Kensington Palace is definitely one of my favourite royal palaces in London. The palace where 18 year old Princess Victoria became Queen, Princess Margaret entertained the in-crowd in the swinging sixties and Princess Diana brought up her children is still very much a working Royal palace today. It is the London base of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and their family, as well other senior Royals.
The inhabitants of Kensington Palace all have separate dwellings within and outside of the palace. For example, Apartment 1A, where the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge live, is a 4 storey, 20 bedroom home. There are also cottages and small houses in the private grounds.
The private homes at Kensington Palace are accessed by a separate entrance and security is understandably tight. However, you can visit many of the historic portions of the palace which are cared for by Historic Royal Palaces, an independent charity.
Kensington Palace – The King’s State Apartments and The Queen’s State Apartments
The King’s State Apartments date from the Georgian era (King George I and onwards). The Queen’s State Apartments were the home of King William III and Queen Mary II, the only monarchs in British history to reign jointly. The state apartments are full of opulent furniture and priceless artworks line the walls. It is quite breathtaking.
Victoria – A Royal Childhood
Victoria: A Royal Childhood is a deep dive into the not always happy childhood of the Princess Victoria. You can see her sketchbooks and some of her toys, as well as visit the room she was born in. I was fascinated to find out that baby Victoria was delivered by Mademe Siebold, a well respected female obstetrician. Female doctors of any kind were sadly pretty rare in those days. Madame Siebold also delivered the baby who would become Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert.
You can also read the diary entry written the night Queen Victoria met Prince Albert whilst standing in the exact place she did when she first laid on him as well as walk through the door Victoria walked through to meet her first Privy Council the day she became Queen. As a history buff, I found it very exciting to walk in her footsteps.
Victoria Revealed at Kensington Palace
Victoria Revealed was a wonderful walk through the life of Queen Victoria. Entering the Red Saloon where she became an Empress in a time when men ruled the world, I saw the strikingly tiny dress worn by Victoria. It made me think about how very young she was on that fateful day. How daunting to be one of the most powerful people in the world at the tender age of 18!
As I moved through to the rooms she lived and worked in, words from Queen Victoria’s diaries were everywhere – on the carpet, on the display cases, and on squares of card hanging from red ribbons. I saw her letters and her sketchbook from when she was a child as well as some of her dresses.
The uniform Prince Albert wore on their wedding day bears her loving words embroidered on the back of the collar, on each cuff and on the tails of his blazer.
“Excellent Albert”, “Oh My Angel Albert”, “dearly loved” and more, the words of a bride head over heels in love with her groom. Queen Victoria’s wedding dress was displayed with the words “Oh, this was the happiest day of my life”.
The exhibit was laid out chronologically and gives the feeling of walking through Queen Victoria’s life and I had tears in my eyes by the end.
It was especially interesting to see how her clothes echoed this transformation. There were also designer sketches, photographs, video and tributes to the late Princess.
A Walk in Kensington Palace Gardens
To finish off the adventure, there’s nothing like a walk through Kensington Gardens, which adjoin the palace. They used to be the private palace gardens but are now one of London’s eight Royal Parks. Kensington Gardens also the home of the famous The Princess Diana Memorial Statue and The Diana Memorial Playground, the Peter Pan statue, the Serpentine Gardens and the Albert Memorial. I particularly like the Queen Victoria statue in front of Kensington Palace, which was lovingly designed by her daughter Princess Louise (Duchess of Argyll) in 1893.
You can spend hours wandering in Kensington Gardens on a fine day. The lake is particularly beautiful. Also, you never know who you might see. A few years ago, the Duchess of Cambridge was photographed walking the family dog there.
Whether you are into history, a fan of the royal family, or just enjoy a good day out, Kensington Palace is a wonderful place to visit. If you’d like to share in the adventure, check out the Historic Royal Palaces website.
More Wonderful Palaces
Windsor Castle and St George’s Chapel
Highclere Castle – the real Downton Abbey
Burghley House – An Elizabethan Castle Like No Other
Comments & Reviews
That looks so beautiful and full of history. The Victoria Revealed exhibit sounds especially interesting. I hope I have a chance to visit!
It really is, Chrysa. I hope you get a chance to visit too!
That place is absolutely gorgeous! I love the classic feel of the grounds and the architecture. It’s so pretty!
It’s definitely one of my favourite palaces, Audrey 🙂
That place is so beautiful! I just love that wedding dress!
It really is gorgeous, Jenny. The amazing thing about the dress is how very tiny it is – Queen Victoria was such a tiny lady, but she had a big personality!
What a cool place to visit! That would be so neat to read the diary entries and see all of the dresses. Wow.
It really is, Heidi. I found the whole thing very emotional – it’s fantastic Queen Victoria kept such detailed diaries!
I would love to visit Fashion Rules. I did see some of Diana’s outfits (at Althorp, I think?) and was struck how different they were “in the flesh”, compared to how they appeared in photos. And have you had tea at the Orangery? That’s definitely on my bucket list!
You really would love it, Pauline. I’m so excited as they are doing another new exhibit of Diana’s outfits at Kensington and I’ve been invited to the preview at the end of February. I agree, they do look very different “in the flesh”. You would also love tea at The Orangery. They have some lovely cakes 😉
I’d love to visit. A walk through the gardens would be amazing as well.
I hope you are able to visit one day, Rosey. The gardens are spectacular.
Your posts, April are tugging at my ?strings. Do I use my air miles for Tokyo or London? Guess I’ll have to win the lottery . I admire many aspects of Queen V ? Love to see fashions of Princess Di et al…and ?English history!
Thank you so much, Kim! I do hope you will come to London one day. It would be lovely to meet up! I’m glad you enjoyed the post. I am very excited as there is a new exhibit of Princess Diana’s dresses opening late next week at Kensington Palace and I’ve been invited to a preview. I just can’t wait 🙂
It is a lovely place to visit April. I loved looking at all the dresses here 🙂 Thanks for sharing at The Weekend Blog Hop #Weekendbloghop
I’m so glad you enjoyed the post, Claire! Thank you again for hosting!
I visited England in 1975 during Easter break. I stayed at a hotel very close to Kensington Palace. I remember the beautiful park just outside of the palace as well as the beautiful gardens around the palace especially the floral arbor walkway.
What lovely memories, Nina. The park is still so lovely, the perfect place for a little wander after visiting the palace. You definitely stayed in a beautiful part of London 🙂
Oh my–what wonderful exhibits these are. I could spend hours at each one.
I am so glad you enjoyed the post, Barbara. I love visiting Kensington Palace. It was so funny, when I got in the taxi to go this time, the cabbie asked me if I was going to the official entrance. I was so flattered as he must have thought I looked presentable enough for an official visit to someone special! I just thanked him and explained I just needed the tourist entrance as I hadn’t been invited to tea – yet 😉
I visited the Kensington palace twice.
It really is wonderful, isn’t it, Claire? No matter how many times I visit I always see something new 🙂