Kensington Palace

Childhood home of Queen Victoria and home to young royals for over 300 years, Kensington Palace is now a building of two halves, with the parts open to the public cared for by Historic Royal Palaces, an independent charity.

On 24th May 1819 at Kensington Palace, Queen Victoria was born. On 24th May 2019, her 200th birthday, the home of her youth re-opened to visitors after a major makeover in the form of a new semi-permanent display called ‘Victoria: A Royal Childhood.’ As part of the work to recreate the rooms where Victoria grew up, Historic Royal Palaces curators carried out extensive research into the decorative schemes she would have known as a little girl.

Brintons Archivist, Yvonne Smith, worked closely with the curators at Historic Royal Palaces to identify carpet designs that were authentic to the Georgian period. Designs were chosen from Brintons extensive archive which dates back to 1790. It is one of the world's largest commercial design archives and historical pattern libraries in the industry. Designs were chosen for Victoria's childhood rooms, grand staircase and landing areas.

Brintons designer Kay Jones subsequently worked on a detailed specification to prepare the designs for manufacture. To meet the demands of a busy location, a high performance Brintons axminster carpet with a complex wove and locked yarn that creates a strong, integrated three dimensional structure was selected.