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Welcome to Kensington - a palace for everyone







A major project to transform the visitor experience at Kensington Palace
Kensington Palace

Independent charity Historic Royal Palaces is undertaking a £12 million project to re-present Kensington Palace and improve visitor facilities by 2012.

The £12 million project will introduce new education and community facilities, improve accessibility, reconnect the palace with the neighbouring park through new public gardens inspired by the area's historic landscape, and realise Historic Royal Palaces' ambition to open up the palace's rich and varied stories to the widest possible audience. The proposals are widely and enthusiastically supported by national bodies, experts, community groups and local people.

The project will be financed by independent charity Historic Royal Palaces, with grants and donations from donors, sponsors, trusts and foundations. The fundraising campaign, led by the Historic Royal Palaces Campaign Board, is already underway.

When the project is complete in 2012:

• Kensington Palace will be completely opened up and linked once again to the neighbouring park and the surrounding landscape with gardens inspired by the historic layout of the area. Historic vistas to and from the palace will be reinstated, and a new outdoor space for public use and enjoyment created.

• The main visitor entrance will be relocated to welcome and draw visitors into the palace directly from the Broad Walk and the Round Pond.

• There will be a central hub inside the palace, free of charge to enter, where visitors will get a taste of a royal palace and can choose to explore further or just stop and enjoy refreshments in relaxing surroundings.

• Children will enjoy free admission to the palace, where fun, engaging and relevant children-friendly events and activities will encourage more families to visit.

• Physical access into and around Kensington Palace will be transformed, aided by the addition of a lift providing level access to all floors.

• Historic Royal Palaces' award-winning education service will be extended to Kensington with an education strategy drawing on the palace’s relevance to the National Curriculum. Dedicated spaces will be created to accommodate formal and informal learners, as well as helping serve the needs of local community groups.

• The rooms where Queen Victoria grew up will be redisplayed and her story told using collections of pertinent and personal historic objects. The stories of Kensington’s other fascinating personalities will follow after 2012.

Planning permission for the project was granted by the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea in August 2009. Major works will begin in June 2010 and are scheduled for completion in June 2012 in time for the Queen's 60th Jubilee and the London Olympics.

For further information about our project at Kensington Palace please email kensingtonpalace@hrp.org.uk or write to Nigel Arch, Director, Kensington Palace State Apartments, Kensington Gardens, London, W8 4PX.

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