London - Kensington Palace, Train, and Plane

Kensington Palace is a royal residence in the Kensington Gardens. It has been a residence of the Royal Family since the 17th century. Currently its the residence of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (Will and Kate), Prince Harry, Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, Prince and Princess Michael of Kent and occasionally by Zara Phillips. It was also the official residence of Diana, Princess of Wales until her death in 1997, Princess Margaret until her death in 2002, and Princess Alice until her death in 2004. 

Kensington was once the residence of King William and Queen Mary, who moved from Whitehall to the peaceful village of Kensington. Sir Christopher Wren converted the house into the palace, which became the center of English court life until 1837, when Queen Victoria moved into Buckingham Palace. 

The first part of the tour we walked through the Fashion Rules exhibit which is a collection of dresses from The Queen in 1950's, Princess Margaret in the 1960's and 70's, and Diana, Princess of Wales, in the 1980's. 

Princess Margaret

Princess Diana

Queen Elizabeth II

The next exhibit is called "Victoria Revealed." This is the main story of Kensington Place, its her childhood home and the place where she grew up, and the place where she first heard that she would be Queen. 

Victoria Revealed

The view of a Princess

The exhibit features displays of personal works and artworks in the very rooms where she once lived. It also has a lot of audiovisual displays and interactive experiences for the children. Its a fascinating history of the longest reigning monarch. 

Queen Victoria's childhood dress

Her childhood toys

This is Queen Victoria's tiny wedding dress. You can't really tell in this picture but its a teeny tiny dress. 

Wedding Dress

On June 2, 1837 Queen Victoria held her first Privy Council meeting here on her first day as Queen. 

Queen Victoria's dress

Prince Albert's Wedding Attire

It was at this spot that Princess Victoria met Prince Albert for the first time.

Victoria married her first cousin, Prince Albert in 1840. Their nine children married into royal and noble families. After Albert's death in 1861, Victoria plunged into deep mourning and avoided public appearances. Her reign of 63 years and 7 months, is longer than that of any other British monarch, this time is known as the Victorian era. 

We walked over to the Queen's State Apartments. These were private rooms once used by Queen Mary II (William & Mary). 

View of the Gardens from the apartments

This was a tribute to Queen Anne and her 17 pregnancies
without any surviving children. Queen Anne was Mary's sister. 

Queen Mary's Bedchamber

The entrance to the King's State apartments is the King's staircase. The walls are painted as a recreation of George I's court. They were completed in 1724 and installed by Christopher Wren. Everyone who visited the King would have gone up this staircase. 

Cupola Room

The King's Gallery

Presence Chamber - Chair belonged to George II's son, Frederick

We went into the gift shop and there were soo many cute Baby Prince George gifts! This was the Royal Collection to celebrate the birth of Prince George. 

Albert Memorial in the Kensington Gardens

The Kensington Gardens are beautiful and everything was
in bloom. We loved all the parks in London. 

Piccadilly Circus

L, "A MINI....Just like by Daddy's car but its a Flag!"

I think we walked around Yoda 10x and could
not figure it out...How is he sitting? 

After we left the Piccadilly area we took the bus back to Victoria Station. We walked back down to our hotel to collect our suitcase and then walked back to Victoria to catch the Gatwick Express train back to the airport. 

Having fun on the train!

I had a great trip with the children to London. I'm so thankful we had amazing weather for March. It would not have been fun walking around in the cold and rain. The children want to go back to London again and see more palaces! ;-) I love it!