rename the house Apethorpe Palace due to its royal ownership and use, along with its outstanding historic and architectural significance. In a video introducing the sale, English Heritage director Simon They described the house as “the Royal Palace of Apethorpe.” The change of name has been challenged by some bloggers but, since April 2015, the house is officially registered as Apethorpe Palace in the National Heritage List.