Grosvenor Square in the heart of Mayfair in London has often been called ‘Little America’, although it actually takes its name from the Grosvenors, the family who own the land there. It is where the first American Consulate in Britain was found, the consul being John Adams, who later became America’s second president. He was a Founding Father, and the wish to establish cordial relations with the former enemy nation is part of the reason he moved to a house in Grosvenor Square at the corner of Brook and Duke Streets, one which still stands.

Six buildings in central London are royal palaces – but only three of these (Buckingham Palace, Kensington Palace, and Saint James’s Palace ) are still used as homes by members of the royal family. In addition, Clarence House is a royal home but not a royal palace. Three older palaces (Placentia Palace, Richmond Palace, and Nonsuch Palace) on the outskirts of London have now vanished except for memorial plaques while Windsor Castle, Hampton Court, and Kew Palace are intact and open to visitors. Windsor is the royal family’s oldest home, and where Saint George’s Chapel is the final resting place of many monarchs, including the late Queen Elizabeth I.