Kensington Palace GOLD

Kensington Palace, London

With entry ticket to the Palace 

 

Travel by luxury GOLD coach

 

A new exhibition 'The Last Princesses of Punjab' runs from 26th March 2026 at Kensington Palace and discovers the story of Punjabi princess and suffragette icon, Sophia Duleep Singh and five women who shaped her extraordinary life.

 

Sophia and her sisters Catherine and Bamba, her mother Bamba Muller, grandmother Jind Kaur and godmother Queen Victoria each expressed womanhood, power, and royalty in different ways. They infused their identities and heritage into the causes they devoted themselves to, and became powerful changemakers in their own right.

 

For the first time, Queen Victoria's childhood home of Kensington Palace will offer an intimate look into six lives shaped by Empire. This new exhibition — created to celebrate Sophia's 150th birthday — will focus on the women of a royal dynasty whose destinies were profoundly and violently transformed by it.

 

The voice of British South Asian people today will be present throughout the exhibition, responding to themes of identity, expression, and resistance.

 

Explore the Palace - the birthplace of Queen Victoria and home to young royals for over 300 years. Walk in the footsteps of royalty in Victoria's re-imagined childhood rooms and the magnificent King's State Apartments and Queen's State Apartments. Visit this charming and much loved royal Palace and gardens, birthplace of Queen Victoria and home to Diana, Princess of Wales.

 

Kensington Gardens began life as a King's playground; for over 100 years, the gardens were part of Hyde Park and hosted Henry VIII's huge deer chase.

 

The garden is terraced with paving and ornamental flower beds, surrounding an ornamental pond with fountains formed from reused 18th century water cisterns retrieved from the palace. Today, the garden continues the tradition of rotational flower displays in the spring and summer. Vibrant colours and exotic planting are on display from April to October when the garden is looking its best.

 

In 2017 the sunken garden was completely re-planted in white flowers for visitors to reflect and celebrate the life of Princess Diana. It took inspiration from Princess Diana’s dresses along with the famous Mario Testino photographs of the Princess. The garden continues to follow this peaceful and pastel coloured style to this day which visitors admire and enjoy.

 

When William III and Mary II established the palace in 1689, they began to create a separate park. Mary commissioned a palace garden of formal flower beds and box hedges. This style was Dutch and designed to make William, who came from Holland, feel at home. The diarist, John Evelyn, described the gardens as 'very delicious'. On 2 September 1705 he wrote 'I was able to go take the aire, as far as Kensington, where I saw that house... & the plantation about it, to my great admiration and Refreshment...'. When Queen Anne came to the throne in 1702, she created an English-style garden. The Orangery was added in 1704, an elaborate greenhouse built in the style of an elegant palace to protect Anne's citrus trees from the harsh frosts of winter.

 

Anne also recognised the Orangery’s beautiful garden setting and graceful architecture made it a perfect venue for fashionable court entertaining away from the chaos of 'town'.

From 1728, Queen Caroline began to transform the 242 acres of Kensington Gardens into the park we know today. She created the Serpentine boating lake and the Long Water, as well as the Broad Walk and round pond. These are now in Kensington Gardens and looked after by The Royal Parks.

 

Depart for Home Approx. 17.30

Kensington Palace Last Princesses of Punjab exhibition