2026 at Historic Royal Palaces

As 2026 approaches, Historic Royal Palaces (HRP), the charity that loves and looks after HM Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace, Kensington Palace, Kew Palace, Banqueting House and Hillsborough Castle & Gardens, looks ahead to an exciting year filled with new exhibitions, live performances, family trails and major projects across education, conservation, sustainability and access.

A major new exhibition The Last Princesses of Punjab will open at Kensington Palace on 26 March, marking the 150th birthday of Princess Sophia Duleep Singh – Queen Victoria’s goddaughter, a leading figure in the fight for women’s suffrage, and an Indian princess. The exhibition will explore Princess Sophia’s activism and the stories of influential women in her family, revealing an intimate view of lives shaped by the British Empire. The voices of British South Asian people will offer contemporary responses throughout the exhibition, which features personal letters, rare family photographs, and objects from the suffragette movement. 

Also in March, Historic Royal Palaces will announce the 10 regional and national winners of its inaugural Inspiring History Teaching Awards to celebrate educators who make history exciting, inclusive and meaningful. Open to teachers across the UK and delivered with support from the Historical Association, the awards recognise those who bring the past to life and inspire curiosity and critical thinking in the classroom. The judging panel, chaired by Lucy Worsley and comprising the likes of Sathnam Sanghera, Dan Jones and Greg Jenner will then select an overall winner to be announced at the Tower of London on 20 June 2026.

For two weeks in August, visitors to the Tower of London will encounter fantastical creatures brought to life through dance, puppetry and music. Inspired by animals that inhabited the Tower’s Royal Menagerie for hundreds of years, Imagining Animals is a major piece of theatrical arts programming which will surprise and delight visitors to the famous fortress. The performances are one expression of a long-term project produced in partnership with communities and arts venues in Tower Hamlets and the surrounding area.

Spring will bring an explosion of colour to the gardens across HRP’s sites. At Hampton Court Palace, the annual Tulip Festival returns with over 100,000 bulbs arranged in one of the UK’s largest tulip displays. Hillsborough Castle & Gardens will celebrate seasonal splendour with Bulbs & Blooms (14 March–4 May), offering vibrant tulips, fragrant hyacinths and a special selection of Northern Irish daffodils. During Easter, families can enjoy the Lindt GOLD BUNNY Hunt at both Hillsborough Castle and Gardens (28 March – 12 April) and Hampton Court Palace (21 March – 12 April), with little ones searching for hidden Lindt GOLD BUNNY statues.

Hampton Court Palace will continue its ambitious transformation of the Great Fountain Garden, masterminded by celebrated garden designer Ann-Marie Powell and brought to life by Historic Royal Palace’s gardens team. With 32 new planting beds featuring nearly 300 species arranged in a radiant colour progression, the garden will showcase sustainable, climate-resilient horticulture while remaining deeply rooted in royal tradition—reflecting HRP’s wider ambition to be nature-positive and carbon net zero by 2050.

Families can look forward to a year of playful adventure across all of Historic Royal Palaces’ sites in 2026. HRP is joining forces with Beano to create three new outdoor trails. The fun begins in February half-term at the Tower of London with Beano Mischief (14–22 February), followed by Beano Hijinks at Hillsborough Castle & Gardens (27 June–31 August) and Beano Havoc at Hampton Court Palace (25 July–23 August). Hampton Court Palace will host two high-energy events this summer: The Big Bahooey will transform the Great Fountain Garden into a family-friendly festival of fun, bursting with live music, dazzling acrobatics and physical theatre (23-25 May), and Henry VIII’s Joust will feature  daring horseback stunts, skilled knights and falconry (11-12 and 18-19 July).

In 2026, Hillsborough Castle and Gardens will mark the 250th anniversary of American Independence. The Castle has hosted many notable visitors over the year but its link to the American independence story is less known. In 1771, US founding father Benjamin Franklin was hosted by Wills Hill – then Secretary of State for the Colonies - at Hillsborough Castle, where they discussed American affairs. Their cordial dialogue over five days later soured when Hill blamed Franklin for his political downfall. From Spring 2026, a curated display of letters, portraits and artefacts will explore this encounter at Hillsborough Castle alongside the return of the popular American History tours. 

2026 will also see the reopening of Banqueting House following an 18-month project to install a lift, air-source heat pumps and other essential improvements. Monthly public open days will expand into extended summer opening, giving visitors the chance to enjoy the last surviving part of Whitehall Palace and its magnificent Rubens ceiling. The year will also mark the launch of a UK-wide tour of Life Through a Royal Lens, the major photography exhibition that debuted at Kensington Palace in 2022. Presented in partnership with Nomad Exhibitions, the exhibition featuring over 100 iconic royal images will travel to venues including Blenheim Palace and The Amelia Scott in Royal Tunbridge Wells.

Historic Royal Palaces’ programme of accessible and inclusive events will continue next year. The Relaxed Events Programme, a series of SEN-focused events designed for Neurodivergent and Learning-Disabled visitors of all ages, provides the opportunity to explore the Palaces when access adjustments have been put in place – including a reduced visitor capacity - to better support individuals with sensory or processing difficulties. The Deaf-Led Tours will also continue in 2026 with acclaimed deaf tour guide John Wilson giving British Sign Language-first tours of Hampton Court Palace and the Tower of London, which is then translated into spoken English by Heritage Interpreters.

Finally, the official Tower of London River Tour, which launched in September 2025, will continue welcoming passengers in 2026. The tour is a collaboration between Historic Royal Palaces and Woods Tours, bringing a new perspective on London’s historical tapestry for passengers journeying down the River Thames.  

Notes to editors

For further information or further images please contact the HRP Press Office via press@hrp.org.uk / 020 3166 6166

Historic Royal Palaces is the independent charity that loves and looks after six of the most wonderful palaces in the world. The palaces are the setting for the stories that shape us all, and we’re bringing them to people in ways that mean more to them. We want everyone to find themselves in the spaces and stories we share.

Registered charity number 1068852. For more information visit www.hrp.org.uk

Beano at Historic Royal Palaces is A Beano Studios Product © DC Thomson & Co Ltd. (2026).