The Palace of Holyroodhouse is the monarch’s official residence in Scotland, at the eastern end of Edinburgh’s Royal Mile opposite Edinburgh Castle. It began as a monastery site in 1128, and the palace became closely associated with Mary, Queen of Scots and later royal state occasions.
It is both a working royal residence and a historic visitor attraction, with the State Apartments, Mary, Queen of Scots’ chambers, Holyrood Abbey ruins, and royal gardens open to visitors when the Royal Family is not in residence.
The palace is one of Scotland’s most important royal sites because it reflects centuries of Scottish and British royal history, from James IV’s early 16th-century palace to the later Baroque rebuilding by Sir William Bruce.
 
Interesting facts...
David Rizzio (or Riccio) was an Italian courtier and private secretary to Mary, Queen of Scots. The two became close and perhaps too close. 
On the evening of 9 March 1566, a group of armed Protestant lords, led by Patrick Ruthven, stormed Mary’s supper chamber in the palace while she was dining with Rizzio, heavily pregnant with the future James VI.  Mary tried to protect him, but the conspirators dragged Rizzio through the bedchamber into the audience chamber (or “audience hall”) and stabbed him about 50–57 times before throwing his body down the nearby staircase.