When I started my last post, it was Monday morning. I’m now starting this post on Monday night, so my worst fears have been confirmed – time keeps on slippin’ away. Slip, slip slippin’ away. But I can still stave off the reality of this London trip ending by regaling you with tales of how spent our Sunday, including frocks, food, and fun, plus an added Twin Cities friend!

Going into Sunday was a bit of a drag because we knew it was Bill’s last day with us as he had to get home earlier than me or Felicity. Boooooo! In fact, he’s already made it home safely, so we’ll just have to look forward to us traveling together again, won’t we? Since we live in the same city, we’ll see each other soon enough either way!

For our final day, we had a plan to go to Kensington Palace to visit the Dress Codes exhibition about royal fashion. Felicity suggested it and Bill and I were both game for it as I hadn’t been to Kensington Palace in a decade and Bill had never been, so why not visit? It’s always fun to visit a royal residence, though the Prince and Princess of Wales aren’t usually here since they moved to Windsor Castle a few years ago (it’s still their official London residence though).

As I did on Saturday, I decided to just walk to the palace from our hotel so I could get some steps in. The weather was pretty glorious once again – sunny, blue skies with a few clouds and somewhat breezy, which made for perfect walking weather. Felicity also walked, but left before me, so I didn’t catch up to until I reached to the palace as I took my time to enjoy the weather and take some photos.

A couple of photos taken around Kensington Gardens.

Not having eaten breakfast, we were happy to have about an hour to kill before our timed entry for the exhibition, so Felicity and I found this place and Bill met us there a few minutes later. Both Bill and I had omelets, which were just okay. Felicity enjoyed her pesto pasta though! The prices were very reasonable, so that was a plus.

With tummies full, we made the short walk back to the palace to see the exhibition and then do a self-guided wander around the other public spaces. I can’t say fashion (royal or otherwise) is a particular interest of mine, but it was cool to see so many examples of it. From a historical standpoint, I appreciated learning a bit about what royals wear, how things like mourning impact their wardrobe, and more. I was a little surprised that the exhibition wasn’t bigger as it only covers a few rooms, but there’s a good amount to see and enjoy. If you’re interested in fashion, royals, or even just history in general, you’ll likely find something to enjoy here. It’s actually included as part of a general ticket to the palace (currently priced at £24.70) and runs through the end of November, so check it out!

The outfit on the left is an early 1900s diplomatic uniform from Japan. The two outfits on the right are also diplomatic uniforms – a 1923 outfit worn by a British ambassador (left) and a 1962 Danish court suit work by a Danish ambassador (right).

The dress on the left is a debutante’s dress from 1958 while the one on the right is likely a mid-1840s dress worn at a 1700s-themed costume ball thrown by Queen Victoria.

The item on the left is a type of cape called a dolman and was worn by Queen Alexandra, likely to public events, around 1870. The dress on the right was also worn by her, around 1911. It’s actually a mourning dress, reflecting mourning dress codes through it’s design and colors following the death of her husband and son.

Some men’s clothes! The suit on the left was worn by the Duke of Windsor, inherited from his father, King George V. The item on the right is a military uniform, also worn by the Duke of Windsor in the 1920s-30s.

Aside from some information about the producers of the exhibition, including a few examples of their modern reinterpretations of some of this royal fashion, that brings us to the end of Dress Codes. From there, we walked through the rest of the spaces available for visitors, starting with the Queen’s State Apartments. The space was originally created for Queen Mary II, who was crowned waayyyyy back in 1689, so it’s chock full of history, which makes it pretty interesting for someone like me who loves thinking about how many people have walked through those halls, enjoyed meals there, suffered through illness, etc. I think there’s a lot of power in walking through spaces like that! And even though it’s been almost ten years since I last visited, I was surprised at how much of it felt familiar. I had a real sense of déja vu when taking some of my photos! Speaking of which, check out the first batch from this part of the palace below.

The queen’s bedroom felt especially familiar when I saw it, especially that large canopy over the bed.

Following on from the queen’s apartments, we moved to the King’s State Apartments, which immediately felt more grand and opulent, presumably because the king carried the more “male” responsibilities of leadership, meeting with other leaders/politicians, etc. Once again, I found myself struck by the history of what must have happened in these spaces, particularly when seeing furnishings, clothing, etc. that have survived for hundreds of years. Really kind of amazing they still exist!

An example of a court dress, plus Felicity modeling one!

After finishing our stroll through the king’s digs, we thought we’d seen everything, but then realized there were a couple other spaces, including one dedicated to Queen Victoria’s younger life as well as a jewel room, so the photos below are from there. She became queen at just 18 years old and was on the throne for nearly 64 years, so she certainly didn’t have a “standard” childhood, but it was neat to see some of her toys and learn more about her early life.

A couple of portraits of Victoria in her younger years.

These medals were pretty cool!

Speaking of cool, aren’t jewels always cool?? Clockwise from left, these are Princess Louise’s diamond necklace tiara and her Fife diamond tiara (given to her on the day of her wedding to the Duke of Fife), plus Victoria’s emerald tiara (designed and given to her by Prince Albert).

And with that, our royal visit ended! There’s plenty to see and do at Kensington Palace, so I think it’s worth visiting. Although I didn’t use the audio guide myself, both Bill and Felicity pulled them up on their phones and got some good information (like the tidbit about the wind dial), so consider using those as well! I did look at them and they seem to be really well organized and easy to use, plus the palace offers free wifi, so you shouldn’t have any problems accessing them on your own device (don’t forget to bring your own headphones, too!).

Our next stop was a traditional (and really, required) visit for any Doctor Who fan in London. We had to go see the Earl’s Court Police Box! If you’ve read about any of my previous London trips, you’ve certainly seen photos of me geeking out with it, so now you get to see some more. 🙂 Although these boxes were once very common, they went out decades ago, when walkie-talkies became commonplace for communication, so it’s also a neat London artifact (as well as a Doctor Who mecca). Because it’s only about a mile from the palace, I just walked there, while Bill and Felicity took the tube. The weather continued to be blissful, so I was happy to enjoy the walk there. As an added bonus, I passed a pub that looked nice, so that’s where we hung out for a bit after our little photoshoot.

It’s very photogenic!

Oh, what a fun afternoon this proved to be! And it led into a fun evening as we had plans to play Busy Lady Bingo at Retro! You may remember that I’m kind of in my bingo era right now and that Felicity and I had a lot of fun playing bingo when we were in London earlier this year, so I thought it would be fun to do it again, this time with added Bill. And as an extra added bonus, a friend of mine from Minneapolis responded to one of my Instagram posts saying he was in London too, so I asked if he wanted to join us and he did! So our foursome met up at Retro and had a VERY fun time with the excellent drag queen Sheila Simmonds as our MC. She’s lively, entertaining, and makes bingo really fun! And just like in April, we had a win at our table (my Minneapolis friend Danny won a bottle of squirty topping, AKA whipped cream). I’m sure I said it last time, but definitely look this up if you’re looking to have a fun, chill Sunday evening the next time you’re in London.

Sheila does a FABULOUS job of working the crowd as she gets things started. She went to every table, asked where we were from, poked fun at pretty much everyone, etc. It was great!

And speaking of shots, when Sheila chose Bill to spin, Sheila “accidentally” stopped it on shot. You can see the evolution of Bill’s excitement as he realized what he’d won!

Now THAT was a great day in London. A royal palace, ice cream, a pub, and drag queen bingo. I mean, what could be better?! It’s Tuesday late afternoon as I finish this post, so my time is rapidly dwindling. Still a few more posts to come though, so don’t lose interest yet!