The second day of the Big Bus Hop On Hop Off tour, I had planned to visit Kensington Palace (which I had not been to since 1983) and the Sherlock Holmes Museum (which I had never visited before). To get to both of these places, I needed the Blue Line. The first bus to arrive was the Red Line. But the Big Bus driver suggested that I take it to the London Eye stop as there would be more buses there than at the stop I was currently. I would be able to get a Blue Line bus more quickly.
Arriving at the London Eye, I found that the next Blue Line bus wouldn’t be there for a half hour. At least I had a place to sit down there. It took longer than a half hour. We did alright until we got to the Houses of Parliament. That was when it became clear as to why the buses were taking longer than anticipated. There were protests going on that were completely blocking traffic. So we sat at Parliament for about an hour before we were on our way again. By the time I finally got to Kensington Palace, it was 1pm. Two hours later than I had planned to get there.
Kensington Palace was once a small and suburban villa, known as Nottingham House until monarchs William III and Mary II chose it in 1689 to be their country retreat. When his beloved Mary died from smallpox in 1694 in the palace, William lost interest in the lavish entertainments and balls. Despite his grief, the King finished the building with a grand gallery to the south of the palace, enlarging Sir Christopher Wren’s original plan. William III died in 1702 after catching a fatal chill in the King’s Gallery.
Queen Anne spent very little time at Kensington Palace. It wasn’t until George I succeeded to the throne that the palace was enlarged by the designer, architect, and artist William Kent. He filled it with art and fine furniture, giving it the refined 18th-century appearance that many of the rooms still have today.
After King George II’s death, no other reigning monarch lived at Kensington for nearly 70 years. Since George III didn’t wish to live at Kensington himself, he granted apartments to other members of the royal family. This included his fourth son, Edward, Duke of Kent. Edward’s wife, the German duchess, Victoire, gave birth to the future Queen Victoria there in 1819. The baby was christened Alexandrina Victoria.
Edward died eight months later, leaving the Duchess to raise Victoria alone. The Duchess of Kent did her best to educate and protect the girl who might one day become queen. Victoria was educated almost entirely in her rooms at Kensington. Frequent trips to the theatre, daily rides in the gardens and her favorite dog, Dash, punctuated Victoria’s early days. However, Victoria saw virtually no other children and was kept away from life at court.
On the morning of June 20, 1837, Princess Victoria woke up to be told that the King had died and she was now Queen. She was just 18 years old. She held her first Privy Council meeting that day in the Red Saloon at Kensington Palace. A few weeks later, she departed for Buckingham Palace.
Kensington Palace once again became a dormitory for minor royals until after World War II. Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon lived at the palace with their family from the 1960s. The couple created fashionable interiors and hosted many parties for celebrity guests, pop stars and artists.
Prince Charles and Princess Diana lived at Kensington after their wedding in 1981. Their sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, grew up there. Kensington is the London home of the current Prince and Princess of Wales and their children. It was also the home of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex after they were first married.
I started my visit in the Queen’s State Apartments, which is presented as it was in the 1690s when Queen Mary II ruled with her husband, King William III. Then I explored the King’s State Apartments which retain the era of King George II in the 1700s. I finished my visit with the rooms of Queen Victoria. They remain as they were when she lived there as a child.
I had lunch at the palace and then revised my plans. By this point it was about 3:30pm. So I decided to save the Sherlock Holmes Museum for a later visit. Since the house where my father’s maternal great grandfather had been a butler was nearby, I decided to take a look at that and then take the Hop On Hop Off bus back to Trafalgar Square and call it a day.
That night I had dinner in the hotel restaurant. They had a dish with salmon, haddock, and prawns in a Bechamel sauce with whipped potatoes on top. Carrots were served with it. I also had a sparkling rose wine. For dessert was a trifle. This was made with sponge cake, cherry jelly (what would be called jello in the States), custard, whipped cream and whole cherries.
My last day in London was spent starting at the National Portrait Gallery in the morning, among the portraits of the famous and powerful of the country throughout its history, beginning with the Tudors. The afternoon was spent among some truly amazing and beautiful works of art at the National Gallery. They had such a wonderful variety of art. It was a lovely way to spend my last day on that trip.
