Facing a great park in the heart of Brussels, its long neoclassical facade stretching in dignified symmetry above the city, stands the official palace of the King of the Belgians.

On the plain north of Naples, at the end of an avenue that runs dead straight for miles, rises a palace so vast that it is difficult to take in.

In a green bowl of hills at the heart of Sri Lanka, beside a tranquil artificial lake, stands the last royal capital of the ancient kingdom of the Sinhalese. Here,

Where the Mekong meets the Nam Khan River, on a narrow tongue of land beneath a sacred hill, lies Luang Prabang, one of the most beautiful and best-preserved old towns

Rising above the western edge of old Madrid, its long pale facade looking out across a great paved square, stands the largest royal palace in Western Europe. The Royal Palace

Founded by a French marshal turned northern king, Oslo’s neoclassical Royal Palace stands at the head of the city’s grand avenue as the heart of Norway’s monarchy.

At the top of Oslo’s grandest avenue, raised on a gentle hill above the heart of the Norwegian capital, stands a long, dignified building of pale yellow that closes the

Behind long yellow walls beside the great river in the heart of Phnom Penh rises a vision of golden spires and tiered roofs, their tips curling up to the sky

In the town of Abomey, in the West African nation of Benin, stand the remains of one of the most powerful and remarkable kingdoms in the history of the continent.

In the far south of Burkina Faso, hidden in the bush near the borders with Ghana and Ivory Coast, stand the tall stone walls of an ancient fortress. Built of