Kensington Palace

I visited Kensington Palace as I am a Diana fan. Overall I found it very interesting visiting the place where she lived for 10 years even though you are not allowed into the area where she lived as it house the queens relatives and staff now. Princess Margaret’s apartments had a display going about the debutante life in the ‘50s. I found it more interesting imagining what it would have been like living in there if it had been my apartment in the middle of London. It's kinda strange as a lot of the windows are obscured by blinds or window coverings so you can't go out and the numerous attendants around the palace get very upset if you try to look through the blinds. So you are going through rooms where you can't see out to the outside.

I had read Diana’s butler, Paul Burrell’s book “The way we were: remembering Diana” about life with Diana. He said it was a pity that they stripped out her apartment of the furniture etc as there are many people who would have been interested in going through it to see where she lived. He also gave a good insight with photos of her apartment furnished.

I bought the guide book which gives interesting background on the history of the palace and you can go through the state apartments on one side where the royal families have lived from about 1650 until late 1800’s. There are a few dresses of Diana’s on view, not many though, only about 8.

Overall an ok tour but would’ve been better if you could go through where Diana had lived.

We visited KP primarily because it was very close to our hotel. We had read the information that there wasn't much to it but since we were in the neighborhood... Big mistake. It is a complete waste of money, in my opinion. The best part, the grounds, can be toured for free. The rooms were a little shabby and after Windsor Castle, it suffered in comparison. I was also lured by the promise of a look at antique court dress. There was ONE display with two or three ladies dressed in fashion from the 1920s or 30s (plus, in the case directly across from the ladies, a man being dressed for a party). The ladies were readying themselves for a debutante party. Hardly an extensive exhibit.

Some might find the Princess Diana exhibit interesting. While I thought she seemed like a wonderful lady and might even consider myself "a fan", we skimmed through these exhibits and I found them uninteresting. Somehow it felt a little unseemly- like her memory was being exploited to draw people to the palace to sell tickets. The only part I enjoyed was the film of her leaving St. Paul's in a carriage, after her marriage. Naive souls can sign a book in the exhibit, which we chose to skip. Who is ever going to read it?

Tea at the Orangery: The orange cake is delicious and the scones and cream were pretty good (the Tower of London had better scones!). The Darjeeling tea was yummy. But the mint tea was horrible. They served it already prepared in a glass filled with mint leaves. Who finds drinking large pieces of leaves appealing? It cost around 3 GBP as well- which means it set us back over $6. You are able to order high tea for one and split it with the other person. In other words, when they bring you the sandwiches, scones and cake you can half it with the other diner. We split the high tea and ordered the mint tea in order to have a second beverage. In hindsight, I would skip that and would just share my teapot with the second diner. The cucumber sandwiches lacked flavor. They were awful and dry. It was just cream cheese and slices of cucumber- no salt and pepper, no herbs, nothing. When we make cucumber sandwiches for teas in the South (this tradition is only maintained for special occasions, like wedding showers, etc.) we mix in shredded onion or chives and sometimes a little mayo with the cream cheese to add some flavor. Fellow Southerners you will be disappointed if you were expecting something similar to what you are accustomed to. I have had much better in the U.K., so try tea sandwiches elsewhere.

We were disappointed with our trip to Ken Palace. The rooms were quite shabby and particularly the rooms previously occupied by Princess Margaret. These rooms have been stripped bare and there is little information about their previous use. The dress display of Princess Diana's dresses is very poor. The dresses are on headless manaquins and it hard to envisage diana wearing the dress. A picture of her in the dress beside the manaquin would have helped. The other state rooms were ok and the staff were helpful if asked a question. Don't think this attraction is worth the £12 admission fee.