Adventure #4

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Kensington Palace:  Kensington Palace is part Royal apartment house, part museum open to the public. 

William and Mary became joint Monarchs of the United Kingdom following the abdication of James II in the Glorious Revolution of 1688. Truth be told, James II left the throne before he could be thrown off of it.  His crime?  Baptizing the male offspring of his second marriage as a Roman Catholic. 

Left without a Monarch, Parliament approached Mary Stuart, daughter of James II by his first marriage and wife of William of Orange, a staunch Protestant.  William and Mary took the throne in 1689.  William especially did not like the hustle, bustle and dirt of the central city of the day and sought a residence "in the country".  Kensington Palace fit the bill. 

Part of what the public can see on tour of Kensington Palace today is the work of William, Mary and Mary's sister, Queen Anne, who came to the throne because William and Mary died without leaving an Heir.  William was a tinkerer.  A weather vane on the roof still reports wind direction and velocity on a "read-out" in one of the large reception rooms.  It is the public reception rooms of this era that you see when you visit Kensington Palace today.

Kensington Palace was also the birthplace of Queen Victoria.  It was apparent that her uncle, William IV, would not leave an heir to the throne.  Hence, the Royal marriage and child-bearing race was on among the remaining sons of George III.  Victoria's parents, the Duke and Duchess of Kent, "won" when she was born on May 24, 1819.  She was 18 and still living with her mother at Kensington Palace at the time of her Accession in 1837 and it was here that her first Council Meeting took place.

The rooms lived in by young Victoria and her mother (her father died shortly after her birth) have been restored and are also a part of the public tour today.

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