by The Laird o’Thistle
February 21 2011

Recent articles in the world press have suggested that Prince William and Catherine Middleton would like to establish their London home back “home” (for William) at Kensington Palace where he lived from the time of his birth in 1982 until his mother’s death in 1997.According to published reports, two different apartments are under consideration.Diana’s former residence (conjoined apartments 8 and 9) and Princess Margaret’s former home (apartment 1A) are both said to be in the running, with Ms. Middleton said to be leaning toward 1A.(Parts of 1A however, are now part of the portion of the palace available for public use under the management of Historic Royal Palaces, so I wonder if it would be possible for the young Wales’s to reclaim the apartment?)

The reports led me to look back at a bit of the history of Kensington Palace, which lies approximately 1 ½ miles to the northwest of Buckingham Palace, at the west end of adjoining Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens.The property’s royal history dates to the end of the 17th century when William and Mary purchased the former “Nottingham House” from the Earl of Nottingham as a rural (then) retreat for the badly asthmatic King from the smog and damp of London and of Whitehall Palace. As at Hampton Court, they promptly brought in Sir Christopher Wren who began the transformation of Nottingham House into what we now know as Kensington Palace.The original intention, however, was for it to be primarily a royal home.It’s evolution into being a palace was relatively slow.

That said, Kensington became home to five successive monarchs.William and Mary (joint sovereigns) built the house and laid out the gardens.Mary II died at Kensington in 1694, and William III in 1702.Although Queen Anne despised her late brother-in-law, she liked Kensington and moved into her late sister’s apartments.Anne finished various parts of the house begun under William and Mary, and in addition to Sir Christopher Wren she brought in Sir John Vanbrugh (also the architect of Blenheim Palace) to build the Orangery in the grounds.Queen Anne died at Kensington in 1714.

The advent of the Hanoverians marks the true transition of Kensington from “House” to “Palace.” George I spent lavishly on the State Apartments, under the direction of Sir John Vanbrugh and interior designs by William Kent.The Grand Staircase and the great Cupola Room were created during this time.

George I was succeeded in 1727 by his son, George II, both on the British throne and at Kensington Palace.It was during the reign of George II and Queen Caroline that the Kensington Gardens were created in much their present form, transforming the more formal gardens of William and Mary and Queen Anne.The landscape architect – to use the more modern terminology — for the project was Charles Bridgeman, an early English proponent of the naturalistic landscape style.He oversaw the creation of still-familiar features such as the Serpentine, Round Pond, and the Broad Walk.Queen Caroline died, much mourned, in 1737.George II lived on until 1760 when he died quite suddenly, at Kensington Palace, from a burst aortal aneurysm. He was succeeded by his grandson, George III, but George II’s ghost is still said to show up around the old palace.

The accession of George III marked the end of Kensington Palace’s service as a primary residence of the reigning monarch.“Farmer George” shifted his family to places like Windsor, Kew, and Buckingham House (the predecessor to Buckingham Palace).But within a generation apartments for other members of the extended royal family began to be created at Kensington Palace.Two of George III’s sons took up residence in the palace.The sixth son, the Duke of Sussex, lived in a portion of the south wing that included what more recently was the home of Princess Margaret.George III’s fourth son, the Duke of Kent, lived in rooms beneath the State Apartments, and it was in those rooms that his daughter, Princess Victoria of Kent, was born in May of 1819. She was christened in the Cupola Room a month later.

Kensington Palace was the primary home of the future Queen Victoria from 1819 to 1837.Her father’s early death (January 1820) left young Victoria in a household overseen by her mother and her mother’s Comptroller, Sir John Conroy.Conroy’s dominance of the Duchess of Kent led to widespread rumors that the two were lovers, but that has never been substantiated.In any event Conroy was a dominant influence in the household.The feud between the Duchess of Kent and both George IV and William IV was certainly encouraged by Conroy, to the growing frustration of the future Queen.One major contretemps concerned the Duchess’ unauthorized appropriation of additional palace rooms for herself… and her daughter. It was also at Kensington where Victoria first met Prince Albert when he visited England in 1836.

In the early hours of 20 June 1837 Victoria was awakened and brought down the back stairs to be informed by the Lord Chamberlain and the Archbishop of Canterbury that she was Queen.Later in the day, she presided over her first Privy Council at the palace.She dismissed Conroy from her household.And that night she slept, on her own orders, for the first time in a separate room from her mother.A fortnight later the young queen moved to the then brand new Buckingham Palace.But despite the unhappy scenes that had occurred there over the years, she was wistful upon her departure and remained fond of her first home to the end of her days.

Soon after Victoria’s departure the Duchess of Kent also moved out, first to Buckingham Palace with her daughter… albeit being constantly kept at a distance… and later over to Clarence House.Queen Victoria in due course granted the apartments where she had grown up to her cousin Mary Adelaide of Cambridge, who was married to the Duke of Teck.And so it came to pass that Princess Mary of Teck, the future consort of George V, was born in1867 in the very same room as Queen Victoria, a fact that always endeared “May” to the old Queen.The future Queen was eventually confirmed in the chapel at Kensington, and in later years played an active role in the restoration of the palace.

Later in the 19th century two of Queen Victoria’s daughters, Princess Louise and Princess Beatrice, had homes at Kensington Palace. Louise, a sculptor, created the statue of Queen Victoria in Kensington Gardens. The palace also became the home of Victoria’s granddaughters, Princess Alice the Countess of Athlone (married to Queen Mary’s brother), and Victoria the Marchioness of Milford Haven (Prince Phillips grandmother).The place was so full of royal relatives that the Duke of Windsor referred to the old palace as “The Aunt Heap” at one point.The Duke’s widowed sister-in-law, Marina Duchess of Kent, was yet another resident of the “heap,” as was the late Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, in her last years.

(Other, lesser “Grace and Favor” accommodations have also been part of the Kensington Palace complex over the years, including the tiny “Nottingham Cottage” which was for a time the home of Marion Crawford, the former governess of Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret.)

Beginning in the 1960s a new generation of royals found homes at Kensington Palace.Princess Margaret moved in after her marriage in 1960, eventually settling in apartment 1A after extensive remodeling.Over the years the “Aunt Heap” became more of a “cousin heap” of Gloucesters and Kents.In 1981 Prince Charles and Princess Diana became residents as well, along with their sons in due course.

In ways perhaps not unlike Queen Victoria, Prince William apparently carries fond memories of the “poor old Palace” where he was raised.The corridors and gardens of the palace were a wonderful place for small boys to play, and William’s still ongoing love of helicopters began early on as he learned to make the hand motions used by the crews at the helicopter pad in their garden.There was a rooftop garden and greenhouse as well.The boys went to local nursery and pre-prep schools in adjoining Notting Hill.More poignant memories linger from the years after his parents’ separation and divorce, when William sometimes served as his mother’s comforter.

The scenes of September 1997 will always remain vivid for those of us who lived through those days.Images of the broad banks of floral tributes brought by the public to lay at the Princess’s “doorstep” will ever more be associated with the palace.And it was at Kensington Palace, her home of sixteen years, that the body of Diana Princess of Wales rested on the night before her funeral.The weeks and months of sorting that followed brought their own controversies, with some still – so far as I know – unresolved issues over things that went missing… though some items were later found to have been taken “for safekeeping” (Ahem!) by butler Paul Burrell.

Since Diana’s death in 1997 her former apartment has been something of a problem. Suggestions for letting it out to new tenants were not well-received by the public.Part of the apartment has been used for offices for some of the Prince of Wales’ charities.After Princess Margaret’s death in 2002, it was announced that the Queen intended over time to phase out the use of the palace for members of the royal family, with Princess Margaret’s apartment being handed over for use by Historic Royal Palaces in 2004.The Gloucesters and various of the Kents have continued in their apartments, with Prince and Princess Michael of Kent transitioning to paying full rent for their residence in 2010.

I, for one, hope that the 2002 plan is being reconsidered.While I wonder at the advisability of them actually moving into Diana’s old apartments, Prince William and Catherine will undoubtedly have many years before they come to the throne, and they will need a proper London home.Even when William’s father becomes King, I strongly suspect that he and Camilla may choose to remain at Clarence House and make Buckingham Palace into the non-residential headquarters of the monarchy.Prince Harry will also need a home when he settles down, and he shares William’s attachment to Kensington Palace.In due course, it might also prove a more suitable spot for Prince Andrew, and Prince Edward and Sophie, who continue to use suites in Buckingham Palace as their London bases.Kensington, to my mind, ideally fits the ongoing needs of the lower profile monarchy that seems inevitable after the eventual passing of the current Queen.

If and when William and Catherine do make their home at Kensington Palace it won’t be quite the same place he remembers from his mother’s time. For one thing, they’ll find the beautifully restored private chapel which was re-created in 2002 after a century of disuse.Sited back into the space where it was moved by Queen Victoria’s mother in 1833, it once again includes an element of Christopher Wren’s original chapel including the elegant “wine-glass” pulpit.The organ is from the old chapel at Buckingham Palace (bombed in WWII).The altar plate comes from the Royal Yacht Britannia, with the silver cross and candlesticks having come from the Queen’s Chapel at St. James’s Palace.(The wedding of the Duke of Gloucester’s daughter, Lady Davina Windsor, to New Zealander Gary Lewis was held in the chapel in 2004.)

They will also find a palace in the process of transition to greater public accessibility, including new (restored) configurations of the gardens and a new visitors’ entrance to the State Apartments, etc.Work is in progress.(Just getting planning approval for an exterior entrance loggia to protect the public from the rain has proved far from simple.)How this all affects the residential side of the palace remains to be seen.

In the documentary series on Windsor Castle done for the BBC several years ago, Prince Phillip observes that what makes Windsor a “living” castle is that it is truly a royal home.The same may be said for any of the other royal palaces, including Kensington.Museums, public venues and conference rooms, cafes, and gardens are all wonderful things.But a palace is most truly a Palace when it is in ongoing use by the members of the royal family.If Prince William and his bride get to write a new chapter in the living history of Kensington Palace then I will be quite pleased.

Yours aye,

Ken Cuthbertson