Call Out the Guard!

It is speculated that when his time of Military Service is ended, Prince William and Princess Katherine (as she will then be) will move into one of the palaces. Several are already occupied but one that will be available for their use is Kensington Palace. It has a lot of personal connection to Wills as well. His mother lived there for a good chunk of time, and (at least when I was there) there is an exhibit honoring her.

I also have a personal experience with Kensington. (I swear I already blogged about this, but I can't for the life of me find the post...?)

When I was in England a few years ago I visited Kensington Palace. I was so excited. I didn't really know much about it other than the fact that it was the place Princess Victoria was living when she learned she'd become queen. The visit was so whirlwind that I don't remember much of the Palace itself, but I remember the display of Diana's clothing and there was some clothes from Elizabeth II's memorable moments (she's little!)

The one part I remember quite clearly, is the room that were Victoria's apartments, he bedroom and sitting room. Part of the room is the display, then from doorway to doorway it is roped off so you cannot go far into the room. You can just look at Victoria's belongings and move on.  For the tour I paid for an audio guide. It bugged me to wear it around my neck so I just held it in my hand, but there was a long string on it for those who chose to wear it.

Anyway, I was standing about, looking at the display. I was right next to the rope, a few inches back from it. I wanted to point something out to the friend I was with. So with the audio tour in hand, I pointed across the room.

And the Alarms went wild.

Sirens blared throughout the house. People stopped in their tracks, trying to figure out if it was a fire, was it a raid, what? Why were the alarms sounding? There were a few people in the room with me. We realized that there were laser lines just past the velvet ropes separating the walkway from the display. The string of the audio tour broke through the laser and set off the alarms. Oopsy. The two other American visitors in the room ran out. One said, "Well  *I* don't want to have anything to do with this!" and hurried out. I stood there for a long time waiting for someone to come so I could explain what happened but the alarms just kept blaring and no one came. After like, 10 minutes I just left the room and continued on my tour. I was more than two rooms and 20 minutes away before someone turned off the alarm. Security never did come. I bet there are cameras and they could see that it was just some dumb tourist who got too close to the laser.

But for a while there I was afraid Scotland Yard was gonna come carry me off.

Now *that* would have been an awesome story!