This is the five-star hotel suite in which Kate Middleton will spend her last night as a commoner.
The royal bride-to-be will today move into the £5,000-a-night Royal Apartment on the top floor of the Goring Hotel in Belgravia along with her mother and sister.
The rooms have been given a £150,000 makeover, giving 29-year-old Kate a taste of the luxury to which she will soon become accustomed. Yesterday staff filled the suite with more than 20 bouquets in anticipation of her arrival.
The flowers, including white and red freesias, Eucharist lilies and roses, were supplied by Jenny Tobin Flowers, who also provided blooms for the film Love Actually.
Kate’s suite has a dark-wood four-poster bed with a television which rises from the end of it at the touch of a button. One of the bathrooms has a vast walk-in shower featuring an oil painting behind a glass screen.
Another has a television built into the bath – and an original 19th Century lavatory by Thomas Crapper.
Designers have packed the apartment with antiques, hand-made furniture and ornaments. Walls have been covered in Gainsborough silk costing £500 per square metre.
Two brown velour sofas face each other in the main sitting room, separated by an inlaid Tunbridge Ware table.
A pair of bronze statues of women holding Statue of Liberty-style torches provide lighting together with a 1920s Art Deco chandelier.
Rows of old leather books and a collection of china ornaments complete the traditional, if slightly cluttered, feel.
The drawing room also has a grand piano and French windows opening on to a Juliet balcony with spectacular views over the London skyline.
The 100-year-old hotel is a favourite with the wealthy and famous and is still privately owned by the Goring family.
It is fitted with carpets made by the French firm which supplied the Palace of Versailles while some of its rooms have lighting that adapts with the seasons.
The Middleton party have booked out all of the hotel’s 71 rooms for their family and friends and intend to hold their own reception there for those not invited to the Buckingham Palace bash.
Jeremy Goring, who is the fourth Goring to run the hotel since his great-grandfather opened it, said: ‘We are honoured and delighted to be playing a small part in such a great day.
‘We wish Miss Middleton and Prince William every happiness, and we are all looking forward to a momentous celebration.’
by John Jackson
