Kensington Palace in the twentieth century
Offices in the First World War, bomb damage in the Second, and a home for Princess Margaret and Diana, Princess of Wales.
In WW1 the palace was used for offices to support charitable enterprises, and was closed until 1923, when it reopened to the public. There was some bomb damage in WW2, and after repairs the palace was opened again in 1949. The London Museum opened in the State Apartments in 1912 and moved to Lancaster House in 1914. It came back to Kensington Palace from 1950 to 1976, before moving to the City.
Notable persons who have lived in Kensington Palace
Marquis of Lorne, married to Princess Louise, Queen Victoria’s daughter, lived in Kensington Palace; he had been Governor General of Canada, Governor and Constable of Windsor Castle and Duke of Argyll. He and Princess Louise lived at Kensington Palace until his death from pneumonia in 1914.
In 1981, apartments Eight and Nine were combined together for the residence of HRH Prince and Princess of Wales, Charles and Diana. After the divorce she continued in the “family home” with their children, the Princes William and Harry. After her death in 1997, her coffin was in Kensington Palace for the night before her funeral at Westminster Abbey.
Princess Margaret lived in Apartment 1A from the 1960s until her death in 2002. Today Kensington Palace is the official London residence and office of the Prince and Princess of Wales, and other members of the royal family still have homes on the estate.
Read on: Diana at Kensington Palace, and who lives at Kensington Palace today.
