The Local Tourist: Kensington Palace

Website: http://www.hrp.org.uk/KensingtonPalace

Yesterday ABJ and I visited Kensington Palace. As I work nearby I've been past the place hundreds of times but I'd never actually been inside. It turned out that you got a discount of £1 if you booked your tickets online so I booked two £10 student tickets before we set out.

It was a sunny day and we arrived in the busy Kensington Gardens, entered the main approach to the palace and found the ticket desks around the back. We picked up our tickets smoothly and got out audio guide.

Unfortunately the audio guide hand-held wand was quite uncomfortable - there was a big nodule sticking out which you had to hold against your ear. It was just too big to fit inside your ear and just too small to rest your ear against, instead you continually bashed your ear lobe against it as it rattled in circles around your outer ear as you wandered the hallways. Not only that but when each audio entry finished there was no signal - just silence. This led to us holding the wands to our ears in humble uncertainty for 5-10 seconds after each entry.

We set off and learned about the ceremonial costumes that young men and women used to wear. The costumes on display were original and some were very impressive - lots of gold embroidery. Some of the more ceremonial aspects seemed very pointless - the worst beinga flattened hat which couldn't even be worn but had to be carried tucked under the arm as a sign of respect to the monarch.

There was a mock-up of a upper-class tailor's showroom where you could inspect the fabrics they used and see colonial uniforms on display. A few more rooms showed original laces and a sewing workshop. It was interesting to learn how immense the effort was to make many of the garments on display - many young women working in terrible conditions to make the finery for the upper-class. ABJ did some arty photography:

We were then treated to room after room of dresses that Princess Diana had worn. This seemingly never-ending parade of 80s and 90s dress styles is one of the main attractions to the palace but I found it fairly dull:

From this point on, in fact, the exhibits became more and more strange. There was a focus on débutantes - the young upper-class women who were presented to the King and Queen. This included a series of video interviews with the "last debs" - the practise ended in March 1958 so many of the girls presented are still alive:

There were lots of old photos of "debs" and "debs delights" (i.e. the men who dated/danced with the debs) but they didn't have very useful captions - no dates or other handy info.

The structure of the exhibits became more unusual - the path became non-linear and poorly signposted and the displays of dresses looked more and more like they'd been dreamt up by a exhibition designer left to run wild. There were huge cardboard cutouts of women curtseying, dresses displayed in rooms with mirrors on the walls, a giant 10ft tall fabric wedding cake etc etc.

After a room where you could practice walking in a straight line with a book on your head, learn how to reply to a party invitation, how to curtsey etc, there was a room with authentic nik-nacks from the good old days (e.g. "I bought these bras in Paris" etc).

We then transitioned from debs to the history of the palace and were treated to a long series of dark wood-panelled rooms with lavish tapestries and paintings. One featured a "fat Venus" and was the cause of a dispute about displaying such a grotesque painting:

There was a chance to see the view over the gardens from inside (rather than my usual view from the gardens looking in):

We toured the long line of similar rooms and marvelled at the fancy furniture. One room had a "wind dial" - a device that displayed the prevailing wind direction through a connection to a weather vane on the roof: