Kensington Palace
Queen Victoria was born here in 1819 — and royals still live behind the museum's ropes.
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Christopher Wren expanded a house into this palace in 1689 — now a working royal home and a museum at once. Victoria was born in Apartment 2, Diana lived here until 1997, and Historic Royal Palaces opens the State Apartments as four routes, from William and Mary to 20th-century royal fashion.
What to look for
- On the King's Staircase (completed 1724), William Kent's painting crowds the walls with 45 Georgian courtiers — including George I's Turkish servants, Mahomet and Mustapha.
- The Cupola Room's domed ceiling: octagonal coffering painted gold and blue by Kent.
- The Queen Victoria statue out front, sculpted by her own daughter Princess Louise in her studio inside the palace.
The State Apartments are run by Historic Royal Palaces; the palace sits in Kensington Gardens, a short walk from the Round Pond and the tulip-planted Sunken Garden.
Kensington Palace is one of 40 sights worth the detour in London, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the London pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in London
- British MuseumThe room where a dead language got its voice back — and you walk in for free.
- Buckingham PalaceThe balcony where a whole country turns up to watch a family wave — with 775 rooms behind it.
- Westminster AbbeyNearly every English monarch since 1066 has been crowned on the same worn patch of floor.
- Big BenThe clang in a thousand establishing shots comes from a cracked bell that's rung slightly off-key since 1859.
- Tower of LondonWilliam the Conqueror's keep turned royal prison, where two queens lost their heads and the Crown Jewels still sit under guard.
- Tower BridgeA Victorian drawbridge dressed as a Gothic castle, its roadway still splitting open for passing ships.