High Street Kensington or Queensway

Kensington Palace is open daily 10am to 5pm. Entry costs £12 for adults, concession £10.

0844 482 7777

Kensington Palace has been in the Royal Family since the 17th century, when King William III commissioned Sir Christopher Wren to convert the building into a Royal Palace. Several monarchs were born here, the last being Victoria in 1819. 18 years later she was called from her bed to be told she had become queen.

The building was designed with separate suits of rooms for the king and queen, with visitors using the queen’s entrance. On entering the palace you see the Royal Dress Collection containing royal, court and ceremonial dresses dating from the 18th century, including some of Princess Diana’s dresses. Other highlights of the palace include the Kings Gallery showing paintings from the Royal Collection. There is also the Cupola Room, designed by William Kent in 1722. The monumental musical clock, which once played tunes by Handel, Corelli and Geminiani, remains in this room.

The Cupola Room c1800

Kings Grand Staircase

During September 1997, Kensington Palace was the focus of public mourning when thousands of people came to the home of Diana, the Princess of Wales, to lay flowers at the gates in her memory. Her death in a car-crash in Paris traumatised the nation and pictures of the palace golden gates with a carpet of flowers were beamed around the world.

A path from the gates of Kensington Palace leads to Kensington Palace Gardens, a tree lined avenue containing some of the grandest and most expensive houses in the world. It has long been known as "Billionaires Row" due to the wealth of its private residents, although the majority of its current occupants are embassies and ambassadorial residences. The street is still lit by very dim Victorian-style streetlights.

Kensington Gardens were once the private gardens of Kensington Palace, but are now one of London’s Royal Parks. The park has been laid out with fashionable features including the Round Pond, formal avenues and a sunken Dutch garden. The gardens are full of charm starting with a statue of the fictional Peter Pan, the boy who never grew up playing his pipes to the fairies and other magical inhabitants of the park.

The Albert memorial was commissioned by Queen Victoria in memory of her beloved husband and opened in 1882. Finally, there is an obelisk dedicated to John Speke, an officer in the British Indian army, who made three voyages of exploration to Africa.

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