When King James VI inherited the throne of England in 1603, Edinburgh ceased to be the principal site of the royal court, although it did continue to have its own Parliament. Georgian Edinburgh
Everything changed after the Act of Union in 1707.. Parliament ceased in Edinburgh, but the city prospered. The loch below the North side of the castle was filled in. New streets and and thousands of houses were planned and built in the Classical fashion. (see map again)
This period of energetic building during the "Enlightenment", which lasted into the 1800's, has left the city one of the most architecturally beautiful in the world.
See Georgian Edinburgh: (The New Town)
To the present day
During the Victorian era expansion continued to grow, but the Old Town tenements around the Royal Mile declined into slums where poor people lived in cramped and insanitary conditions. Industry flourished in Glasgow, but Edinburgh remained the preserve of professionals, which it has tended to remain. Since the last war its prestige has risen not least because of the establishment of the Edinburgh Festival. In the 1960's he city was being torn down and rebuilt at an alarming rate , but fortunately the New Town Conservation Commitee (formed in the 70's) put a stop to that. Buildings have been restored using traditional and sympathetic methods, and now the city looks as though it will remain as one of Europe's most beautiful and historically interesting living monuments.