Royal Hospital Chelsea /

The Royal Hospital Chelsea is a retirement home and nursing home for British soldiers who are unfit for further duty due to injury or old age, located in the Chelsea region of central London, now the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is a true hospital in the original sense of the word, that is a place where hospitality was provided. There are just over 300 soldiers (310, as of 10 June 2004) resident in the Royal Hospital, referred to as "in-pensioners" (or more colloquially, as Chelsea pensioners). The grounds of the Royal Hospital have been the site of the annual Chelsea Flower Show since 1913. The Royal Hospital was founded by King Charles II, who issued a Royal Warrant authorising the building of the Hospital on 22 December 1681, in order to make provision for old or injured soldiers. Many of these soldiers, who were no longer fit for service, had been kept on regimental rolls so that they could continue to receive payment, because there was an inadequate provision of pensions for them. Sir Christopher Wren was commissioned to design and erect the building. His design was based on the Hôpital des Invalides in Paris. The site for the Hospital was an area of Chelsea