London, England, UK - Kensington Palace

Kensington Palace has been a royal home for more than 300 years and parts of the building remain a private residence from members of the Royal Family. The lavish state apartments and a collection of ceremonial clothes, including dresses worn by the Queen and Diana, Princess of Wales, are open to the public.

William III was the first monarch to venture to Kensington, which was then a small village, buying a Jacobean mansion in 1689, the year he became king. As an asthma sufferer, he wanted to escape London's smoke-filled air but stay within reach of its social life. Christopher Wren, who had proved his worth many times over in the previous 20 years, was brought in with his young assistant Nicholas Hawksmoor to remodel and substantially enlarge the house. It became the center of court life until 1762, when George III bought Buckingham House.

Despite its small rooms, George I was able to introduce notes of grandeur with Colen Campbell's staircase and William Kent's tromper-l'oeil ceilings and magnificent Cupola Room. Queen Anne subsequently added the orangery with its Grinling Gibbons woodwork.

In 1819, Princess Victoria of Kent was born in the Palace. She had a relatively rural childhood - the area was not seriously developed until the advent of the Great Exhibition in 1851. It was also here that, aged 18, she woke one morning to be told she had inherited the throne. Her childhood dolls' house is still on view.

Fronting Hyde Park is also the grand facade of Kensington Palace. There is also a statue of William of Orange at Kensington Palace.

Kensington Palace
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