Woodstock Palace

[1] Henry III frequently visited the palace for entertainment, including once in 1237 when he invited his long-confined cousin Eleanor, Fair Maid of Brittany.

[2] Important events that took place at the palace or manor include: A chapel or oratory was built for Eleanor of Provence, the wife of Henry III, in 1250.

In the reign of Henry VIII, Sir Edward Chamberlain organised repairs to the newer buildings and to "Rosamund's Place".

[14] She is said to have been lodged in the upper floors of the gatehouse in 1554, and scratched inscriptions on the palace windows with a diamond ring, and written on a shutter with charcoal.

[19] King James I and his wife Anne of Denmark, her secretary William Fowler, and Arbella Stuart came to Woodstock in September 1603 during a time of plague.

[22] In 1611, King James I gave Woodstock Palace to his son Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales,[23] who had a banqueting house built of leafy tree branches in the park, in which he held a dinner for his parents and his sister Princess Elizabeth in August 1612.

[24][25] Henry paid for a poor boy from Woodstock to be apprenticed with Thomas Wilson, a shoemaker on the Strand who worked for the royal family.

In 1705, Parliament granted the royal manor and honour (i.e. feudal barony) of Woodstock to John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough (1650–1722), in recognition of his victory over the French at the Battle of Blenheim on 13 August 1704.

The manor was to be held in feudal tenure from Queen Anne in free socage by service of grand serjeanty "of presenting at Windsor Castle, on the anniversary of the battle, a standard bearing the fleur-de-lys of France".

By a further Royal Licence, 26 May 1817, the inescutcheon was added as an augmentation of honour to the arms of the Dukes of Marlborough,[29] and is still borne by them today.