Kensington Palace

[scooter]

Originally Posted by NGalitzine

Is anyone living in Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone's former apartment at Clock Court, KP ?

On a tangent...I've stayed at Brantridge Park, her former country house, now a hotel....just lovely. I was fortunate enough to stay in the unit in the hotel which was her personal suite.

[Mermaid1962]

That must have been quite a lovely experience, scooter.

[DukeOfAster]

I say that the Duke and Duchess and Prince Henry will make this palace the place to be seen at and to see. I see Clarence house to be the home for the children of will and Kate. I think Clarence House will be Camillia home and will be a place that her children will call there London home while Charles and there Mom live in Buckingham Palace.

[Lumutqueen]

Originally Posted by DukeOfAster

I say that the Duke and Duchess and Prince Henry will make this palace the place to be seen at and to see. I see Clarence house to be the home for the children of will and Kate. I think Clarence House will be Camillia home and will be a place that her children will call there London home while Charles and there Mom live in Buckingham Palace.

Tom, Sara, Laura and Harry will certainly not be calling Clarence House their London home.

[DukeOfAster]

I would say that they will need a place to be while in London and for security reason you do not think she would not insist that they stay where they could be protected properly. Atleast Clarence house does not have the glare that Buckingham Palace does but atleast they will be on a safe haven.

[Lumutqueen]

Originally Posted by DukeOfAster

I would say that they will need a place to be while in London and for security reason you do not think she would not insist that they stay where they could be protected properly. Atleast Clarence house does not have the glare that Buckingham Palace does but atleast they will be on a safe haven.

Exactly what do they need protecting from?
They're not royal, they are not in anyway blood related to royalty and they are private citizens. The press do not hound them, they do not attend any events on behalf of the royal family (for obvious reasons), why do they need protecting?

Camilla will not insist they live at a royal residence, as they are not royal. I expect Tom and Laura would laugh at the idea. They are safe, in their own homes as seen.

[DukeOfAster]

Sorry for ruffling tail feathers I could go further but I do not want a simple question to be made into something more than it needs to.

[NGalitzine]

Camilla's children, who are private citizens, will never live in an official royal residence as the tax payer would not stand for it. It would be unthinkable in an era where the BRF is looking at downsizing. I just wish the public would turn their attention to the number of official residences at the disposal of cabinet ministers that are also paid for by the tax payer.

[muriel]

Originally Posted by DukeOfAster

I say that the Duke and Duchess and Prince Henry will make this palace the place to be seen at and to see. I see Clarence house to be the home for the children of will and Kate. I think Clarence House will be Camillia home and will be a place that her children will call there London home while Charles and there Mom live in Buckingham Palace.

Originally Posted by Lumutqueen

Tom, Sara, Laura and Harry will certainly not be calling Clarence House their London home.

Tom, Laura and their respective families already live in London in private homes. IMO, they are unlikely to be moving to royal homes.

[DukeOfAster]

Thanks for the info I did not know they already lived in London.

[Grandduchess24]

Kensington palace seems to only remind me of Queen Victoria, and the image of a bunch of bouquets of flowers at the gate when the late princess of wales died,and is another British royal palace I wish to visit, and apparently part of it is haunted by Charles II?spooky.

[lightningbearer]

Apparently Prince Harry has now moved to Kensington Palace, the daily mail say he is moving to a one bedroom flat close to william at nottingham cottage, I thought that apartment 4B that michael peat recently left was supposed to be for him? Seems like kensington palace is recieving a new lease of life rather than being retired :)

[EIIR]

Does anyone know if William and Kate will be paying rent to Historic Royal Palaces while they live there? I believe the Queen paid the rent for Prince and Princess Michael of Kent? Or have I got that wrong?

[tommy100]

Originally Posted by EIIR

Does anyone know if William and Kate will be paying rent to Historic Royal Palaces while they live there? I believe the Queen paid the rent for Prince and Princess Michael of Kent? Or have I got that wrong?

In the past the deal has been that if you perform official engagements then you don't have to pay rent or at least you pay a token rate of a few pounds a month. Prince & Princess Michael do not perform official engagements as the Prince is not in line to succeed the throne as such they have been required to pay rent, since early 2000s this has been at a commercial rate of about £120,000 a year. I can't see the future King and Queen having to pay rent, they will be housed for free i guess.

[Thena]

Apartment 4B has six bedrooms according to what I've heard. It sounds a little too big for a bachelor pad. It might be a better option once Harry is married and has a family.

[DukeOfAster]

My understanding is 4 B is the apartment that will be the Duke and Duchess's. Harry is in a one bedroom and will move to the cottage once the Duke and Duchess move to 4 B. Not sure what is up with the apartment that had been Charles's private secretary. If I am not mistaken once Cambridges and prince Harry move in a portion of the palace will be staff offices for them all and I assume Prince Harry's further wife. So I see lots of changes going on in the next year and I would say the private secretary's apartment is part of those changes.

[miche]

I thought they were moving into apartment 1B?

[Kataryn]

Originally Posted by miche

I thought they were moving into apartment 1B?

They do. Apartment 1A is the one to have a private garden. It was not available when Charles and Diana married, because Margaret lived there, so the Waleses took the apartment at the North side with a rooftop terrace plus the Walled Garden there for the kids. After Diana's death, the keys to the Walled Garden were given to Prince and Princess Michael.

[Warren]

Kate Middleton and Prince William's new home: Tour of Kensington Palace after £12m makeover | Mail Online

Kensington Palace Refurbishment

"Not since the Windsor fire of 1992, has there been a royal makeover on this scale. Indeed, the last time a palace went through a facelift of this magnitude, it was courtesy of a German bomb. In the case of Kensington Palace, however, this £12million transformation has not been prompted by any misfortune but by years of careful planning. Admittedly, there has been one unexpected, 11th-hour alteration to the designs. But no one is complaining about the decision of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to set up home here — because their presence in the private wing of the palace is only going to draw even more visitors through the doors on the public side.

First opened to tourists in Victorian times, Kensington Palace has long been a collection of flats for royal relatives — the Duke of Windsor used to call it ‘the Aunt Heap’ — alongside public state apartments. Now it has not merely been given a new lick of paint. Whole sections have been unveiled for the first time. More spectacularly, the grounds have been opened out and, from this morning, the public can wander into a royal palace without a ticket, to buy a cup of tea or a postcard. Once inside, they will be steered towards one of the grandest ticket offices in the land, a covered courtyard decked out like a multi-storey four-poster bed. And from there, they have the run of four exhibitions spanning four centuries, even if some of it may leave traditionalists harrumphing. After all, this is surely the first royal residence in history with talking Whoopee cushions — when sat upon, they burble historic court gossip into unsuspecting vistors’ ears.

The palace now has a completely uncluttered view of Kensington Gardens, its Round Pond and Hyde Park beyond. Looking the other way, the public now has a completely uncluttered view of the grounds landscaped by Charles Bridgeman in the early 18th century and the palace itself. Sitting there in pride of place, spruced up and good as new, is the statue of Queen Victoria sculpted by her daughter, Princess Louise. From today, when the whole thing re-opens, the public can simply walk straight up to the new front door, a covered portico known as the Diamond Jubilee Loggia, or approach via a hornbeam-lined zig-zag called the Wiggly Way.

It has always been a challenge for royal curators to set the right tone when remembering Diana, Princess of Wales. Market research shows that around a quarter of visitors to Kensington Palace are drawn by its associations with her. Too much Diana and the staff are accused of exploitation, too little and they are charged with neglect. The result is an exhibition of some of the late Princess’s dresses in what used to be Princess Margaret’s garden room. The original idea had been to maintain a permanent tribute to Diana in here but that plan has had to change because her elder son will now be converting Princess Margaret’s old home back in to a royal residence. At present, it is still office and event space. Soon, it will be home to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. And it would be rather strange to expect Prince William to share the marital home with a public exhibition devoted to his late mother.

But the Historic Royal Palaces team believe Kensington Palace has to appeal to all ages and tastes if it is to boost its annual visitor numbers from the usual 300,000 to upwards of 400,000. ‘Some parts will appeal to more traditional visitors but we also need to target a younger audience,’ explains the senior curator and historian, Lucy Worsley. Unlike HRP’s larger attractions, notably the Tower of London and Hampton Court, this royal palace cannot rely on a solid turnover of coach-party traffic. And it receives no Government subsidy. The £12 million refurbishment has been paid for with cash reserves, Lottery funding and support from charitable trusts like the Clore Duffield, Gosling and Rothermere foundations."
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[KittyAtlanta]

Good job on the restoration of the "traditional" areas. Not so keen on the "remodeling" with that very unattractive mesh satellite dish. Kate likes modern, so she probably approved that thing. Ugh. JMO.