Imperial College London is a public research university in London. Imperial grew out of Prince Albert's vision for an area of culture, including the Royal Albert Hall, Victoria and Albert Museum, Natural History Museum, and the Royal Colleges that would go on to form Imperial College. In 1907, Imperial College was established by Royal Charter, merging the Royal College of Science, Royal School of Mines, and City and Guilds College. In 1988, the Imperial College School of Medicine was formed by combining with St Mary's Hospital Medical School. In 2004, Queen Elizabeth II opened the Imperial College Business School.
The college focuses exclusively on science, technology, medicine and business. The college's main campus is located in South Kensington, and it has an innovation campus in White City. The facilities also include a research field station at Silwood Park and teaching hospitals throughout London. The college was a member of the University of London from 1908, becoming independent on its centenary in 2007. Imperial has an international community, with more than 59% of students from outside the UK and 140 countries represented on campus.