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Historic Royal Palaces blog

Insights and behind the scenes from our palaces

Insights and behind the scenes from our palaces

'May I Go Home?': Lady Jane Grey's First Moments as a Tower Prisoner

11 October 2024

Lady Jane Grey's biographer, Dr Nicola Tallis unpicks the moment that Jane learned of her deposition and was forced to come to terms with her fall from Queen to Tower prisoner.

A Christmas Pudding Recipe with a Victorian twist

06 December 2023

Richard Fitch, Historic Kitchens Manager at Historic Royal Palaces, reimagines a Victorian recipe that you can make at home just before Christmas day.

Anthony Salvin: the architect who transformed the Tower of London

16 December 2021

Archivist Tom Drysdale introduces Anthony Salvin, the Victorian architect who began the transformation of the Tower of London, and looks at four drawings that shed a light on his work and legacy.

Researching and redecorating Queen Victoria's childhood home

22 May 2019

On 24th May 1819 at Kensington Palace, Queen Victoria was born. On 24th May 2019, her 200th birthday, the home of her youth will be re-opened to visitors after a major makeover in the form of a new exhibition called ‘Victoria: A Royal Childhood.’

Queen Victoria's petticoat: underwear 'patched'

21 November 2017

In the last post we saw how Queen Victoria's petticoat was wet cleaned. Now the cream lawn cotton looks a lot brighter and the creasing has visibly reduced. There is still a bit of treatment left to do, as there are splits in the skirt, bodice and lace, and some of the buttonholes at the back fastening have frayed.

Queen Victoria's Petticoat takes a bath

02 November 2017

In our previous post we learned about the condition of Queen Victoria's petticoat. Today I want to focus on the yellow look of the cotton and the staining. The question: to clean or not to clean?

Queen Victoria's petticoat magnified: conservation begins

10 October 2017

When I heard I was going to lead the project to conserve this petticoat I got very excited as it is a rare example of royal underwear, with a very personal connection to Queen Victoria. As a new acquisition for our Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection I had to start from the beginning to really get to know the object.