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Kensington Palace, set within the leafy expanse of Kensington Gardens in west London, has been a royal residence for more than three centuries and remains a working home for members of the royal family alongside its role as a public attraction. The palace began as a modest mansion that was acquired and enlarged at the end of the seventeenth century by the joint monarchs William and Mary, who sought a residence away from the damp riverside air of Whitehall, and the architect Christopher Wren was engaged to transform it into a comfortable royal home. Over the following centuries it was the birthplace and childhood home of the future Queen Victoria, who was living there when she was woken in 1837 to be told she had become queen, an event that gives the palace particular resonance. Visitors can tour the state apartments, including the lavishly decorated rooms used by the Georgian and Stuart courts, and explore exhibitions that often focus on royal fashion and the lives of the women associated with the palace. The surrounding gardens, with their ornamental walks, the sunken garden and the nearby memorials, provide a tranquil setting and are freely open to the public. As a place where royal history and present-day royal life intersect, the palace offers an intimate counterpoint to the grander state palaces of the capital. Tickets for the historic apartments can be booked online in advance, the gardens are free to enter, and the palace draws visitors throughout the year across every season of the calendar. The palace has been home to many royal figures over the centuries and continues to provide private apartments for members of the family today, so that public visitors share the building with its working royal role, a duality that lends it a particular intimacy. Exhibitions drawing on the Royal Collection frequently explore the clothing and personal stories of the women who lived there, adding a human dimension to the grand rooms. The surrounding gardens, with their formal walks, fountains and the tranquil sunken garden, offer a pleasant setting for a stroll and link the palace to the wider expanse of the royal parks. For visitors, the combination of accessible royal history, fine interiors and beautiful grounds makes the palace a rewarding and relatively peaceful alternative to the busier state palaces of the capital throughout the year.