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â“’Rebecca Bugge, All Rights Reserved
Do not use without permission.
Statue of a seated and crowned queen Victoria, in front of Kensington Palace.
Kensington Palace is one of the British royal residences - originally built in 1605 by Sir George Coppin in what was then the village of Kensington (London has grown a lot since then). It was then in Jacobean style. It became a royal residence in 1689 when it was bought by William and Mary (as a more healthy place to stay than Whitehall - William had asthma), and was remodelled by Sir Christopher Wren, who added to the place rather than replaced, to save money.
Today it is the official London residence for prince William and his family (they have a 20 room apartment there), but also that of prince Harry (who has one bedroom there) and a few others. The state rooms are open to the public.