For more than 300 years, Kensington Palace has played host to a colourful cast of kings, queens, wayward children, royal aunts and uncles, distant cousins and assorted aristocratic hangers-on.
This remarkable building has served as the stage for some of the most dramatic and bizarre events in the royal family’s history. It was here that the young Queen Victoria was held a virtual prisoner for eighteen years; and it was here that George II installed both his wife and his mistress, giving the latter rooms so damp that there were said to be mushrooms growing on the walls.
More recently, the palace has witnessed an extraordinary series of scandals, from Princess Diana’s bombshell TV interview with a journalist smuggled into the palace disguised as a salesman, to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s departure for Frogmore Cottage amid rumours of a rift with William and Kate.
Through exclusive interviews with palace staff past and present and detailed historical sources, Tom Quinn takes a look beyond official accounts, delving into the frequently outrageous but often heart-warming history of the palace and its inhabitants, from its earliest beginnings to the present day.
With a postscript reflecting on Harry and Meghan’s shock decision to leave the country, Kensington Palace: An Intimate Memoir from Queen Mary to Meghan Markle offers a rare behind-the-scenes insight into one of Britain’s most iconic residences.