The university is located at Hatley Park National Historic Site on Vancouver Island and is the successor to the Royal Roads Military College (RRMC), which was originally a training base for naval officers and later Canadian Air Force and Army personnel.

[1][2] The campus covers approximately 260 hectares of leased property on the grounds of Hatley Castle, which was designed by architect Samuel Maclure in the early twentieth century for British Columbia politician and coal magnate James Dunsmuir and his family.

The university's main building, Hatley Castle, is a Scottish baronial style mansion that was completed in 1908 for James Dunsmuir, who was then the Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia and previously the province's Premier from 1900 to 1902.

In 1995, Hatley Park and former Royal Roads Military College was declared a National Historic Site of Canada to commemorate the Dunsmuir family (1908–1937) and RRMC (1940–1995).

[7] A replica of Horatio Nelson's quote, "Duty is the great business of a sea officer: All private considerations must give way to it however painful it is", which hung over the entrance to the Grant Building, was returned to Royal Roads University's campus for Homecoming in 2011.

The museum's mandate is to collect, conserve, research, and display material relating to the history of the Royal Roads Military College, its former cadets and its site.

The campus and surrounding grounds of Royal Roads University are situated at Hatley Park National Historic Site in Colwood, British Columbia.

Hatley Castle and its surroundings have made appearances in numerous movies and TV series programs such as Smallville where it serves as the Luthor Mansion, and the second and third X-Men films where the university is transformed into Professor Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters.

Tours of the castle itself are available (schedule is seasonal) and access to the heritage gardens (approx 20 acres) have a visitor fee that helps offset the cost of preserving the site.

In a visit to the university in August 2009, Prime Minister Stephen Harper stated: "There is surely no more beautiful campus in Canada than Lord Dunsmuir’s magnificent castle and the majestic forest and gardens of the Hatley Park National Historic Site.

Based on the 2011 National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), Royal Roads University was ranked as the 1st public institution for an active and collaborative learning experience and for level of academic challenge.