Friday 26 June 2009

PFF: Kensington Palace, London


Unused and undated.

Kensington Palace.  P.C. 1863
From a series of French prints of London c.1855
Kensington Place - a solid, domestic, brick building - was the sovereign of England's chief residence between 1689 and 1760.  During the nineteenth century its impressive gardens, laid out by Wise and later by Bridgeman, which had hitherto been closed to all but royalty an their guests, were opened to the public on Saturdays and became a fashionable venue for a promenade.

Established as the royal residence during the reign of William and Mary in1689 when William's asthma meant he had to move from Whitehall to somewhere with cleaner air.  Pollution even in those days!  It is still one of the royal palaces where various members of the royal family still live, but it is possibly best known as the palace where Diana continued to live after her divorce from Prince Charles. 

Kensington Gardens, 275 acres adjoining Hyde park, were once the private gardens to the palace.  Now features, amongst other things, the statue of Peter Pan, the Albert Memorial and the Diana Memorial Playground and Walk.

A post for Postcard Friendship Friday

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15 comments:

  1. My son John has a poster of the Statue of Peter Pan hanging in his room! It's so lovely!
    happy PFF! Did you see that I changed the post for your birthday last week? There is a song waiting for you there too:)

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  2. Very interesting history and a nice print.

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  3. outstanding postcard!
    happy PFF and a great weekend!
    xx

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  4. I'm not well versed on the Royals, but I knew that in the back of my brain I had known something about Kensington Palace. Ahhh, Diana's residence...that's it. What a great old card. Thanks so much for posting it.

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  5. Hi
    Happy PFF.
    Thank you for sharing such a delightful postcard today.
    I enjoyed learning about the history .
    The gardens do sound wonderful.
    Have a fabulous Friday.
    Happy Trails

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  6. Heavens, what a beautiful card. Interesting reading, too. I guess the coal they burned back then really did gum up the air, but we should know better by now. :)
    I can't imagine having a collection so large that I could post one postcard a day!

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  7. I used to read about Kensington Gardens when Diana, Princess of Wales was living there.
    Thanks for bringing back good memories (although sad ones too, for course)
    Evelyn in Montreal

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  8. I love to see palaces of uk.
    have a great week.

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  9. That's a beautiful card! I love that!

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  10. Lovely postcard....and great background information. Thank you for sharing this.

    Have a beautiful weekend.

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  11. This is a beautiful card and enjoyed reading about the history.
    debby

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  12. Kensington Place looks great! Thanks for sharing especially the information about it.

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  13. I always love London

    Also, I gave you a blog award-
    http://www.ifyouwriteit.com/2009/06/the-coveted-best-follower-blog-award/

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  14. This such a vintage postcard.
    Love it.

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  15. Far more pollution (at least in the city) then than now, I think; there was an Industrial Revolution going on around them! Too bad for the asthmatic common man who didn't have the wherewithal to move away.

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Welcome to my postcard collection! I love hearing what you think of the cards - but spam WILL be deleted.

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