[Illustration: KENSINGTON PALACE, WEST FRONT.]
Standing on the west side of the Kensington Gardens is the plain,
irregular red brick structure known as Kensington Palace, which was
originally Lord Chancellor Finch's house. William III bought it from his
grandson, and greatly enlarged it. Here died William and Mary, Queen
Anne, and George II., and here Victoria was born. Perhaps the most
interesting recent event that Kensington Palace has witnessed was the
notification to this princess of the death of William IV. He died on the
night of June 19, 1837, and at two o'clock the next morning the
Archbishop of Canterbury and the lord chamberlain set out to announce
the event to the young sovereign. They reached Kensington Palace about
five o'clock, early, but in broad daylight, and they knocked and rang
and made a commotion for a considerable time before they could arouse
the porter at the gate. Being admitted, they were kept waiting in the
courtyard, and then, seeming to be forgotten by everybody, they turned
into a lower room and again rang and pounded. Servants appearing, they
desired that an attendant might be sent to inform the princess that they
requested an audience on business of importance. Then there was more
delay, and another ringing to learn the cause, which ultimately brought
the attendant, who stated that the princess was in such a sweet sleep
she could not venture to disturb her. Thoroughly vexed, they said, "We
are come to the queen on business of state, and even her sleep must give
way to that." This produced a speedy result, for, to prove that it was
not she who kept them waiting, Victoria in a few minutes came into the
room in a loose white nightgown and shawl, with her hair falling upon
her shoulders and her feet in slippers, shedding tears, but perfectly
collected. She immediately summoned her council at Kensington Palace,
but most of the summonses were not received by those to whom they were
sent till after the early hour fixed for the meeting. She sat at the
head of the table, and, as a lady who was then at court writes, "she
received first the homage of the Duke of Cumberland, who was not King of
Hanover when he knelt to her; the Duke of Sussex rose to perform the
same ceremony, but the queen with admirable grace stood up, and,
preventing him from kneeling, kissed him on the forehead. The crowd was
so great, the arrangements were so ill made, that my brothers told me
the scene of swearing allegiance to their young sovereign was more like
that of the bidding at an auction than anything else."