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Monday, 29 March 2010

Enchanted at Kensington Palace, London


If you happen to be on the West side of town this week, do go along to Kensington Palace to visit the Enchanted Palace experience. Contemporary fashion designers such as Vivienne Westwood, and milliner Stephen Jones have created pieces which reflect some of its former residents. The Enchanted Palace is an experience through parts of the Palace whose inhabitants included Princesses Diana, Margaret and Victoria. It is such a pleasure to view the inside of these places which most of us have only ever seen from the outside and the experience is quite extraordinary. On entering the reception we were issued with a map of the different rooms to visit and tasked to collect clues as we went to guess who had lived in these historical spaces. Great fun. The installations (only some are shown here) are quite remarkable. Secret doors lead into ballrooms or reveal strategically placed cracked mirrors with hand written messages. Dresses worn by Princesses Diana and Margaret are beautifully lit and surrounded by an enchanted forest and most rooms are in semi darkness with shadows projected onto the ceilings. Anyway, I'll keep some of the mystery to myself so that you can enjoy the experience. But do along, if only to see the view from the Great Hall - the other side of those iconic main gates where masses of flowers were laid when Princess Diana died, incredible.