Kensington Palace Review

Kensington Palace is the latest Historic Royal Palace that I have written a review of. This year I became a member of HRP and so we’ve been to Hampton Court Palace, the Tower of London and Kew Palace – all for FREE! Well Kew Palace is actually within Kew Gardens, and we visit for free using a different scheme, but HRP members save 10% on admission.

As well as being the last place to review, Kensington Palace is also the only one I’ve visited without the kids! As it turns out that was no bad thing – this palace is by far the least child friendly of them all. It’s really interesting, but not very engaging for the kids at all. As a family we have been to a LOT of historic houses, castles and museums etc and the kids do enjoy visiting them. I just don’t think they would have liked it here.

The Princess of Wales

I’ve only been to Kensington Palace once before, in 1997, to lay flowers at the golden gates when Princess Diana died. It was very strange being back, all these years later. The entire paved area you can see in front of the gates and to the side was just covered, and stacked up, with flowers.

Now there is a memorial statue to her in the sunken garden. I’ll be honest, I don’t like it. I don’t think it looks like her (Claim to fame – I actually got to meet her when I was a child!) and I don’t think it is very flattering. Still, her sons seem to like it and that’s all that matters. But I really don’t like it. It’s also odd that the best view of it is from far away. When you’re up close you can only see her bum!

Victoria – a royal childhood

There are three main, permanent, areas to the public areas of Kensington Palace. The first staircase you go up is where Victoria first met Albert. How romantic. And started a love affair lasting over 20 years, and then a mourning period of over 40 more!!

Then you go into the jewel room which houses, well, jewels! There’s Victoria’s beautiful diamond and emerald tiara and necklace set. If you look closely the left earring doesn’t quite match. That’s because it’s a fake. Someone dropped the real one and the emerald smashed. They couldn’t find a big enough stone to replace it so they had to make out of of paste. Imagine being the person who dropped it! That’s one hell of a whoopsie.

In the next few rooms there’s lots of information about what it was like for Victoria growing up under the Kensington System (pretty miserable by all accounts, even if it was well meant). She didn’t know any children her own age but she did have plenty of toys, some of which they had on display. You can also see the room in which she was born, where she first danced with Albert and where she held her first Privy Chamber.

Two things about this bust of Albert that’s in the ballroom. 1) Yeah, I’m not sure he’s my type. 2) They’ve put him in a random place so he looks like he has horns.

The King’s State Apartments

I do love a good staircase. And the king has a pretty damn good staircase! It leads up to the King’s Gallery which is a beautiful room overlooking those front gates. One thing I always love about going to places like this is when you get to see a painting in real life that you already know. This one of Charles I was a particular favourite (Although it’s a copy of one at Windsor Castle).

Currently there aren’t that many of the Kings State Apartment rooms open. That’s because various pieces of conservation work were taking place at Kensington Palace when this review was written.

The Queen’s State Apartments

As rooms in royal palaces go these are practically box rooms! Their dining room could very easily be in a suburban semi in Buckinghamshire! Apparently they didn’t want all the pomp and ceremony, and they certainly achieved that. The gallery is still massive though. Honestly – how many long rooms do one couple need???

There’s a free audio guide available in these rooms. You access it using your own mobile so it might be a good idea to take some ear pods with you when you’re visiting.

I think I’ve figured out why Kensington Palace is so much less child friendly than anywhere else we’ve been to. Although it’s interesting (and it really is) there’s less to see than in a lot of the other places we’ve visited. Also a lot of the rooms are quite small. Positively homely. That does mean you’ve got a lot of adults clustered around the boards dotted around the room trying to read them. It’s just not interesting for them.

Royal Style in the Making

The main reason why I wanted to visit, and review, Kensington Palace now was because of their current exhibition. Royal Style in the making features the work of five royal dressmakers. Most famously it displays Princess Diana’s wedding dress for the very first time. The dress is as old as I am, but distinctly smaller around the waist! It’s not exactly what I chose for my own wedding dress, but it is beautiful and incredibly long!!!!!

Our Kensington Palace Review

Because it’s still a working palace and royal home (don’t forget Wills, Kate and the kids live here, amongst many others) only a very small portion of the palace is actually open to the public. We were only there for just under two hours, plus we stopped for lunch in the cafe. As I’ve said, it’s much better for adults than for children. It isn’t my favourite Historic Royal Palace. That would have to be Hampton Court (only because of the crowds at the Tower of London in normal times). But it was interesting to learn more about the lives of Queens Victoria & Mary and George II. In modern times the palace is very much linked with Diana, but that’s barely mentioned anywhere inside. I suppose that’s because she lived in the private rather than public areas.

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Admission Cost

£19.50 per adult, £9.70 per child. Members go free. Blue Peter badge holders go free, up to two per full paying adult. Blue Peter cards can be used in combination with membership.

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How to get there

Address – Kensington Palace, Kensington Gardens, London W8 4PX

Public transport – It’s about a 20 minute walk from Paddington. It’s well served by public transport

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Toilets

On site, including baby change

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Food

Cafe on site. Own food not allowed.

What else is nearby

Kensington Palace is on the edge of Kensington Gardens & Hyde Park. It was rubbish weather on the day that we went to review Kensington Palace and so we didn’t really explore much of the park, but there’s plenty to do. We did get a quick glimpse of the Princess Diana Memorial Playground though, which looks amazing. It’s free to visit but VERY popular. Queues can start as early as 10am on sunny summer days. For more information about what there is to see and do in Kensington Gardens visit the Royal Parks website here. For more about things to do in Hyde Park visit their website here.

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