A £12 million, two-year refurbishment is due to be finished this week.

Upstairs, curators and textile conservators are taking delivery of fragile dresses and objects to display in the newly refitted rooms, while downstairs staff try on their red Jaeger-designed uniforms, shrubs are being planted, paths laid, and the shop and café kitted out ready for opening.

Opening up is what this project is all about.

Overgrown trees and shrubs that obscured the building and many of the high-security fences have been removed. The palace is once again connected with the park that surrounds it.