11 Luxurious Hotels the Royals Have Stayed in During Their Visits to America

A favourite of Princess Diana's, the Chicago hotel is something of a landmark for the city. The princess stayed in the hotel for only three nights in 1996, but the hotel's top suite — renamed the Princess Diana Suite from its previous title, the Presidential Suite — has remained unchanged in her honour. With stunning views over Lake Michigan, it's no wonder that royalty would choose this luxury hotel.

Royals need to have fun too, and that's exactly what they did when they stayed at the Peabody in Memphis in 2014. Princes William and Harry, along with their cousins Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, stayed at the Tennessee hotel while in America to celebrate the wedding of their friend Guy Pelly. Aside from the young British royals, the hotel also hosted Queen Noor of Jordan in the past.

Located in Nob Hill in San Francisco, the Fairmont is a high-class hotel that has hosted royalty from around the world. Its enormous penthouse suite, which can house a reception of 150 people in the suite alone, has attracted wealthy elites and full-fledged royalty for a century. Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall are among the royals who have stayed at the Fairmont during their travels.

For the ultimate in luxury and name recognition, royals have been staying at the Waldorf-Astoria in midtown Manhattan for years. Both Princess Margaret and the Queen herself have stayed at the hotel, as have international royalty from Monaco, Jordan, Japan, and more. For several years during the 1940s and '50s, the duke and duchess of Windsor kept apartments at the hotel as well, keeping it as their New York residence while they shuttled to other locales in America and Europe.

After being exiled from England, the duke and duchess of Windsor spent a significant amount of time in the United States. One of their favourite areas was Palm Beach, Florida, where they stayed with many of the most important figures in Palm Beach society. When they weren't staying with friends, they preferred the Everglades Club, the most exclusive hotel in the city.

Formerly called The Ahwahnee, this hotel is nestled right in the midst of the natural beauty of Yosemite, California. The granite and wood hotel played host to Queen Elizabeth in 1983, but also has a much creepier history: it was infamously the inspiration for the hotel in The Shining. In 1987, it was declared a national historic landmark, but you can still stay there — even if you're not royalty!

When the Queen makes state visits to Washington, D.C., and isn't being housed at the White House itself, she stays at the St. Regis Washington. Formerly known as the Carlton Hotel, the luxurious hotel first hosted the Queen when she was just Princess Elizabeth in 1951, followed by subsequent visits in the decades following. It's only two blocks from the White House, and it houses more than just foreign royalty and wealthy dignitaries: it's important enough to be on the National Register of Historic Places.