Sir Hugh Casson: Kensington Palace, London

Artist: Sir Hugh Casson
1910 - 1999
Nationality: British
Artwork Year: 1980
Image Size: 14.15 by 12.5 inches
Overall Size: 16 by 14 inches
Medium: Water Color on Water Color Paper

Fifteen-year-old Princess Mary wept bitterly for two days. Her upcoming marriage to a complete stranger, Prince William III of Orange, an asthmatic and slightly hunchbacked man of twenty-six, seemed a cruel event for the romantic young girl. However, the couple recited their vows at St. James Palace and began a full and happy life together. After the revolution of 1688, William and Mary replaced her father, King James II, as reigning monarchs. That same year William instructed the architect, Sir Christopher Wren, to create a London residence for the royal family. The site chosen was the country house of the Earl of Nottingham. The location was ideal because it was far from the damp mists of the Thames that plagued Whitehall and irritated William's asthma. The new mansion, renamed Kensington Palace, soon achieved the dignity of a royal residence. William and Mary, adoring Kensington's beautiful simplicity, remained there until they died. However, this simple dignity did not please George I, so he commissioned William Kent to remodel the state rooms. The gardens were rebuilt making use of grass lawns and natural landscape features and, in 1731, a series of ponds were linked together to form the Serpentine. Today, Kensington Palace, the birthplace of Queen Victoria, and former home of her daughter, Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, is the London residence of Princess Margaret.

This painting was originally published on the Fleetwood® First Day Cover for the Westminster Collector's Society Great Britian 17½p Kensington Palace stamp issued May 7, 1980.

Artwork Copyright © 1980 Unicover Corporation. All Rights Reserved under United States and international copyright laws. You may not reproduce, distribute, transmit, or otherwise exploit the Artwork in any way. Images of the Artwork may be watermarked and/or digitally watermarked. Any sale of the physical original does not include or convey the Copyright or any right comprised in the copyright.

Our Stock Number (SKU): XB06022

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