Kensington Palace was the favourite abode of King William III. He purchased the property from the Earl of Nottingham, whose father had been Lord Chancellor, and employed Sir Christopher Wren to add a storey to the old house, and built anew the present south façade. Throughout his reign he spent much money in improving the place, and here his wife, Queen Mary II., died on December 28, 1694. In the same palace King William himself breathed his last breath on March 8, 1702.
Queen Anne lived principally at St. James's, the natural residence for the Sovereigns of Great Britain; but she took much interest in the proper upkeep of Kensington, and it was here that her husband died on October 20, 1708, and herself on August 1, 1714. Shortly before, she had placed the treasurer's wand in the hands of the Duke of Shrewsbury, saying, "For God's sake use it for the good of my people," and all the acts of her prosperous reign point to the real validity of the popular title given by common consent—the good Queen Anne.
She planted the trees on "Queen Anne's Mount," and gave gorgeous fêtes in the Royal Gardens, whose woodland scenery possesses a peculiar charm all its own. The noble groves and avenues of elm trees recall St. Cloud and St. Germain in the neighbourhood of Paris, and are quite exceptionally fine. Thus Matthew Arnold wrote:—
"In this lone open glade I lie,
Screened by deep boughs on either hand;
And at its end, to stay the eye,
Those black crowned, red-boled pine trees stand."
St. James's Palace.
And Chateaubriand declares:—
"C'est dans ce parc de Kensington que j'ai médité l'Essai historique: que, relisant le journal de mes courses d'outre mer, j'en ai tiré les amours d'Atala."
And Haydon says:—
"Here are some of the most poetical bits of tree and stump, and sunny brown and green glens and tawny earth."