Skip to main content

First years of the 21st century

Royal Holloway is still making history in its third century

Lots of things have already happened in the new millennium.

The Celebration Year 2000

This marked the bicentenary of Thomas Holloway’s birth and provided an opportunity to look back at Royal Holloway’s beginnings and to make future plans.

The Windsor Building and new halls of residence

A major programme of new building and renovation – an investment of £100 million – has delivered state-of-the-art facilities both for teaching and student life.

New buildings included the Windsor Building, modern halls of residence and innovative places to eat such as Imagine and The Hub.

In 2003, Community Action Volunteering was founded to allow students to help out in their local area and on campus, while gaining transferable skills.

In the same year, Sir Andrew Motion, the poet laureate at the time, was appointed Professor of Creative Writing, while rapper and singer Example was one of our notable graduates.

Comedian Sir Lenny Henry CBE gained an MA in Screenwriting in 2010, and renowned alumnae sopranos Dame Felicity Lott, Susan Bullock and Sarah Fox performed at the university to mark the Silver Jubilee of our merger.

Olympic success

Sophie Christiansen, who graduated in Mathematics in 2011, won five (now eight!) Paralympic Gold medals in 2012. As a mark of her achievements, we now have a golden post box on campus.

Royal Holloway was also proud to host the Olympic Village for Rowing in 2012.

Meanwhile our particle physicists contributed towards the discovery of the Higgs Boson particle.

A new estate plan

In 2013, we launched our estate plan, which included a new Library and Student Services Centre.

The Diamond Jubilee

Our Music department was awarded a Regius Professorship by the Queen to mark her Diamond Jubilee in 2014 – one of only two in the last century.

On 14 March 2014, we welcomed Her Majesty The Queen and His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh to campus to celebrate this honour.

Explore Royal Holloway

Get help paying for your studies at Royal Holloway through a range of scholarships and bursaries.

There are lots of exciting ways to get involved at Royal Holloway. Discover new interests and enjoy existing ones.

Heading to university is exciting. Finding the right place to live will get you off to a good start.

Whether you need support with your health or practical advice on budgeting or finding part-time work, we can help.

Discover more about our 21 departments and schools.

Find out why Royal Holloway is in the top 25% of UK universities for research rated ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’.

Royal Holloway is a research intensive university and our academics collaborate across disciplines to achieve excellence.

Discover world-class research at Royal Holloway.

Discover more about who we are today, and our vision for the future.

Royal Holloway began as two pioneering colleges for the education of women in the 19th century, and their spirit lives on today.

We’ve played a role in thousands of careers, some of them particularly remarkable.

Find about our decision-making processes and the people who lead and manage Royal Holloway today.