Moved court to Kensington and made the palace a political stage.
Kensington Palace State Apartments are included with all valid Kensington Palace Tickets. No separate ticket is needed. They sit near the start of the palace route, and most visitors reach the King’s and Queen’s apartments in the first half of the visit before moving on to exhibitions and the gardens. Book a standard timed-entry ticket with the included audioguide, or use a city pass or combo if Kensington Palace is one stop on a bigger London plan.
| Ticket type | Why choose it |
|---|---|
| Standard palace entry | Best if the State Apartments are your main focus. Explore the King's and Queen's State Apartments at your own pace while discovering the palace's collections, architecture, and historic interiors. |
| Combo ticket | Best for pairing the State Apartments with another major London attraction, such as the Tower of London, London Eye, Kew Gardens, or Frameless, while saving on individual admission costs. |
| 3 Palace Pass | Best for visitors planning to explore several London attractions or royal residences. These passes include Kensington Palace as part of a broader sightseeing itinerary, offering flexibility and value. |
| Afternoon tea experience | Best for those looking to complement their palace visit with a quintessentially British experience. Enjoy a guided walk through Kensington Gardens followed by afternoon tea in a royal setting. |
The State Apartments are the clearest expression of how Kensington Palace turned royalty into daily theater. Most visitors don’t realize these rooms were designed not just for living, but for being seen — staircase, gallery, doorway, and ceiling all work together to stage rank and access. If you know where to pause, the route stops feeling like a sequence of pretty rooms and starts reading like court politics in architectural form.
The State Apartments were built to project monarchy as much as house it. After William III and Mary II moved to Kensington in 1689, Christopher Wren transformed an earlier mansion into ceremonial rooms that signaled rank, stability, and access at court. Later royal generations, including Queen Victoria, gave the palace a more personal layer, so these rooms now connect public performance with private royal life inside a still-relevant royal estate.
Address: Kensington Palace, Kensington Gardens, London W8 4PX.
Yes. Entry to the State Apartments is included with every valid Kensington Palace ticket. No separate ticket exists.
No. Any Kensington Palace entry ticket gets you in. Passes and combo tickets also work if they include palace admission.
No. The State Apartments have no separate entrance and sit within the palace route. All visitors enter through the main palace entrance.
Usually in the first half of the visit. Most visitors reach them shortly after entry, before later exhibitions and the gardens.
Allow 45–60 minutes self-guided, or 60–75 minutes with the audioguide. If you rush, you’ll miss the room sequence and painted detail.
Yes. Kensington Palace is wheelchair accessible, and lifts connect the public floors used on the main visitor route.
Usually, yes. Personal photography is generally allowed unless a room or temporary exhibition sign says otherwise.
Yes. The palace is pram/stroller accessible, and the State Apartments fit well into a shorter family visit.
Yes. Individual rooms or adjoining exhibitions can close temporarily, so check the latest palace update before you visit.
Moved court to Kensington and made the palace a political stage.
Favored the more private side of palace life and shaped its domestic character.
Reworked the Jacobean house into a Baroque royal residence after 1689.
Grew up at Kensington, linking the palace’s ceremonial rooms to later personal royal history.
Take the first weekday entry slot, or arrive in the last 90 minutes of the day. Late morning through early afternoon is usually busiest, especially in summer and on school-break dates. Choose the edges of the day if you want clearer sightlines on the staircase paintings and gallery walls.
Allow 45–60 minutes if you’re moving independently, or 60–75 minutes with the audioguide. That gives you time to stop in the King’s Staircase, King’s Gallery, Cupola Room, and Queen’s rooms without skimming. If you rush, the apartments can feel like a corridor instead of the palace’s main story.
Most visitors reach the State Apartments soon after ticket scan, and they anchor the first half of the indoor route. Plan your freshest attention here, then continue to Victoria’s rooms, temporary displays, and the gardens. Don’t treat them as a quick pass-through on the way elsewhere.
The narrowest pinch points are the staircase, gallery doorways, and smaller chamber entrances. Weekends, holidays, and late-morning arrival windows feel busiest, with slower movement between rooms. When the flow thickens, keep moving once through the route, then pause in the wider rooms to look closely.
If you only have 20 minutes, focus on the King’s Staircase, the King’s Gallery, and the Cupola Room, then give 1 careful pass through the Queen’s rooms. These spaces explain the palace’s public image and private rhythm. Skip long label-reading elsewhere, not these rooms.
Most visitors look only at furniture height and miss the ceilings, painted walls, and room-to-room sightlines. Look up as soon as you enter, then turn back once in each doorway. Also, don’t arrive carrying bulky luggage, because bag restrictions can slow or disrupt your visit.
Start looking before you reach the top landing. The painted walls and figures on the staircase were designed to flood your approach with court life, so don’t treat it as a passageway. Pause halfway up, then again at the top, and look back down the stairwell to see how the room controls your arrival.
Move slowly through the long King’s Gallery, where the windows pull your eye toward the gardens while portraits and decoration keep the court story indoors. At the end, stop in the Cupola Room and look up before you look around. Its ceiling and carved detail are easy to miss if you enter talking or following the crowd.
These rooms feel smaller and quieter for a reason. As you move through them, notice how the atmosphere shifts from public display to more private royal life through lower ceilings, closer room proportions, and more intimate furnishing layouts. This is where the palace becomes easier to imagine as a home, not only a ceremonial backdrop.
Included with Kensington Palace tickets
Timings
RECOMMENDED DURATION
3 hours
What to bring
What's not allowed
Accessibility
Additional Information
Inclusions #
Entry to Kensington Palace (as per option selected)
Audio guide in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Mandarin, Japanese & British Sign Language.
Afternoon tea at The Orangery. Find menu here (as per option selected)
Access to:
King's State Apartments
Queen's State Apartments
Jewel Room
Palace Gardens
Victoria: A Royal Childhood exhibition
What to bring Kensington Palace
What's not allowed Tower of London
Kensington Palace
Accessibility Tower of London
Kensington Palace
Additional information Tower of London
Kensington Palace
Inclusions #
Tower of London
Entry into the Tower of London
Entry to all public areas including Crown Jewels exhibit
Access to the children's activity trails and live historical re-enactments
Free WiFi access
Kensington Palace
Exclusions #
Guide
Transfers
Food & beverages
Inclusions #
Choose from:
Top hits: London Eye, The Shard
Landmarks & palaces: Westminster Abbey & Tower of London tour with Headout's AI-powered audioguide, St Paul’s Cathedral, Kensington Palace
Museums: Tate Modern, Moco Museum, The National Gallery & more
Zoos & aquariums: SEA LIFE London Aquarium, London Zoo
Bus tours & cruises: Hop-on-Hop-off with optional Thames cruise & more
Guided tours: Harry Potter Walking Tour, Walking Tour of Westminster & Churchill's War Rooms
Unique experiences & activities: Up at The O2 Climb, Frameless London, Afternoon Tea at the British Museum
Transportation & transfers: Heathrow Express, Stansted Express, IFS Cloud Cable Car Tickets
Sports: Arsenal FC Stadium Tour
Family attractions: Paddington Bear Experience
Access to Harry Potter™ Warner Bros. Studio Tour (based on option selected)
Return transport from Harry Potter™ Warner Bros. Studio Tour (based on option selected)
Get the full attraction list from here
Kew Gardens
Kensington Palace
Inclusions #
Kew Gardens
Kensington Palace
Kensington Palace
Tip: Peep into the Cupola Room to see the spot where Queen Victoria was christened.
Suitcases, large bags, and rolling luggage are prohibited inside the palace.
This experience is wheelchair and pram/stroller accessible.
Your guide dogs are welcome at the venue.
Disabled visitors are entitled to bring an accompanying carer free of charge.
Many rooms have low-level lighting, which might be difficult for visually impaired visitors.
London Eye
Tip: Look for the National Theatre's rooftop garden. It's a hidden gem that's hard to spot from the ground.
Please note that children under 2 can go for free but require a ticket to enter.
Children under the age of 18 years must be accompanied by adults.
Keep in mind large bags, sharp metallic tools, or objects that can cause security hazards are not allowed in this experience. Pack wisely!
Proof of age will be required for alcohol consumption.
Soft drinks will be served to guests under the age of 18 years.
Due to venue restrictions, pets cannot tag along for this experience.
This experience is wheelchair and pram/stroller accessible.
Your guide dogs are welcome at the venue.
Inclusions #
Kensington Palace
Entry to Kensington Palace
Audio guide in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Mandarin, Japanese & British Sign Language.
Access to:
King's State Apartments
Queen's State Apartments
Jewel Room
Palace Gardens
Victoria: A Royal Childhood exhibition
Untold Lives exhibition
London Eye
Entry to the London Eye
30-min ride on the London Eye
London Eye guide
Priority boarding through fast-track entrance (based on option selected)
