Day 4 Victorian Princess

5years 166days 

I asked Katie yesterday what she wanted to do today. She said I could choose. I didnt want to let her down and I really wanted to make up for the disappointments of not doing the ballets. On Friday she had been a little put out that the Queen wouldnt receive her for tea when we passed the palace. Which gave me half a thought. A little internet searching revealed Kensington Palace had a children's Easter hunt on, along with a Fashion exhibition and some other wonderful sounding exhibits. I asked Katie if she wanted to go and she was even more excited than I thought. Booked. Mummy points bagged. 

Before we left, her and the girls had a very fabulous bath time, breakfast and a bit of a play. She was sad to leave her "very best London friends". But moved on from it when we saw the palace. Her and Monkey suited it well. She loved being able to read lots of the information, she loved all the thrones/dining areas etc to sit on. She loved the artwork on the ceilings. She really loved the princess dresses in the exhibition. She designed her own. She played games in the King's drawing room. She played with Victorian (style) toys in the family room of Queen Victoria's room. She loved looking at their portraits, the gilt crib, the original dolls house. She sat overlooking the gardens, playing beautiful dolls and seemed right at home! She really liked that it was all a part of Prince George's home and said "how nice it is of Princess Kate and William to share it". We had several conversations about the line of succession. I was impressed with how interactive the palace had been made. She got a lot from the visit. Including chocolate eggs for her efforts at the egg hunt! She chose a pretty hair pin for her ballet bun in the gift shop, and a little princess ring. We enjoyed lunch in the courtyard before we walked through the Orangery. 

We left the palace and walked through Kensington Gardens to the Diana memorial park. She remembered very quickly being there last summer and had such a fantastic play in the beautiful sunshine. We then walked through Hyde Park. She gathered conkers in her pocket and we hunted the Peter Pan statue. We walked to the other side and found the Diana Memorial fountain. Despite the sun, it wasn't boiling hot. But that didn't stop Katie getting stuck right in and splashing to her heart's content. Such a glorious time, just my girl and I. Time was drawing on and we both became very aware our little holiday was ending. I have to admit it was with heavy hearts I made her get out the water and head for Knightsbridge, tired, sad, but also happy. We arrived at Kings Cross with time to go look at Platform 9 3/4. It bemused her rather, the grown adults posing with scarves, wands and half a luggage trolley, but she said we should send a photo to a friend who she knows loves Harry Potter!  We bought tea and took it to our train. A little tear trickled down her cheek as it pulled out the station. She was, though, pleased when I tucked her into our bed, favourite friends in her arm. This has been an extremely special break.