Kensington Palace is an elegant Jacobean mansion formerly known as Nottingham house located at Kensington Street at the heart of London just few blocks away from Buckingham palace. It came to the British royal family in the late 17th century when King William III, who reigned with his wife Queen Mary II (daughter and successor of the exiled Stuart Monarch, King James II), bought the mansion from his secretary of state, the Earl of Nottingham.
It is one of the official royal residences of the British monarch supported by the public fund and maintained by the Royal Trust. Kensington is a magnificent royal palace with red brick wall composed of several grace-and-favor apartments occupied by members of the British royal family and selected servants who currently served the British royal court. The wrought iron gate at the entrance area dominated the sprawling lawn of the palace which has a wide pathway and several park benches. It has a 45-acre backyard with beautiful path of flowers and ornamental garden at the north part, private to the royal family. Among the royal residences, Kensington Palace remains the best residential choice among the British royals because of its ideal location and convenience at the heart of the metropolis.
The magnificent palace became the favorite of some British sovereigns including King William III his wife Queen Mary II, King George I and his son King George II and Queen Victoria. Victoria was born in Kensington Palace and lived there until she assumed the throne in 1837 on the death of her childless uncle William IV. It was in her Kensington Palace apartment that the news of her accession was relayed by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Lord Chamberlain.
King William III commissioned the architect Christopher Wren to renovate the mansion. The construction of the royal apartments for the King and Queen was the first task taken by Wren, followed by the Chapel royal, the great stairs and the chamber council. The renovation began by adding pavilions and blocks to its four corners, the main feature of the palace was the King’s Gallery located at the first level of the building, a fabulous room for royal collections. Queen Mary II died from small fox at her room in Kensington on December 1694 at the age of 32, eight years later, her husband King William III accidentally fell from his horse while riding on his way to Hampton Court, despite his terrible condition, the King insisted to bring him to Kensington where he died several weeks later.
During the reign of George I, the first of the Hanoverian monarchs (who came to the British throne as the nearest protestant heir of Queen Anne-younger sister of Queen Mary II), another renovation was made, several rooms were added including the elegant state rooms: the Privy chamber, the Cupola room and the Withdrawing room, it had elaborate paintings on the ceilings. However George I did not spend much of his time at the palace as he disliked formal gatherings, but his son and successor George II made Kensington his principal residence and spent much of his time at the comforts of his private apartment, however, he did not put additional structure of the palace during his long reign, after the death of his wife, Queen Caroline, George II became disinterested and ordered other chambers to be locked up, his own death in 1760 marked the unimportance of Kensington to the lives of the succeeding monarchs.
The next occupant of the palace was Prince Edward, the Duke of Kent and fourth son of George III, after his marriage to Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, he ordered the renovation of the rooms on the two floors of the south-east corners and made it as their primary residence. His only child, Princess Victoria was born there in 1817 and baptized at the Cupola room, when the Duke of Kent died 9 months after Victoria’s birth, his wife, the Duchess of Kent and Princess Victoria stayed at Kensington until Victoria’s own accession in 1837. It was reported that Edward’s widow-the Duchess of Kent-had a poor relationship to his brother, King William IV, when the Duchess insisted her plan of make an over all renovation of the palace, William IV made a public comment of the palace distasteful renovation.
During Queen Victoria’s reign, state apartments, which were neglected by many monarchs since George II, achieved its full restoration after parliament was obliged to finance the renovation at the monarch’s request. It made open to the public which hung many portraits of the past rulers and contained fine art collections. During the reign of Victoria’s grandson George V, state apartments where filled with showcases of large collection of costumes and court dresses, coronation robes and other opulent objects.
