Holland House, a Castle fit for royalty?

Welcome to Holland House in Kensington! Once called Cope Castle, this magnificent early Jacobean mansion (built 1605) with ties to British royal events and personages, was bombed during WWII and only the East Wing survives today.

I featured it in my upcoming historical mystery, A Tale of Two Murders, multiple times, since the Lord and Lady Holland of 1835 are minor characters in the book. They are two colorful people who desperately need a biography about them! Lady Holland really was a friend of Charles Dickens, which is how the family, and their magnificent home, came to enter my book world.

Of course I had to make up some of the spaces the characters visited, but one I did not was the gilt chamber, which must have been a dazzling space in its time.

Everyone who watches royals has their thoughts centered on Kensington Palace these days, but did you know that Kensington Palace was almost Holland Palace? Yes, William III considered both properties before choosing to purchase Kensington House instead.

You can see more information and depictions at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holland_House.

 

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