Kensington Palace is associated with a few different royals, including Queen Anne and Queen Victoria. However, in recent memory it is most strongly associated with Diana, Princess of Wales! If you ever have the chance to visit, I recommend that you wander all around the Palace and gardens as you will see the gates where all of the flowers and gifts were left after her passing and the Kensington Palace Sunken Garden which is currently transformed in honour of her memory!
The Sunken Garden is absolutely gorgeous in the spring and summer- being from the prairies where everything is dead until after Victoria Day (around the third Monday in May), it is fairly startling to see flowers before June. In 2017, the Sunken Garden was planted in all white in honour of the late Princess of Wales.
The Kensington Palace Sunken Garden- An Urban Oasis
It’s quite subtle but very lovely and calming. London is such a bustling city that it is sometimes jarring to find a little oasis like the Garden, and I think that Diana would have loved to see this. It is also a great tie in with the exhibition in the Palace on Diana’s clothes! (See my post on the Fashion Rules exhibit if you are interested in Royal fashion)
When I visited Kensington in late April 2013, the garden was in full bloom and just stunning. If you’ve not been to Winnipeg before, I can describe our spring in four words: dirt, sand, snow, dust. That leads to me getting very excited when I do go somewhere in the spring with greenery and blooms and new growth!
Escape from the Palace…
These are some of my favourite travel pictures to look back on. We allowed ourselves some time before having tea in the Orangery and I’m so glad that we had a few moments to truly enjoy the Gardens. The grounds of the Palace can be busy and crowded but it is always peaceful here.
According the Historic Royal Palaces, the Sunken Garden was originally planted in 1908 to mimic the 18th century gardens at Hampton Court Palace! Interestingly, there are different flowers that bloom in the spring and in the summer- I’m thankful that I was able to see the tulips. I like to think that this is a big improvement on the potting sheds that stood there before….
My goal is to learn to properly care for flowers and plants and keep them alive (maybe this is the summer I grow my five plants!!), and this garden is my inspiration. I can only imagine how much time and energy is put into it by the staff, and it really shows. While I love the striking colours that I saw, I think that the subtle whites currently there are perfect!
Diana, Princess of Wales Wallpaper
I love seeing this small bit of the Palace peaking through- it really gives you a feeling for how secluded the Garden feels even though it’s a mere minute walk from the doors of the Palace. And this last one is actually from inside KP: the Historic Royal Palaces commissioned a gorgeous watercolour print wallpaper in tribute to Diana, and I think it’s absolutely stunning. If it was possible, I would certainly buy a framed print.
Have you visited the Kensington Palace Sunken Garden?
Cheers,
The Historian
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Such gorgeous gardens! Your photos are fab 🙂
Gorgeous! I love those purple tulips! I, too, would love to really learn to care for a garden. I started a bit this year, and had my first bloom the other day!
Your photographs are gorgeous!! I am with you – I could only hope to sustain even a handful of such gorgeous flowers and plants in my own garden.
Thank you!! 🙂 And I think I’m really going to focus on cacti for now- the heartier, the better!!