Kensington Palace & afternoon tea in The Orangery

Kensington Palace with The Orangery Afternoon Tea, London

Travel by luxury GOLD coach

 

With entry ticket to the Palace and 'Dress Codes' exhibition AND enjoy The Orangery Afternoon Tea served at 2.30pm

 

A new exhibition 'Dress Codes' runs from 13th March 2025 at Kensington Palace where you can discover never-before-seen royal and court fashion treasures in Dress Codes - The Exhibition, at Kensington Palace.

 

Example The Orangery Afternoon Tea served on a tiered cake stand:

Served with a pot of tea (Signature Organic tea blend) - free refills available.

Top tier: chocolate orange croustillant, lavender ecalir, minted strawberry tart, raspberry victoria sponge

Middle tier: traditional scones, clotted cream, fruit preserves

Bottom tier: English cucumber and dill finger sandwich, free range egg mayonnaise and salad cress bridge roll, pea edameme bean and asparagus quiche, Chalk stream trout and lemon cream chives bagel, gammon ham tomato and mustard mayo finger sandwich.

 

Explore the codes and conventions of royal clothing, and the powerful impact fashion can make when boundaries are pushed and dress codes evolve.

Among the highlights of this exciting new exhibition are pieces worn by a young Queen Elizabeth II, Diana, Princess of Wales, Dame Vivienne Westwood, Princess Margaret and  Queen Victoria.

 

This exciting new exhibition showcases both recognisable and rarely-seen treasures from the Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection, a collection of 10,000 objects spanning 500 years, cared for by Historic Royal Palaces. Stunning items from the Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection on display in 2025 include an extremely rare Japanese court suit dating from the early 20th century, and a never-before-seen 1920s Reville court dress worn to Buckingham Palace.

 

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 Dress Codes exhibition Afternoon Tea in The Orangery Example menu