London’s ‘hidden’ royal palace, located in the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, has reopened following a ten-year, £6.6 million conservation project. Kew Palace was the favourite home of King George III, who famously went ‘mad’ with a debilitating illness called porphyria, and his wife Queen Charlotte and their family. The palace has been returned to this Georgian period, redecorated and furnished as the royal family would have known it.
There are some interesting artefacts, including a wax life-mask of the king and the royal children’s dolls’ house – Charlotte had 15 children. There are sound effects and moving visuals in some rooms, as if the royal family are there, but always out of sight. The king’s ‘madness’ and the various treatments used for it – including purgatives and leeches – are explained. Visitors see the chair in which the queen died in 1818 while upstairs are several rooms that have been untouched for two centuries and never seen by the public before. Kew Palace’s modest layout and appearance is a stark contrast to typical expectations of royal palaces but provides a fascinating insight to a much loved domestic royal residence.
Open Tuesday to Sunday until September 30, admission £5 (ticket to Kew Gardens must also be purchased). Tel: 0870 751 5179. Website: www.hrp.org.uk
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