Kensington Palace

Kensington Palace is a royal residence set in Kensington Gardens in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London. Today it houses various minor royals including the Duke of Gloucester and Prince Michael of Kent and Princess Michael of Kent.

Related Topics:
Kensington Gardens - Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea - London - Duke of Gloucester - Prince Michael of Kent - Princess Michael of Kent

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The original early 17th-century building was constructed in the village of Kensington as Nottingham House for the Earl of Nottingham. It was acquired from his heir, who was Secretary of State to William III in 1689, because the King wanted a residence near London but away from the smoky air of the capital because he was asthmatic. Kensington was at that time a village location outside London, but more accessible than Hampton Court, a water journey on the Thames. A private road was laid out from the Palace to Hyde Park Corner, broad enough for several carriages to travel abreast, part of which survives today as Rotten Row. The palace was improved and extended by Sir Christopher Wren, for it now needed paired Royal Appartments approached by the Great Stairs, a council chamber, the Chapel Royal.

Related Topics:
Earl of Nottingham - William III - 1689 - Hampton Court - Hyde Park Corner - Christopher Wren

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For seventy years Kensington Palace was the favored residence of British monarchs, although the official seat of the Court was and remains at St. James's which has not been actual the royal residence in London since the 17th century. Queen Mary died of smallpox in Kensington Palace in 1694. In 1702 William suffered a fall from a horse at Hampton Court and was brought to Kensington Palace, where he shortly died. After William III's death the palace became the residence of Queen Anne. Wren designed the Orangery for her and a magnificent Baroqur parterre 30 acre (121,000 m²) garden was laid out by Henry Wise, whose nursery was nearby at Brompton (illustration, left).

Related Topics:
St. James's - Queen Mary - Hampton Court - Queen Anne - Orangery - Parterre - Henry Wise

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George I spent lavishly on new royal apartments from 1718. William Kent painted a staircase and some ceilings.

Related Topics:
George I - William Kent

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The last reigning monarch to use Kensington Palace was George II. For his consort Charles Bridgeman swept away the outmoded parterres and redesigned Kensington Gardens in a form that is still recognizable today: his are The Sepentine, the Basin and the Grand Walk. After George II's death there in the palace in 1760, Kensington Palace was only used for more minor royalty, including the young daughter of the Duke of Kent who was living in the palace with her widowed mother when she was told of her accession to the throne as Queen Victoria. Queen Mary (grandmother of the present Queen) was born at Kensington Palace in 1867.

Related Topics:
George II - Charles Bridgeman - Kensington Gardens - Queen Victoria - Queen Mary

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In 1981 apartments 8 and 9 were combined to create the London residence of the newly married Prince and Princess of Wales, Charles and Diana, and it remained the residence of Diana, Princess of Wales after her marriage and until her death. Her sons, including Prince William, went to local nursery and pre-preparatory schools in Notting Hill, which is a short drive away.

Related Topics:
Diana, Princess of Wales - Prince William - Notting Hill

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Nearest Tube: Queensway (Closed for maintenance until end of 2005, see Transport for London), Bayswater, High Street Kensington, or (slightly further) Gloucester Road.

Related Topics:
Queensway - High Street Kensington - Gloucester Road

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