Royal Collection

The Royal Collection is not kept in one museum. It is spread through the palaces and castles the British monarch uses or once used, from Windsor to Holyroodhouse, and it is one of the largest art collections in the world, held in trust by the sovereign rather than owned outright.

Much of its character comes from a disaster. King Charles I was one of the great collectors of 17th-century Europe, and after he was executed in 1649 the new republic sold off his pictures to raise cash, scattering Titians and Raphaels across the continent. When the monarchy returned in 1660 his son Charles II clawed back what he could, and later kings kept buying.

What survives is astonishing in depth. There are more than 500 drawings by Leonardo da Vinci, bought as a single album in the 17th century, along with Vermeer's quiet Music Lesson, dozens of views of Venice by Canaletto, and a wall of Holbein portraits of Henry VIII's court. Because the works are still working royal property, they rotate through public shows at the King's Gallery in London and at Windsor, so what you see depends on the year you come.