Opened in 1864, this major railway terminus and underground station is in Central London near Embankment and The Strand.

The Memory of a Royal Love Story

On the forecourt outside Charing Cross Station is a replica of the Eleanor Cross. The original, together with eleven other crosses, were erected on the orders of a grief-stricken king devastated by the loss of his much loved queen.

In 1254, the future King Edward I and Queen Eleanor married by arrangement in Spain. The bridegroom was fifteen and his bride, Eleanor of Castile, only nine. Later, the couple fell in love and became inseparable. When Edward travelled to the Holy Land on crusade, his wife went with him.

King Edward became disconsolate when Queen Eleanor died in 1290 at Harby in Nottinghamshire. Her body was transported south to Westminster Abbey for burial, and the King ordered the erection of a stone cross at every overnight resting place. The twelve crosses marking the procession’s route to London were a reminder to pray for the Queen’s soul.

Several crosses were destroyed in the Civil War and only three remain intact in modern times. The last, most elaborate cross, situated where Whitehall leads to Trafalgar Square, was demolished by the Puritans in 1647. (The site of the former Whitehall Cross is the official center of London and distances are measured from this point.)

The replica of Eleanor’s Whitehall cross, erected outside Charing Cross Station in 1865, is a reminder of a love story from over seven hundred years ago.