Located in Oriel Square, the college has the distinction of being the oldest royal foundation in Oxford (a title formerly claimed by University College, whose claim of being founded by King Alfred is no longer promoted). In recognition of this royal connection, the college has also been known as King's College and King's Hall.

Many notable and famous people have passed through Oriel's gates, from statesmen to cricketers to industrialists; their most famous undergraduate is the 16th-century explorer, Sir Walter Raleigh.[8][59] On the graduate level, the college boasts as former fellows the principal founders of the Oxford Movement: John Keble, E.B. Pusey, and John Henry Newman. The College has produced many other churchmen, bishops, cardinals, governors, and two Nobel Prize recipients: Alexander Todd (Chemistry) and James Meade (Economics).