A Historic Royal Palaces conservator adjusts Vivienne Westwood's creation for the Enchanted...

Kensington Palace will become The Enchanted Palace for two years.
Independent charity Historic Royal Palaces is undertaking a £12 million major project to transform Kensington Palace by 2012. During this transition, visitors experience a unique exhibition combining fashion, performance, and dazzling spectacle to reveal Kensington’s magnificent State Apartments in a magical new light.

Actors from the WILDWORKS theatre company perform in the State Apartments at Kensington Palace©Richard Lea-Hair /newsteam.co.uk

In the sumptuous State Apartments, leading fashion designers Vivienne Westwood, William Tempest, Stephen Jones, Boudicca, Aminaka Wilmont and illustrator/set designer Echo Morgan, each have created spectacular installations in collaboration with WILDWORKS artists, taking inspiration from Kensington Palace and the princesses who once lived there - Mary, Anne, Caroline, Charlotte, Victoria, Margaret and Diana. Guided by the whispered voices of servants long gone, visitors make their way into the palace via the private backstairs and discover the stories of the former royal residents and the life of the court – a world within a world, with its own time and rituals.

Fashion designers Maki Aminaka and Marcus Wilmont (Aminaka Wilmont) with their 'dress of tears' created for Queen Mary's bedroom©Richard Lea-Hair / newsteam.co.uk

Aspects of the princesses' lives at court are dealt with in separate rooms. The importance of producing a male heir is addressed in Queen Mary II's bedchamber, for example: none of Mary's 14 pregnancies were successful, and Aminaka Wilmont created a "dress of tears" for her room. Fittingly, Vivienne Westwood created a "dress for the rebellious princess" inspired by the 'spirited' Charlotte, daughter of King George IV and Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel.

The Enchanted Palace. The exhibition runs from 26 March 2010 (until June 2012) at Kensington Palace

Published 27.03.2010