I've been visiting Kensington Palace for years--when I was a student in London, it was just over the road from my Bayswater digs. But this was my first time there since writing a novel about its earliest inhabitants. When it was Nottingham House, King William III and Queen Mary II purchased it for their London residence. The village of Kensington was known for its healthy air, which could not be said of Whitehall Palace beside the River Thames. For the sake of William's health--he was asthmatic, and sensitive to damp--thus a new royal palace was created.
One approach to Kensington Palace.
King William gazes proudly from his pedestal. Queen Mary died here at the palace--of smallpox, in 1694--a life-shattering event. He survived her by nearly a decade. It wasn't his bad lungs that did him in, but a rodent--a mole. While hunting in the palace grounds, his horse put a foot into a molehill causing the King to tumble from his saddle. He broke a shoulder. Several days later, after the usual gruesome and painful medical procedures of his day, he passed away.
The palace is perhaps best known as the girlhood home of Queen Victoria, who learned of her accession to the throne while living here. Diana, Princess of Wales, also lived here, as did Princess Margaret
The Orangery, now a restuarant.
The berries on the variegated holly are a sign of late autumn, but roses were still in bloom!
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