Overview

Kensington Palace is a royal residence located inside Kensington Gardens. Part of the Palace is open to the public and is home to the Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection. In 1689, William III and Mary II purchased Nottingham House, which would become Kensington Palace, in the hope that the area’s clean, fresh air would help the king’s chronic asthma. It was also the birthplace of the future Queen Victoria in 1819. Today, the palace is home to members of the Royal Family, most notably the London residence of the Prince and Princess of Wales. This review is primarily for the Crown to Couture exhibition which is on until 29 October 2023. The exhibition occupies the magnificent State Apartments and the Pigott Galleries. However, we did not visit Queen Victoria: a Royal Childhood exhibition rooms. However, I have included general information about access in the palace, which I hope will be helpful.

Transport & Parking

Kensington Palace is in the middle of Kensington Gardens, and can only be accessed by going in the park. Therefore, while public transport stops nearby there is still a 0.3 mile walk to the entrance of the palace. The nearest tube stations are High Street Kensington, approaching the palace from the south, and Bayswater, coming from the north. Neither station is step free as they both involve stairs from platform to street level. The nearest step free tube station are Green Park and Victoria, and both have buses that run close to the palace. From Green Park Bus Stop H take the number 9 bus towards Hammersmith. From Victoria Bus Stop take the number 52 bus towards Willesden. From both buses you have a choice of bus stops to exit at the southern boundary of Kensington Gardens. I used the Palace Gate stop and then walk to the palace along the Broad Walk. This is the easiest and most direct way to find the palace entrance, as the palace entrance is directly off this. It is a wide path with benches on both sides. The path is of gravel but there is a narrow, smooth concreate path in the centre for wheelchair users, prams, etc. This route involves going up a short but noticeable incline. I walk with a crutch and it was hard going on a dry day, and I needed a couple of stops. It may be difficult for people using manual wheelchairs. I have included a photo of Broad Walk, so you can judge. When I came home, I looked at google maps, it appears that if you exit the bus at Kensington Palace Bus Stop, you could walk diagonally along Dial Walk, which is more level, to join the Broad Walk at a point after the incline. However, I did not test this out, so I cannot confirm this. There are buses that run along the northern boundary of Kensington Gardens and this way would also involve a walk of a distance about of 0.3 miles. From the south end of the park, I found it a little confusing where the entrance to the palace is, as the building is so large. What I would suggest is making for Broad Walk and then looking out for a large, white marble statue of Queen Victoria, depicting her aged eighteen years old in her coronation robes, not the more traditional image of her as an older woman, as that is where the public entrance gates are. Please note that the gardens are managed by the Royal Parks while the palace which is managed by Historic Royal Palaces. I would suggest looking at both websites to get a good overview of the area. Both the access webpage for Kensington Palace and the travel information on the Royal Parks list the nearest tube station, but fail to mention that none of these tube stations are step free. Neither do the list the nearest accessible, step free tube station, which means disabled visitors must search the internet to find how to get there. It would be helpful if the websites were updated, listing accessibility at tube stations and bus routes and stops. Also, as many visitors are from overseas, it would be helpful to let them know that all London buses are step free and have access ramps and wheelchair user spaces. It would be helpful if Kensington Palace’s website included photos or a video showing the various main routes to the palace, from the north and south sides and a route to avoid the incline on the Broad Walk, Signage to Kensington Palace is poor, it would be helpful if the Royal Parks improved the signage on their land. I recall visiting the palace about 10 years ago and at the time I was not disabled but someone in our group had health issues, and we were able to take a golf buggy from palace to the exit of the park. It was possible that this service was run by the Royal Parks because it was on their land. However, it is disappointing that a service that made visiting more accessible has been removed. It would be wonderful if it was re-instated.

Access

Overall access is excellent, it is a real treat to visit. However, there are a few areas were things could be improved. Arrival On arrival at the main gates, next to Queen Victoria’s statue, there are two sets of wide, double entrance gates which are open when the palace is. Both have a short, level, gravel drive leading to the public entrance. It is attractive and inviting area with several benches, lawn and topiary. Although there are no signs, the paths lead to the green and glass portico entrance. In front are a couple of freestanding notice boards inviting people to queue for their time slot. There is no indication what people who are unable to stand should do. It would be helpful if there was a designated seating area for those who were queuing but unable to stand. However, there are outdoor benches nearby. We visited on a Friday afternoon in July for our set time and we did not have to queue and walked straight in. The entrance area is well staffed with people checking the tickets, handing out a welcome leaflet and undertaking bag searches. Desks are at standing height but are more like podiums, as not very wide. Step Free Access The palace has step free access to all floors with lifts and platform lifts. Apart from a couple of places in the state rooms with corridors, the exhibition space is extremely spacious. The cabinets/ displays are well spaced out to provide plenty of easy access for get around. On their website they provide a suggested accessible route for visiting Crown to Couture and this is the route we followed. This route involved taking the main lift to the first floor to the Jewel Room. Then taking a platform lift to the ground floor and then the main lift to the second floor to continue the Crown to Couture exhibition. We then finished our visit. However, if we had wanted to visit Victoria’s exhibition, we would have had to take the lift back to the second floor. Then return to the ground floor to exit. Doorways were open, apart from the ones that staff used to take us on short cuts to/ from the lift. I understand that those doors are usually open, but to create a linier flow through the Crown to Couture exhibition some of the doors have been closed. There is a very discreate platform lift by the couple of steps leading down from the shop to the café, by the French widows. The café has indoor and outdoor seating, with free standing tables and chairs. Very sorry I forgot to photograph these when I was having my sandwich. The counter is at standing height. Signage Display signage and information was very clear and at a level that was accessible for wheelchair users and people standing up. On the website instead of maps and clear step free access routes, there is a suggested route and disabled visitors are encouraged to ask for assistance. On the back of the welcome leaflet, it says “ACCESSIBILITY For all access needs please speak to one of our palace hosts.” It would be more independent and empowering from disabled people if the route was well sign posted and we did not have to ask staff for directions. Signage was sometimes discreate, so it is not easy to find. For example, on the group floor there is a very low-key sign written on the wall next to a door leading to the toilets and lift area. Given that the palace is extremely popular, and there are often groups visiting, it would be easy when it is busy not to notice the sign. From exiting the first-floor lift there was no sign to the Court to Couture exhibition. We followed the directions on the website and asked a member of staff in the Jewel room for help and they took us to the exhibition entrance. In a couple of places, we arrived at staircase with a sign saying exhibition continues here, but no directions where the step free route was. On both occasions we had to find a member of staff for help. This was easily done, but we did not have the independence or equity, non-disabled people had for getting around the building. Please can signage be improved. Not everyone is confident in asking a member of staff, and someone may have a fall on the stairs because of this. Seating Be aware that the Court to Couture exhibition is very large involving several rooms. There is not seating available in every room. I was informed that due to the layout of the current exhibition the window seats that would normally be in use are not accessible. Therefore, there were several times in the exhibition, when I was needing a seating and could not readily find out. On the first floor one of the first seats, I came across was a high stool with back support, which is primarily there for the room steward and which I sat at, although it was too high to be comfortable. Also in that room was a video (which had captions) but there was no where to sit and watch it. When I got to the upper floor, I began to lose interest in the exhibition (due to pain and fatigue) temporarily as I looked for a room with seating in. Some of the very spacious rooms could have done with a couple of chairs in them. The window seats are comfortable and firm but offer no back support or arm rests. More seating and a map locating seating areas would be helpful. Access for D/deaf visitors The website said that BSL tours were not available at present. The video had captions. Blind or visually impaired visitors The website mentions that there was a tactile book of swatches of material to accompany the Crown to Couture. The website also referred to the low level of lighting in some of the rooms. I did not see any large print guide books or mention of audio tours for people with sight impairments. The day after I was showing a friend who as a visual impairment my photos. She had previously been to the exhibition but had found it difficult to see the detail of the costumes. She informed me that the photos were helpful as she could zoom in and finally see the details of the clothes. I hope that the palace could look at improving access for people with a visual impairment.

Toilets

The palace has two accessible toilets, although they are not mentioned on their accessibility webpage. Both are on the ground floor. One is in the palace itself, and near the lift. This has a manual door. It is spacious, but there is a large bin next to the toilet where the wheelchair user will transfer from and will require moving before they can access that space. The toilet was clean and tidy. There are plenty of grab rails. There is an emergency cord. When I arrived, it was tied around the grab rail. I undid it and put a red cord card on it. When we were leaving, I went to use the accessible toilet in the café area. It is approached by a short corridor with handrails on both side. When I got there, the manual door had a sign on it saying it was out of order and would be repaired soon. There were no directions to the nearest accessible toilet. I asked members of staff, and although the palace was closing, they accompanied me back into the palace so I could use the accessible toilet. When I got in there, I found that the emergency cord had been wrapped round the grab rail again. On thinking about this, this is most likely because the cord is directly in front of the bin and a member of the public has tied it up to avoid it getting in their way. I misjudged and thought it had only been slipped through not tied up so I pulled the grab rail down and the cord came out of the ceiling and landed on the floor. This triggered the emergency alarm and within less than a minute a member of staff was outside the door asking if I was ok. The nearest Changing Places toilet is at the Science Museum or Victoria Railway Station.

Staff

The staff are outstanding. Nothing was too much trouble for them. They were friendly, welcoming and informative. There also appeared to be a higher ratio of staff to visitors than in many of the museums and galleries I visit. There was at least one member of staff in every room. Often, we were welcomed and asked how we were enjoying our visit or what we liked best. This really enhanced our visitor experience. We said to each other a few times, oh the staff are so lovely, they really make the day feel special. They all appeared genuinely happy to be working there. It was nice talking to them or asking them questions. It was also brilliant that they were so easy to locate when I needed help with access, and their response was fabulous. They knew what to do, were competent and just took us to where we wanted to go next. They made it a real please. The staff are a credit to the palace. They made it a very special experience. On the way out a member of staff (sorry I do not remember their name) asked me how my day had been I explained I was doing a Euan’s Guide review and spoke about how I found access. He said I think our Health and Safety officer would like to speak to you and he asked if that would be ok. James Poole is the health and safety officer for Kensington Palace. He came and joined us, as we were outside in the café area. We spent a long time talking about access and I raised the points mentioned above with him. He listened, took notes, asked questions and was very engaging. He explained that the Historic Royal Palaces were focusing on improving disabled access this year. I am not too sure if anything he told me anything in confidence so I will not share the details of the conversation but it was a very positive one.

Anything else you wish to tell us?

We had a fantastic time; we came away buzzing. We both had a very nice experience and impressed with what we saw and the staff we met. We finished our tour with drinks and cheese and tomato croissants in the café, which were delicious, and it was a real joy to sit in such lovely surroundings. Overall, this a very accessible historic and beautiful palace, with staff who are very friendly and supportive. If you are looking to visit London and want something with the wow factor, Kensington Palace will certainly deliver. Highly recommend.

Photos