The Victoria and Albert Museum in London has one of the best collections of jewellery in the world and back in January I had some time on my hands so I popped into the V&A as I nearly always do when nearby and headed up to the Jewellery Section. I hadn’t been there for ages and so hadn’t seen the new layout which is much better than the slightly cramped set-up I remembered from previous visits.
Despite visiting Kensington Palace and the gardens before I’d somehow never managed to make it over to the Albert Memorial so I decided to rectify that on my most recent visit to London. Directly opposite the Royal Albert Hall it was erected in memory of Prince Albert, husband to Queen Victoria, who died in 1861 aged just 42; Victoria would spend the rest of her long life in mourning.
The memorial to Queen Victoria outside of Buckingham Palace was created by the sculptor Thomas Brock in 1901 and unveiled ten years later, though it wasn’t completed until 1924.
Kensington Palace is part of the Historic Royal Palaces Group and of course the place where Queen Victoria was born and grew up, not to mention where Princess Diana lived and the London residence of Prince William and his family.
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