St James's Park

This guide to St James's Park in London starts with a diplomatic gift: pelicans handed to Charles II by a Russian ambassador in 1664, arriving just as the king remade the park in the French style he'd admired in exile. It traces the park's earlier menagerie under James I, who kept camels and crocodiles here, and follows the grounds forward to when John Nash swapped the old formal canal for the curving lake you see today. Along the way you'll hear how the pelicans became a fixture of royal London. Look for them along the water as you walk.