Kensington Palace, London
Queen Victoria statue sculptured by her daughter Princess Louise.
A new exhibition has been unveiled at Kensington Palace to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the birth of Queen Victoria. She was born at the palace in 1819 and spent her childhood years there. The exhibition opened on the 24th of May, the 200th anniversary of her birth. The exhibition appears to be a permanent one and the rooms that house it were recreated to resemble the rooms she grew up in. I became fascinated with Queen Victoria during my biography reading early teens when I discovered a biography about her and was absorbed by her life. Needless to say a new exhibition on her life was at the top of things I wanted to see on my recent visit to London!
As the exhibition was only a few weeks old when I visited, I had bought my ticket online. The tickets are timed and I chose the first timeslot of 10am, which is when the palace opens to visitors. I arrived reasonably early but there was already a queue, actually two queues, one for people to buy tickets and the other for people with prepaid tickets. Once the doors opened, the line of people with prepaid tickets went through quickly, there is a bag check as you enter the palace, and then you're in! Some strategic manoeuvres are required if you want to get ahead of the crowds, preplan what part of the palace you want to see first and then move briskly to those rooms. Most people seemed to be milling around the entrance area deciding where to go first, I headed straight for the childhood exhibition. It was basically empty for most of the time I was there! Makes it so much more enjoyable not having to work around crowds. (It does mean that the other exhibitions are more crowded as by the time you get there, many more people are in the palace)
Victoria and her mother
Queen Victoria was born at Kensington Palace and the room she was born in is open to the public. She was named Alexandrina Victoria and through her childhood she was known as 'Drina', once queen she took Victoria as her name. (Her mother's name was Victoire and known as Victoria in Britain)
Her baby shoes and a locket with a picture of her father who died when she was eight months old.
Her doll's house and other toys.
Victoria did not remember having a particularly happy childhood at Kensington Palace thanks to her mother's over protective rules as to how she should be brought up. But she had toys and games, the sort that wealthy children were given.
Victoria's school books.
As befitting a girl of her class, she was educated at home by a governess. Young girls were taught art skills and Victoria produced some rather nice watercolours.
Her artwork
Victoria was tiny, she wore this dress when she was 12 years old. It looks like something that would fit a 6 year old!
Victoria's parents, portraits in the room she was born.
Victoria's father Edward, Duke of Kent was 50 years old when he married Victoire, who had been widowed and already had 2 children by her first husband. She was 32 and soon fell pregnant with Victoria, her elder children remained in Germany, apparently Victoria was close to her half sister Feodora so they must have had some contact.
The room Victoria was born in, the bed is not the original birth bed, that seems to have been lost. According to the Historic Royals Palaces' (who run Kensington Palace) Blog, the room was set up with a bed that was used by King George IV's guests. When the bed was being unpacked a plaque was found under it saying that it had been used by Queen Victoria at Windsor. (I do love a bit of trivia!)
Victoria's travelling bed
This little bed has recently been acquired by the Historic Royal Palaces, it was used by the young Victoria on summer holidays when she went to the seaside in Kent. It was also used for her travels around Great Britain that her mother took her on to show her off to the local population.
The Red Dining room in the palace there are displays relating to her becoming Queen. It was in this dining room that the 18 year old Victoria took her first Privy Council meeting 5 hours after she was woken up and told her uncle had died and she was now Queen.
The dining room table has a tableau showing the scene with the young Victoria seated at the head of the table and all the male (mainly elderly) privy council members.
Victoria's coronation cloak.
There is another exhibition at Kensington Palace which focuses on Victoria as queen, as well as the Queen's State Apartments and the King's Gallery. There is a lot to see at Kensington Palace and then outside there are the gardens as well. For me it was a morning well spent, immersing myself in some royal history!
A new exhibition has been unveiled at Kensington Palace to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the birth of Queen Victoria. She was born at the palace in 1819 and spent her childhood years there. The exhibition opened on the 24th of May, the 200th anniversary of her birth. The exhibition appears to be a permanent one and the rooms that house it were recreated to resemble the rooms she grew up in. I became fascinated with Queen Victoria during my biography reading early teens when I discovered a biography about her and was absorbed by her life. Needless to say a new exhibition on her life was at the top of things I wanted to see on my recent visit to London!
As the exhibition was only a few weeks old when I visited, I had bought my ticket online. The tickets are timed and I chose the first timeslot of 10am, which is when the palace opens to visitors. I arrived reasonably early but there was already a queue, actually two queues, one for people to buy tickets and the other for people with prepaid tickets. Once the doors opened, the line of people with prepaid tickets went through quickly, there is a bag check as you enter the palace, and then you're in! Some strategic manoeuvres are required if you want to get ahead of the crowds, preplan what part of the palace you want to see first and then move briskly to those rooms. Most people seemed to be milling around the entrance area deciding where to go first, I headed straight for the childhood exhibition. It was basically empty for most of the time I was there! Makes it so much more enjoyable not having to work around crowds. (It does mean that the other exhibitions are more crowded as by the time you get there, many more people are in the palace)
Queen Victoria was born at Kensington Palace and the room she was born in is open to the public. She was named Alexandrina Victoria and through her childhood she was known as 'Drina', once queen she took Victoria as her name. (Her mother's name was Victoire and known as Victoria in Britain)
Victoria did not remember having a particularly happy childhood at Kensington Palace thanks to her mother's over protective rules as to how she should be brought up. But she had toys and games, the sort that wealthy children were given.
As befitting a girl of her class, she was educated at home by a governess. Young girls were taught art skills and Victoria produced some rather nice watercolours.
Victoria's father Edward, Duke of Kent was 50 years old when he married Victoire, who had been widowed and already had 2 children by her first husband. She was 32 and soon fell pregnant with Victoria, her elder children remained in Germany, apparently Victoria was close to her half sister Feodora so they must have had some contact.
The room Victoria was born in, the bed is not the original birth bed, that seems to have been lost. According to the Historic Royals Palaces' (who run Kensington Palace) Blog, the room was set up with a bed that was used by King George IV's guests. When the bed was being unpacked a plaque was found under it saying that it had been used by Queen Victoria at Windsor. (I do love a bit of trivia!)
This little bed has recently been acquired by the Historic Royal Palaces, it was used by the young Victoria on summer holidays when she went to the seaside in Kent. It was also used for her travels around Great Britain that her mother took her on to show her off to the local population.
The Red Dining room in the palace there are displays relating to her becoming Queen. It was in this dining room that the 18 year old Victoria took her first Privy Council meeting 5 hours after she was woken up and told her uncle had died and she was now Queen.
There is another exhibition at Kensington Palace which focuses on Victoria as queen, as well as the Queen's State Apartments and the King's Gallery. There is a lot to see at Kensington Palace and then outside there are the gardens as well. For me it was a morning well spent, immersing myself in some royal history!
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