Kensington Palace

Kensington Palace is a British royal residence located in Kensington Gardens in London, England. The palace has served as a royal residence since the 17th century and is still home to multiple members of the royal family, including the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (Prince William and Kate Middleton) and their children. Other notable previous residents of Kensington Palace include King William and Queen Mary, Queen Victoria, Queen Anne, Princess Margaret, and Princess Diana. In addition, the palace’s State Rooms have been open to the public since the late 19th century and currently house a variety of high-tech, interactive exhibits and extensive collections of clothing, antique furniture, and other royal memorabilia. Originally constructed as a private suburban villa in 1605 and known early on as Nottingham House, Kensington Palace was eventually transformed into one of Britain’s most well-known and accessible royal residences and is now counted among London’s top tourist attractions.

Background

Located adjacent to London’s Hyde Park, Kensington Palace is the centerpiece of the magnificent 275-acre Kensington Gardens. The palace itself is a multiple-structure estate that includes a variety of apartments, cottages, staff quarters, a large dining house, and the State Rooms. The main building houses several private royal apartments and the public State Rooms. The largest private living space at Kensington Palace is Apartment 1A, a sprawling four-floor, twenty-one-room residence that has been occupied by numerous high-ranking royals over the years, including the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. On the opposite side of the structure is Apartment 1, a twenty-bedroom home that is directly connected to Apartment 1A. Apartment 1 is situated next to Apartments 8 and 9, which were once home to Princess Diana and Prince Charles and currently serve as housing for some of the palace’s domestic staff. Palace staff members also live in the King’s Kitchen cottages that line the front of Kensington’s main building. To the left of these cottages and in front of Apartment 1A is Apartment 10, a five-bedroom, five-reception-room residence. The State Rooms account for the rest of the palace proper. These rooms consist primarily of the King’s State Apartments and the Queen’s State Apartments. The King’s State Apartments include such impressive sights as the King’s Staircase, the Presence Chamber, the Privy Chamber, the Cupola Room, the King’s Drawing Room, and the King’s Gallery. The Queen’s State Apartments are home to the Queen’s Staircase, the Queen’s Gallery, the Queen’s Closet, the Queen’s Dining Room, and the Queen’s Drawing Room. These rooms are all open to the public.

Kensington Palace also includes a number of buildings separate from the main structure. Among these are several cottages, residences, apartments, and other facilities. The cottages and residences include the three-bedroom Ivy Cottage, the two-bedroom Nottingham Cottage, and Wren House. The King’s Kitchen Cottages, the Upper Lodge, and the Staff Apartments all provide housing for various palace employees. Finally, the Orangery is a large hall originally used for court entertainment that currently serves as a public dining house known as the Orangery Restaurant.

Overview

Kensington Palace was originally constructed as a private two-story Jacobean mansion built in the village of Kensington in 1605. After the mansion was purchased by Heneage Finch, 1st Earl of Nottingham in 1619, it became known as Nottingham House. Shortly after assuming the throne in 1689, monarch William III and Mary II chose to make Nottingham House their country residence and set about transforming it into Kensington Palace. Construction was overseen by renowned British scientist and architect Sir Christopher Wren, for whom Wren House was later named. Work on Kensington Palace was eventually completed in time for William and Mary to move in by Christmas 1689. During the time they spent there together, William and Mary held many elaborate balls at the palace and often entertained foreign dignitaries. However, such celebrations came to an abrupt end following Mary’s death in 1694. William himself later died at Kensington Palace in 1702 after falling ill in the King’s Gallery.

After ascending to the throne in the wake of William’s death, Queen Anne spent some time at Kensington Palace and allowed Wren to complete extensions that he had previously begun at the request of William and Mary. While Anne did little else to alter the palace, her most notable contribution was the construction of the Orangery. Initially meant to be a greenhouse where exotic plants could be grown, Anne loved the Orangery and often held summer parties there. Beyond that, Anne’s closest association with Kensington Palace is that it was the place where she had her famous, final argument with Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough over the former’s relationship with Abigail Masham, Baroness Masham as depicted in The Favourite (2018). Like her predecessors, Anne also died at Kensington Palace in 1714.

George I took more interest in Kensington Palace than Anne and had it updated and enlarged by architect William Kent. Kent had the interior elaborately painted. Of particular note were the life-size caricatures of George’s court that he painted on the King’s Staircase. After George II inherited the crown in 1727, he and his wife Caroline hosted many receptions and parties at Kensington Palace. Caroline also held a series of intellectual salons attended by many of Britain’s greatest scientific minds. George III, who ascended to the throne in 1760, cared little for Kensington Palace and never lived there. He did, however, grant apartments at the palace to other members of the royal family including his son Edward, Duke of Kent. In 1819, Edward’s wife Victoire gave birth to a daughter named Victoria. Young Victoria spent her childhood at Kensington Palace before becoming queen in 1837. While Victoria herself subsequently moved to Buckingham Palace, other royals continued to live at Kensington. It was also during Victoria’s reign in 1899 that the State Rooms were first opened to the public.

Through the 20th century and into the 21st century, Kensington Palace continued to serve as both a royal residence and a public attraction. Many notable modern royals have lived at the palace. Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon moved into Kensington in the 1960s. Prince Charles and Princess Diana took up residence there, where they raised their sons, William and Harry. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle lived at Nottingham Cottage for a time after they became engaged. Other notable palace residents include Prince William and Kate Middleton, Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank, the Duke and Duchess of Kent, and Prince and Princess Michael of Kent.

Bibliography

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