<P> The Royal Parks of London are lands originally owned by the monarchy of the United Kingdom for the recreation, mostly hunting, of the royal family . They are part of the hereditary possessions of The Crown . </P> <P> With increasing urbanisation of London, some of these were preserved as freely accessible open space and became public parks with the introduction of the Crown Lands Act 1851 . There are today eight parks formally described by this name and they cover almost 2,000 hectares (4,900 acres) of land in Greater London . </P> <Ul> <Li> Bushy Park, 445 hectares (1,100 acres) </Li> <Li> Green Park, 19 hectares (47 acres) </Li> <Li> Greenwich Park, 74 hectares (180 acres) </Li> <Li> Hyde Park, 142 hectares (350 acres) </Li> <Li> Kensington Gardens, 111 hectares (270 acres) </Li> <Li> Regent's Park, 166 hectares (410 acres) </Li> <Li> Richmond Park, 955 hectares (2,360 acres (9.6 km)) </Li> <Li> St. James's Park, 23 hectares (57 acres) </Li> </Ul>

How many royal parks are there in london