Customer Reviews

Kensington Palace: The Official Illustrated History

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An extremely nice paperback history book about Kensington Palace. You get the history of the place from it's beginnings (there's been something built on the site for about a 1000 years) but mostly covering the period from the 17th century onwards through today.
There are a lot of photographs of various sections of the building complex, some more than 100 years old,both inside and out as well as maps and diagrams from past centuries.
The history of the place is very detailed with period illustrations and covers many of the occupants as well as the structure itself.
I really like the book and would recommend it to anyone who has been or is thinking of going to London. You will learn a lot about the Palace but be warned, this isn't a guide book. You will learn about a lot of what is there but you aren't told just what isn't open to the public (if you are it isn't very clear and I missed it)and there is no Prince(or Princess)lived here detail (Charles & Diana barely mentioned in comparison to some past inhabitants).

Read this instead of going there - there's very little content, even for those wanting to worship at the Shrine of Diana, and what is there is not very well explained or presented - the paintings in particular are very badly lit, almost unviewable in fact. Hampton Court is (just) worth the 15 quid they charge to get in, Kensington at 12.50 is a complete rip off by comparison. Stick to the book.