9 April 2021. Following the death of His Royal Highness, there will be changes to opening hours for the gardens at Hampton Court Palace and Hillsborough Castle. For further information, please read our FAQs page
Booking your ticket in advance guarantees entry to Kensington Palace via a priority queue. With security checks in place there may still be queues of up to one hour to enter the palace (before the ticket office), and queues regularly form within the palace for the Diana: Her Fashion Story exhibition.
Your advance ticket will allow you “priority entrance” to the palace ahead of those purchasing tickets on the day, but this is often still subject to queuing. Any queue that forms inside the palace is not prioritised by ticket type; everyone joins the back of the queue once arriving at the exhibition. Approximately 70% of our daily visitors do not have advance tickets, which means that queuing will be inevitable, especially during peak times.
Those with advance tickets can join the signposted priority queue. Once inside the palace/ticketing hall please follow instruction from uniformed staff. We will endeavour to get you into the palace as quickly as possible. If you have a third party voucher or booking confirmation, it needs exchanging to a ticket.
All Kensington Palace admission tickets include access to all exhibitions on the date of visit. Valid third party vouchers include access to all exhibitions but they are subject to the third party company's terms and conditions, please directly contact the company you booked with if you have any concerns regarding your booking or if your voucher has expired.
It is highly recommended you pre-book to guarantee entry on your preferred date. However, there will be a limited number of general admission tickets available for purchase on-site through a queuing system. If you are planning to purchase on the day, please wear appropriate clothing as the queuing area to the palace entrance is uncovered.
If you are prepared to queue, there's a high likelihood you will be able to purchase tickets on your preferred day of visit, however we cannot guarantee entrance to walk-up visitors as we have a strict capacity limit within the Palace. Visits from 26 April 2018 will be allocated a time slot for entrance into Kensington Palace - if purchasing on site you may be required to wait for a later time slot.
If you do not have an advance ticket upon arrival, you will join the signposted walk-up queue to buy tickets. A member of Historic Royal Palaces staff will be on hand to advise you on queuing times. The queue length will vary on any given day, with peak times usually before 14:00. All visitors with pre-purchased tickets will get priority entrance into Kensington Palace via an alternate queue.
We know queuing can be frustrating; however, it is important we manage visitor flow effectively to ensure the comfort and enjoyment of our visitors once inside the palace. The length of the queue varies each day. Staff will be happy to answer questions and keep you up to date with queue times.
Due to the size of the exhibition gallery, it is likely there will be an additional queue to gain admission. At peak times, the queue may extend to an external covered area (there is seating available here if needed). The number of visitors within the space is monitored throughout the day, with staff allowing guests into the gallery once others have exited. The capacity level is set to ensure everyone has the time and space to view all of the items on display.
There are six rooms containing a variety of outfits worn by Diana, Princess of Wales. There are also interpretation panels, photographs and original sketches by some of the princess’s favourite designers. Photography (without the use of a flash) is permitted throughout the palace, but any video recording, or the use of tripods or selfie-sticks are not.
If a member of your party has access requirements, we strongly recommend you secure advance tickets, as if you are purchasing tickets on the day you will be required to join the walk-up queue. There is step free access to all of our exhibition spaces. There is covered seating available for the Diana: Her Fashion Story exhibition if an external queue is in process, and fold out chairs are available for use upon request. Upon arrival, please speak to a member of staff who will be more than happy to assist you. For health & safety reasons, we are only able to accommodate up to six wheelchair users in the King’s and Queen’s apartments at any one time.
Tickets to Kensington Palace have a time slot for admission to the Palace. It is important you arrive in a timely manner, visitors who are more than 10 minutes late for their assigned timeslot may find admission is refused due to capacity limitations. Staff will do their best to accommodate you on a later time slot if at all possible. We highly recommend you arrive a few minutes before your allocated entrance time, and that you check Transport For London and plan your journey ahead of your visit.
N.B. If you have a 17:00 time slot ticket, please arrive before 17:00 as the doors will close promptly at 17:00 and you will not be admitted after this time.
For conservation reasons, some of the items on display may change but exciting new objects will take their place. We are unable to provide any further information as any changes will be dependent upon private owners who kindly allow us to borrow their pieces. On occasion we will need to close the exhibition to allow for this change or for essential maintenance of the gallery, any closures will be announced on our opening times page.
From 26 April 2018 all admission tickets will be assigned an entrance time, and there will be a peak and off-peak pricing structure for advance tickets.
Visit our Tickets and Prices page for more information on pricing.