St James's Park is the oldest of the Royal Parks of London. It stretches from Buckingham Palace at one end to Horse Guards Parade at the other. The park has a small lake, St James's Park Lake, with two islands, Duck Island (named for the lake's collection of waterfowl), and West Island. A bridge across the lake affords a westward view of Buckingham Palace framed by trees and fountains, and a view of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, similarly framed, to the east.
In 1532, Henry VIII purchased the area of swampy marshland, often flooded by the Tyburn, from Eton College. This land lay to the west of York Palace, recently acquired by Henry from Cardinal Wolsey; it was purchased in order to turn York Palace into a dwelling fit for a King. On James I's accession to the throne in 1603, he ordered the park drained and landscaped and kept various exotic animals in the park, including camels, crocodiles and an elephant, as well as aviaries of exotic birds along the south.
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