The Life and Travels of Mrs Suvi

I spotted quite a few statues on my strolls in the Kensington Gardens this Spring.

The King William III (1650-1702) statue stands proudly in front of the Kensington Palace. It was designed as long ago as in 1907. King William III had asthma and because of that chose to live in the Palace due to the fresher air.

Even grander is the beautiful statue of Queen Victoria at 18. The statue was designed by her daughter Princess Louise in 1893. Queen Victoria was born at the Kensington Palace and she grew up there too. You can’t miss this one if you are walking near the palace.

Strolling along the bank, I spotted something on the other side. Birds of course, but also The Arch by Henry Moore. It was brought to the park originally in 1980 but removed in 1996 as it was found to be unstable. It took sixteen years for it to be restored and now it has claimed it’s rightful place in Kensington Gardens.

I never knew there was a statue for Peter Pan even though there has been one in the park since 1912! The statue has mice, fairies, squirrels and rabbits climbing up to Peter. It is by Sir George Frampton and it was commissioned by the creator of Peter Pan himself, J.M. Barrie. Did you now that Barrie lived close by the Kensington Gardens and the beautiful surroundings were an inspiration in the creation of the story?

Technically this sculpture below is in Hyde Park but I didn’t realize it at the time. This gracious looking bird is called Isis. It’s quite an unfortunate name during these times wouldn’t you say.. It is by Simon Gudgeon and was brought to the park in 2009. It was inspired by the Egyptian goddess of nature and it was part of a fundraising campaign for the Royal Parks Foundation Education Centre. You can see the Princess Diana Memorial fountain in the background.

There would’ve been quite a few more statues in the Gardens to see but I will have to look for them on my next visit to London.

There was a lovely exhibition in the Palace when I was visiting on royal fashion, if you are interested, you can check out my post on that here. Have you been to Kensington Gardens? Did you spot other interesting statues there?

Saturday Statues is a weekly feature where bloggers from around the world can share the interesting statues they have stumbled upon. Please join me by sharing your own Saturday Statues post via the link-up button. Make sure you share the exact post, not your homepage! The linkup is open from Saturday morning to Friday evening Central European Time. If you share your posts on Twitter and Instagram remember to use the #saturdaystatues hashtag! It would also be a nice touch to visit some of the posts shared by others.

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xx