The beginnings of the Royal Botanic Gardens

Like his mother, he employed the dazzling architect William Kent to remodel his home and then went on to lay the first foundations of the botanic gardens, introducing exotic garden buildings and first working with another great builder, William Chambers.

Then fate intervened when the Prince died suddenly from an infection in 1751; according to some accounts brought on by a blow from a cricket ball, a sport he enjoyed and played at Kew.

His widow, Augusta, Princess of Wales, continued to develop the royal gardens. With Chambers as her architect and William Aiton, her gardener, she established the great gardens of Kew.

 In just six years from 1757 to 1763 Chambers added an extraordinary world in microcosm, including a mosque, a Moorish Alhambra and the great brick Pagoda

Later, two British future British monarchs spent their formative years within its walls

Meanwhile, her rather shy son, George, struggled at his studies. The palace became known as the Prince of Wales’s House. When George III became King in 1760, at the age of 22, he and his young Queen Charlotte took over Richmond Lodge.