What is the difference between a castle and a palace?

(Shown here is Bodium Castle, England.) The term 'palace' comes from Rome's Palatine Hill, where the rich and famous built their sumptuous homes in Roman times. So when we're wondering what's the difference between a castle and a palace, the most important difference is that a palace is not fortified.



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Palaces are only palaces if they are exceptionally lavish and built with the intention of being a home. So you can't call any old building a palace just because royalty decides to live there for a while; it had to have been built for that purpose. So that's your answer.

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While kings and queens certainly took up residence in palaces as well as castles, nonmilitary royals might also have lived in (or still live in) palaces. Bishops and ministers could live in castles to showcase the power of their immense riches rather than their nonexistent military power.

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(Shown here is Bodium Castle, England.) The term 'palace' comes from Rome's Palatine Hill, where the rich and famous built their sumptuous homes in Roman times. So when we're wondering what's the difference between a castle and a palace, the most important difference is that a palace is not fortified.

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The palace, like Windsor Castle, is owned by the reigning monarch in right of the Crown. Occupied royal palaces are not part of the Crown Estate, nor are they the monarch's personal property, unlike Sandringham House and Balmoral Castle.

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Windsor Castle is just 20 miles west of Buckingham Palace, and it is the largest (and longest occupied) castle in Europe.

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However, it's universally accepted that a real castle had to fulfil two major functions: it had to be a splendid home for the lord or the king, and it had to have defences to withstand an attack and protect a garrison in times of war.

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Bowman's Castle, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, built in 1789, the oldest Gothic Revival castle in the United States. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Bull Run Castle, Aldie, Virginia, hand-built from 1980 to 1999 by the owner, John Roswell Miller, and his family.

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Windsor Castle is the oldest and largest inhabited castle in the world and has been the family home of British kings and queens for almost 1,000 years. It is an official residence of Her Majesty The Queen and is still very much a working royal palace today, home to around 150 people.

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The most important person in a castle was the owner —the king, lord, knight or lady.

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Wales. While Germany may have the most amount of castles, Wales is the country with the most castles per square mile. Despite its small size, Wales had over 600 castles. Today over 400 castles still stand and are waiting to be explored by visitors.

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For example, kitchens were called kitchens as were pantries and cellars. The most important room in a royal palace or castle was the Great Hall. Unless there was another hall, it was usually referred to simply as 'the hall'. Rectangular in shape, it normally had windows on one of the long sides.

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Medieval Castle: Motte and Bailey Castles Motte and Bailiey castles were the earliest form of medieval castles built completely from scratch by the Normans. As their name suggests they had two parts the Motte and the Bailey. The Motte was a large hill made of earth on which was built a wooden keep or lookout.

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A bailey is the sturdy wall around a castle that keeps invaders out. The bailey of a medieval castle was usually built of stone. You might see a bailey — or the remains of one — if you tour a castle in England or France.

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The Most Beautiful Palaces in the World
  • Palace of Versailles, France.
  • Alhambra, Spain.
  • Palacio Real, Spain.
  • Pena Palace, Portugal.
  • Royal Palace of Rabat, Morocco.
  • Mysore Palace, India.
  • The Grand Palace, Thailand.
  • Buckingham Palace, London.


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