Kensington Palace
Kensington Palace stands inside Kensington Gardens and has been a royal residence since the seventeenth century. In 1689, William III and Mary II bought the house — then known as Nottingham House — and commissioned Sir Christopher Wren to enlarge it; the king's asthma made the damp fogs of Whitehall Palace by the Thames unbearable, and Kensington became the monarch's preferred home for the next seventy years or so. Queen Victoria was born and grew up here; Princess Diana spent her final years within its walls. Today the State Apartments are open to the public and managed by the independent charity Historic Royal Palaces, while several members of the Royal Family still live in the palace's private apartments. Behind every room and every staircase lies a different chapter of royal life, lived just out of public view.
United Kingdom · 15 The overlooked corners inside
The overlooked corners inside
King's and Queen's State Apartments
Climb the King's Grand Staircase and look up: filling the walls is William Kent's 1724 mural depicting the court of George I, every courtier of the day painted into the scene. The staircase leads directly into the King's State Apartments, which served as the setting for formal diplomatic audiences and councils — described by contemporaries as simultaneously lavish and unexpectedly plain — while the Queen's side was the private domain where successive queens received guests and carried on daily life. These State Apartments first opened to the public in 1899, closed and reopened during the two World Wars, and have been permanently open since 1949.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Apartment 1 and Apartment 1A
Apartment 1 now occupies the south-west corner of Kensington Palace, taking in a large section of Wren's south wing. The name undersells it: this is in fact a substantial terraced residence built around Wren's stone colonnade, with its own porte-cochère entrance and roughly forty interconnecting rooms spread across four floors, its main facade looking out over Kensington Gardens. Before the mid-1950s it also included what is now the separate Apartment 1A. The rooms were first fitted out in 1805 for Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex, one of George III's six sons.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Apartment 1A
Apartment 1A is a four-storey royal residence within Kensington Palace comprising twenty rooms — five reception rooms each with a fireplace, three bedrooms, a dressing room, and two nurseries; nine staff bedrooms on the upper floors; and in the basement a luggage room, gym, and laundry, plus three kitchens, one for the family and two for staff. The apartment looks onto a large walled garden which, viewed from the museum wing, is screened entirely by frosted glass, making it a fully private green space. The entrance hall features ornate cornice mouldings and black-and-white chequerboard flooring, and is furnished with pieces from the Royal Collection.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Apartment 2
Apartment 2 occupies the south-east corner of the palace, immediately adjacent to what is now Apartment 1A. In 1798, several vacant rooms were combined into a suite and assigned to Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, the fourth son of George III. It was here that the Duke's only child, Princess Victoria of Kent — the future Queen Victoria — was born in 1819. After the Duke's death, his widow the Duchess of Kent continued to live here until Victoria's accession in 1837. Queen Victoria then gave the apartment to her cousin Princess Mary Adelaide, Duchess of Teck, whose daughter — the future Queen Mary, wife of George V — was also born in these rooms.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Apartment 4
Apartment 4 sits in the north-west corner of Clock Court and appears in palace records during the nineteenth century as the 'Clock Court Apartment'. Between 1867 and 1915 it was home to Maria Chaine, who held the honorary title of Housekeeper; her father, Charles Phipps, had served as Prince Albert's private secretary from 1847 until the Prince Consort's death. After Chaine's death, the apartment passed successively to the Duchess of Albany (1917–1922) and then to her daughter Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone (1923–1981).
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Apartment 5
Apartment 5 lies between Princess Court to the south and Clock Court to the north, in room… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Apartment 6
Apartment 6 sits on the west side of the Prince of Wales's Court and has historically been… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Apartment 7
Apartment 7 occupies the north-west corner of the main palace block. Its predecessor on th… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Apartment 8
The earliest recorded occupant of Apartment 8 was Lieutenant General William Wynyard, who… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Apartment 9
Apartment 9 began as a grace-and-favour lodging for palace attendants. Lady Bertha Dawkins… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Wren House
Wren House sits within the grounds of Kensington Palace and has been the home of Prince Ed… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Nottingham Cottage
Nottingham Cottage is a compact residence within the palace grounds. After their marriage… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Ivy Cottage
Ivy Cottage is a small residence within the palace grounds. In April 2018, Princess Eugeni… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Old Stables
Old Stables is a smaller house within the Kensington Palace estate. In September 2019 the… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Chapel
The rooms now known as the Chapel were indeed used as a place of worship during the ninete… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
FAQ
What overlooked corners are worth seeing inside Kensington Palace?
King's and Queen's State Apartments, Apartment 1 and Apartment 1A, Apartment 1A and more — 15 spots in all, each with sources and a guide in your language to read or listen to on the spot.
Is the Kensington Palace guide free?
The first 5 spots are free to read; the other 10 unlock with a one-time purchase (not a subscription).