The UK’s smallest royal palace is now a global star

It may be the smallest official royal palace in Britain, but Kew Palace, nestling in the middle of London’s stunning botanical gardens, packs a mighty punch as the real-life stage for Regency romance, madness and Bridgerton betrayal.

Kew Palace in the famed botanical gardens. A place where things go bump in the night.Credit: Getty Images

With a history as triumphant and tragic as that of any monarchy worldwide, it’s a building soaked in memories of past lives, which sometimes still leak out from the fabric.

“We sometimes hear children running in the corridors even though there’s no one else here,” says Emma Dearing, operations manager at Kew Palace. “At other times there’s the odd smell of tobacco or of a sweet sherberty lemon, possibly from the perfumes the women used to wear.

“And I was here in 2022 when the Queen passed away. All the music had been turned off for the mourning period, but when we came to check one morning, we could hear music ... but the player wasn’t plugged in.”

Historic Royal Palaces conservators arrange artefacts and furniture in the Queen’s Boudoir.Credit: Getty Images

Kew Palace started out in 1631 as a City of London merchant’s handsome Palladian-style home until it was developed into a royal palace in the 18th Century. Four storeys high, with its exterior painted in a red ochre colour wash, it was used by successive generations of rulers and their families as a weekend country retreat.

King George III was no different, taking it as a refuge for himself and his young bride, Queen Charlotte, and, as the years passed, their 15 children.

Visits to the palace have surged since Netflix drama Bridgerton became a massive hit around the world. It tells the story of life in that era and how, as George’s demons spiralled him into despair, Charlotte set the social standards and the feckless Prince Regent became ever more powerful.

With the show’s fourth season now in production, it seems everyone has been captivated by the story of the royals in one of the most turbulent times in history, and Kew Palace has been the staunch witness to it all.

A dust cover is removed from a piano in the Queen’s Drawing Room.Credit: Getty Images

If only the walls could talk. But this palace has so much atmosphere, and so many personal objects on display, that it’s not too difficult to imagine life as it was in the day.

The king’s flute is in the first room. He was a man with a tremendous appetite for all the finer things in life – books, music and art. Charlotte’s harpsichord is also there. The two often played together, while a visiting Mozart famously duetted with her.

A 1761 portrait of George’s young bride glows on one wall. It was painted before she arrived from Germany as a 17-year-old, considered young, innocent and unworldly enough to make a suitable match.

George’s former tutor and close adviser Lord Bute was charged with finding a perfect match. “She had to be not too clever, not too beautiful, not too political and not too outspoken,” Dearing says. “Several young women missed out for saying or doing the wrong thing.

“But Charlotte knew to be careful in front of Lord Bute … and she waited until after the marriage to show her true colours.”

She certainly turned out to be wise, with their marriage lasting 57 years until her death.

A painting in the queen’s bedroom.Credit: Getty Images

In another room, there are life-size models of the couple with all of their children – one pregnancy a year still failed to dim Charlotte’s light – while the dining table is laid for dinner that you can imagine being served any moment.

Upstairs, the queen’s boudoir is a sumptuous room, with an elaborate plaster ceiling with figures representing each of the five senses. It has been decorated according to snatches of the original furnishings that survived, and now has a lively teal wallpaper, gold and black curtains and thick carpets. It’s here that Charlotte and her maids would spend their time sewing and gossiping.

There are also the rooms for all the children, with the girls’ rooms the most fascinating. As females, they were allowed to do little beyond reading, sewing, walking and playing cards.

But there’s also an astonishing large dolls’ house on display, with each of the rooms decorated as they are in the real palace, with miniature versions of all the furniture. It’s painstaking work, but it makes you appreciate that, in the absence of little else, this is what the life of a female royal would be.

If walls could talk: The king’s dining room.Credit: Historic Royal Palaces

There are plenty of memories of even darker days, too, when George first faltered with a mystery illness in 1788. He took sanctuary in Kew Palace at that time, where he was treated with a mix of leeches, cold baths, laxatives and threats, often being contained in a straitjacket and allowed to do nothing for himself.

He recovered a year later, but then descended into what was popularly called “madness” again in 1810. Today, it’s thought it could have been the illness porphyria, a metabolic disorder, or he could have been bipolar. It was then that his son, George IV, took power.

The palace was then used by the royals as an elaborate weekender amid the fabulous Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, which was set on the path to becoming one of the world’s foremost gardens by Sir Joseph Banks, who bankrolled Captain Cook’s expedition to Australia and then masterminded transportation to the colony.

But the royal home fell out of favour with George IV, back into prominence with William IV, and then, finally, into disuse before Queen Victoria, George III’s granddaughter, opened it to the public.

She would have known that Kew Palace’s incredible history, and its amazing location – quite apart from the advent of TV streaming – would continue to attract visitors, as a true jewel of London, forever more.

FIVE OTHER ROYAL PALACES OPEN FOR VISITORS

The Tower of London
The city’s most splendid fortress, royal palace, home of the Crown Jewels and notorious prison that was once jail to the two little princes. Adults £34.80 ($67.20); children up to 15 £17.40 ($33.60)

Hampton Court Palace
The palace of Tudor King Henry VIII, his six wives and their various children, set in 24 hectares of magnificent gardens. Adults £27.50; children up to 15 £13.60

Kensington Palace
The birthplace of Queen Victoria, and the home of young royals, as well as Princess Diana who had her home and office there. Adults £20.00; children up to 16 £10.00

Hillsborough Castle
A splendid castle in Northern Ireland, County Down, used by presidents and royals through the ages, with 40 hectares of ornamental lawn. Adults £20.20; children up to 15 £10.10

Banqueting House
The site of Charles I’s execution in Whitehall with a magnificent Rubens ceiling. Prices will be set in 2025 after a refurbishment.

All these palaces are run by the Historic Royal Palaces. See hrp.org.uk

THE DETAILS

VISIT
Access to Kew Palace is included with a Kew Gardens ticket and is open 10am-3.15pm. Last entry 2.30pm. Tickets: peak February 1-October 31 - Weekdays adults £22 (online £20) and children £6 (online £5); Weekends adults £24 (online £22) and children £7 (online £6).
Off Peak November 1- January 31. Weekdays adults £14 (online £12) and children £5 (online £4); Weekends adults £16 (online £14) and children £6 (online £5).
See kew.org

The writer travelled at her own expense.