The luxurious five-star hotel suite where Kate Middleton will spend her final night as a commoner is showcased here.
Today, the royal bride-to-be will check into the Royal Apartment at the Goring Hotel in Belgravia, which costs £5,000 a night, accompanied by her mother and sister.
With a £150,000 makeover, the rooms provide 29-year-old Kate a taste of the lavish lifestyle she will soon embrace. In anticipation of her arrival, staff filled the suite with over 20 floral arrangements yesterday.
Among the flowers, which were supplied by Jenny Tobin Flowers—known for providing blooms for the film Love Actually—are white and red freesias, Eucharist lilies, and roses.
The suite features a dark-wood four-poster bed equipped with a television that rises from the foot of the bed at the press of a button. One of the bathrooms includes an expansive walk-in shower adorned with an oil painting behind a glass screen.
In another bathroom, a television is built into the bath, along with an original lavatory from the 19th century made by Thomas Crapper.
Antiques, hand-made furniture, and various ornaments fill the apartment, with the walls draped in Gainsborough silk, priced at £500 per square metre.
In the main sitting room, two brown velour sofas face each other, separated by an inlaid Tunbridge Ware table.
For lighting, a pair of bronze statues of women holding torches in the style of the Statue of Liberty alongside a 1920s Art Deco chandelier have been arranged.
The traditional yet somewhat cluttered ambiance is completed by rows of antique leather books and a collection of china ornaments.
The drawing room features a grand piano and French windows that open onto a Juliet balcony, providing breathtaking views of the London skyline.
The century-old hotel is favored by the affluent and renowned, still privately owned by the Goring family.
It boasts carpets made by the same French firm that supplied the Palace of Versailles, with some rooms featuring lighting that changes according to the seasons.
The Middleton family has reserved all 71 of the hotel’s rooms for their relatives and friends, planning to host a reception there for those not invited to the Buckingham Palace festivities.
Jeremy Goring, the fourth generation of his family to manage the hotel since his great-grandfather established it, expressed: ‘We are honored and delighted to contribute to such an important occasion.
‘We wish Miss Middleton and Prince William every happiness, and we eagerly anticipate a momentous celebration.’
by John Jackson