and then walked down to Kensington Gardens
and decided to tour Kensington Palace (home of Pince William, Kate and baby George).
Not a glimpse of any of the Royal family, but we did learn a lot about Queen Victoria, and her Consort Albert.
She was only eighteen when she came to the Throne. She claimed to have lived very simply - "never had a room to myself till I was nearly grown up - always slept in my Mother's room till I came to the Throne". They had nine children and Victoria is still the longest reigning Queen (Queen Elizabeth has a year and a few months to catch her).
Riding jacket worn by Queen Victoria fashioned after the uniform of a General Officer
Other Royals who made this palace home: Queen Mary II died at Kensington of smallpox when she was 32 years old. She had only one living child who died at 11. Her sister Anne was then crowned, but also died without issue. The next in line was a German and a Hanovarian, George II. He brought with him his Queen Caroline. They were the only sovereigns to be named King and Queen of England. All others have been only one or the other, King or Queen and Consort.
Fashions of the day. Note Terry in the finest of court dress
This is also the palace where Princess Diana lived with Princes William and Harry after her divorce from Prince Charles, and where all the flowers were laid following her death.
There was also a room with various gowns worn by Princess Margaret and Princes Diana for various functions they attended.
The gardens are quite lovely. It is said that Kathryn, the Duchess of York can be seen often walking in Kensinngton Park or along Kensington High Street doing her shopping. Kensington Palace has a long and interesting history.
Thursday
Terry wanted to go see if she could find the flat that she and her husband stayed in when he was working in London, It was at 22 St. James Square. We hopped on the "Tube" and got off at Picadilly Circus and walked until we found St James Square. We first stopped at 22a St. James Square and she thought it had totally changed. After speaking with a gentleman inside he said his building had no rental flats. We walked on and she saw 22 St. James and she recognized it immediately as the place they had stayed.
We then walked up the street to the famous Fortnum and Mason (think tea) department store.
Pretty close in elegance to Harrods, but perhaps not so over the top. A beautiful store.
On our way to the subway, we passed a street market and walked through, where Terry found a wrap she liked and ended up buying, by a designer named Gabriela Rose. How we will find a place to pack it is anyone's guess. I bought a scarf from her which doesn't require a lot of space in the suitcase. Ah well, I'm sure we will find a place for it.
After vsiting Harrods the other day, I googled it to see if Mohammed Al Fayed still owned Harrods. He does not. After having owned and managed it for 25 years he sold it to a Holding company owned by the Qatari Royal family for 1.5 billion pounds. The history of his ownership talked about the Egyptian stairs (escalator) that he had put in during his time there for 30 million pounds. It has sphinxes at every level and they all have his face on them. He also said that he would never leave Harrods and planned to be buried in a golden sarcophagus on the top floor where his suite of rooms were located. After selling it that is unlikely to happen. After reading about this kind of bizarre but interesting man, we decided to make another visit to Harrods to find this egyption escalator. And so we did...
He also had a statue of his son Dodi Al Fayed and Princess Diana put in at the bottom of the escalator after their deaths. Many thought this was a tacky thing to do, and we saw no evidence of it when we were there. At any rate this egyptian staircase is quite a novelty for this over the top department store. By the way he started his business life in a market stall in Alexandria, Egypt selling pepsi's. An interesting man.
It is said that Harrods makes more money per square foot than any other store in the world and attracts 15 million customers a year.
The United Kingdom adventure ends here. We are headed home to continue our packing for Amsterdam. TaTa!
Tickets to Amsterdam on the Eurostar. Let a new phase begin.
2 comments:
Oh how I recognize LONDON where I lived severalyears! I could hear the sounds. Kensington Gardens was a favorite place to run. Did you see the Peter Pan statue? A great place. glad you enjoyed it. karen
Oh how I recognize LONDON where I lived severalyears! I could hear the sounds. Kensington Gardens was a favorite place to run. Did you see the Peter Pan statue? A great place. glad you enjoyed it. karen
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