You are at the top of the page

Skip to content or footer

Start of main content

Historic Royal Palaces blog

Insights and behind the scenes from our palaces

Protecting wildlife and their habitat at Home Park

22 November 2024

Park Ranger Eleanor Evetts explores the importance of nature conservation efforts at Home Park at Hampton Court Palace.

Queen Victoria's petticoat wrapped up!

18 December 2017

In the last post we saw how Queen Victoria's petticoat has been conserved. It is now stable enough to be displayed and enjoyed by our visitors! However, for the time being, the petticoat will be carefully packed and stored within our Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection.

Queen Victoria's petticoat: underwear 'patched'

21 November 2017

In the last post we saw how Queen Victoria's petticoat was wet cleaned. Now the cream lawn cotton looks a lot brighter and the creasing has visibly reduced. There is still a bit of treatment left to do, as there are splits in the skirt, bodice and lace, and some of the buttonholes at the back fastening have frayed.

Queen Victoria's Petticoat takes a bath

02 November 2017

In our previous post we learned about the condition of Queen Victoria's petticoat. Today I want to focus on the yellow look of the cotton and the staining. The question: to clean or not to clean?

Queen Victoria's petticoat magnified: conservation begins

10 October 2017

When I heard I was going to lead the project to conserve this petticoat I got very excited as it is a rare example of royal underwear, with a very personal connection to Queen Victoria. As a new acquisition for our Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection I had to start from the beginning to really get to know the object.