Her Majesty's Theatre

There has been a theatre on this site since 1705. The first building was designed by Sir John Vanbrugh. It was initially known as The Queen's Theatre after Queen Anne, and was The King's Theatre after 1714, when a succession of male monarchs occupied the throne. At this time only a handful of theatres were permitted to operate in London. The theatre was associated with opera from the 1710s until it burnt down in 1789.

The second theatre opened in 1791. It hosted the first London performances of Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito in 1806, Così fan tutte in 1811, and Don Giovanni in 1816. John Nash and George Renton made alterations to the facade and auditorium between 1816 and 1818, and also added a shopping arcade called the Royal Opera Arcade which runs along the rear of the theatre and still trades exclusive goods today. The theatre's name was changed to Her Majesty's when Queen Victoria ascended the throne in 1837.

From the early 1830s until the late 1840s Her Majesty's Theatre hosted romantic ballet. In the heyday of the era, the Ballet of Her Majesty's Theatre was the most renowned troupe in all Europe aside from the Ballet of the Paris Opera.

Noted Balletmasters created works for the troupe throughout the period. The famous prolific Italian composer Cesare Pugni – Her Majesty's Official Composer of Ballet Music 1843 - 1850 wrote most of the music for productions. Pugni scored 312 ballets, as well as divertissements and incidental dances. Many became legends of the dance while performing on the stage of Her Majesty's Theatre in the works of Perrot, Talgioni, and Saint-Léon.

What was once the Ballet of Her Majesty's Theatre eventually found a principal venue in the Vic Theatre, and soon took on the name of the Vic-Wells Ballet, marking the resurgence of ballet in England which became the Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet Company. Eventually the troupe began performing at the Royal Opera House and became the Royal Ballet, as it is known today.

The fourth and current theatre building was designed by C. J. Phipps and was opened in 1897. This did not specialise in opera, although there were some operatic performances. Noel Coward's play Bitter Sweet ran 697 performances from 1929. Musicals have predominated in the post World War II period, including Follow the Girls (1945), Brigadoon (1949), Paint Your Wagon (1953), West Side Story (1958) and Fiddler On The Roof which had a run of 2,030 performances starting in 1967. Since 1986 Her Majesty's has been the London home of The Phantom of the Opera.

The name of the theatre always changes from Her Majesty's to His Majesty's Theatre depending if it's a king or a queen on the throne