On Thursday we visited Kensington Palace, which is essentially where less important royals live while they're on deck to rule the United Kingdom. Then if somebody dies, they get to upgrade to Buckingham Palace. We walked through Hyde Park to get there:
William and Mary bought Kensington Palace in 1689, because William had bad asthma and they thought a nice little house in the suburbs with "very good air" would help with that.
Statue of Queen Victoria:
The statue was designed by her daughter, Princess Louise:
We first toured the Queen's State Apartments:
Queen Mary was super into porcelain--as in she had thousands of pieces in her collection. It was piled up on top of cabinets, sometimes in stacks that reached from floor to ceiling. So essentially she was a hoarder, but because she could afford to hoard such finery, nobody really called her out on it.
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| A lot of it was quite pretty. |
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| I don't think there was a story associated with this desk; I just really liked it. |
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| Queen's Bedchamber "James Edward Stuart, son of King James II, is thought to have been born in this bed at St. James' Palace in 1688. His birth was such a thread to the Protestant establishment that tumours were spread that the baby was an imposter, smuggled into the bed in a 'warming pan' to replace a stillborn infant. James lived out the rest of his days in France and Rome and later became known as 'The Old Pretender." He continued to claim the throne to the end. |
We also learned a lot about William and Mary's life together. Their marriage didn't start off on a great foot; when Mary heard that she was going to marry William, she cried for days. He was twice her age, spoke another language, and had that pesky asthma. Our guidebook claims that they eventually became a loving couple, but I am skeptical.
I did not know that Mary was only in power for four years before she died of smallpox. Eight years later, William broke his collarbone in a riding accident; it never healed and he died shortly afterwards, passing the throne onto Mary's sister Anne.
We then went to an exhibit on Princess Diana's fashion, which was pretty stunning.
It turns out that Lady Di was pretty unfamiliar with designer fashion before her engagement to Prince Charles. Before the engagement, her entire wardrobe was just a single dress, one shirt, and one pair of shoes--the rest she borrowed from friends. As you can see, that changed over the years:
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| "The Princess carefully selected her look to honour host nations on official visits. Catherine Walker [who designed a lot of her clothing] embellished this dress with falcons, the national bird of Saudi Arabia, when the Princess visited there. The high neckline and long sleeves also respected local customs." Catherine Walker, 1986 |
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| So many falcons! |
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| "Lady Diana Spencer wore this dress as a young debutante, before her engagement to The Prince of Wales. Regamus was a popular brand for young aristocratic women taking their first steps into fashionable society." Regamus, 1980 |
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| "The Princess wore this sari-inspired dress to the ballet in Rio de Janeiro in 1991. On the same trip to Brazil, Diana deliberately and conspicuously removed her gloves before shaking hands with an AIDS patient. The gesture made international headliens and helped dispel public fear of the disease." Gina Fratini for Hartnell, 1991 |
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| Close-up of neckline detail |
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| "The Princess enjoyed films and would visit her local cinema disguised with a scarf and sunglasses. She sometimes adopted style ideas from film stars. For this dress, designer Catherine Walker took inspiration from Grace Kelly's gown in Alfred Hitchcock's 1955 film To Catch a Thief." Catherine Walker, 1987 |
I did take pictures of all the other descriptions as well; if there's a gown that particularly catches your interest let me know, and I'll tell you about it!
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| "There is a cluster of small indentations on the front of the skirt on this dress. Some historians have speculated they may be the fingerprints of the young Princes, clinging to their mother's legs." Victor Edelstein, 1985 |
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| "For charity engagements Diana wore simple suits, focussing attention on her work, rather than her wardrobe. When working with children she picked cheerful colours, in fabrics that would not crease. She wore this suit to the Daily Star Gold Awards for Courage and Bravery in 1997" Catherine Walker, 1997 |
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| "As Princess of Wales, Diana had adopted the royal tradition of wearing clothes by British designers. Following her separation from The Prince of Wales, her royal duties ended and she started to work with foreign designers. The Italian, Gianni Versace was a favorite." This dress was my favorite! Worn, Harper's Bazaar photoshoot with Patrick Demarchelier, 1991 Atelier Versace, 1991 |
We then walked through the King's State Apartments. We learned there that Kensington Palace has some great tapestry and ceiling game:
In the Privy Chamber is a clock/music box that played Handel:
The next section of the Palace focused on Queen Victoria, who lived in Kensington Palace until she was awoken at the age of 18 to hear that her uncle, William IV had died, and she was now Queen.
She was a very tiny lady:
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| With a Jonadams for scale. |
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| Victoria's childhood dollhouse. These were more to teach little girls about various household duties than for creative play. |
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| The fanciest rocker in all the land! |
The final tour of the Palace was called "Enlightened Princesses," which featured the stories of Princesses Caroline, Augusta, and Charlotte. They were all very big supporters of the arts and sciences and were huge advocates for education in the 18th century.
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| There were a lot of satirical cartoons created criticizing them. |
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| This reminds me of when conservatives were so outraged when Michelle Obama declared her focus on healthy food for kiddos. How can you be mad about that?! |
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| The Festival of the Golden Rump possibly Gerard Vandergucht 1737, etching and engraving "This was one of the first satires to attack Caroline's perceived power and influence over her husband, George II. The King is standing on an altar breaking wind, whilst Caroline approaches to administer an enema, as the prime minister, Sir Robert Walope looks on. This alludes to the belief that she managed the king's temper." |
We were also eager to see Kensington Gardens, which have currently been designed to honor the twentieth anniversary of Diana's death. You approach the gardens through a hedge maze:
But I have to say, I found the garden itself a little underwhelming. Many of the royal gardens we've seen are too tidy and symmetrical for my tastes:
Although the walkway around the garden was lovely:
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| Jon didn't want me to take his picture. |
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| Jon: I want to jump through that. Hannah: Please don't. |
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| Jon: Stop taking pictures of things just because I want to jump through them! |
Our favorite comedian was Loyiso Gola, who is apparently pretty big in South Africa. He had a very easy and charming delivery; he also went last in the evening, so the audience was a bit loose, but he was very good at interacting with those who called out. A lot of stand-up comics freak out when they're interrupted or heckled--which I suppose is understandable--but Loyiso would simply ask them, "What was that?" as if he was having an actual conversation with them, then keep going on with his bit. There was one woman in particular who felt that the things she had to add to his set were incredibly important, and finally he simply said, "I'm not that witty, I'm not one of those comics who interacts with the audience--I figure she'll just tire herself out eventually." It was funny and effective without making an enemy out of any audience members. We're actually returning to the Top Secret Comedy Club tonight--we hope we have an equally good time!
My apologies for being behind on blogging! There were a lot of pictures to sort through from Kensington Palace, as well as the Victoria & Albert Museum which we visited on Friday. Hopefully I can get another entry up tomorrow!
xo
Hannah
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