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A Very British Christmas 2025 S01E03 KENSINGTON PALACE
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00:00Light, fancy baubles, tinsel and fairy lights. Job done.
00:07Unless you're decorating this, or this, or this.
00:14There are three things that hold Christmas up at Castle Howard.
00:17Chicken wire, glue gun sticks and cable ties.
00:21One crack team of Christmas crafters are responsible for bringing the festive season
00:27into some of Britain's best-loved buildings.
00:31The logistics is a little bit more than moving boxes of baubles around.
00:37For Dave,
00:38Safety first.
00:39Laura,
00:40Ta-da!
00:41Brian and the rest.
00:43Juliana, Eve, Theodora, your end down.
00:46Christmas is a full-time job.
00:49Always get there in the end, through panic or coffee or gin.
00:52This is the bit that no-one ever sees backstage.
00:55Top of the tree.
00:56Cute.
00:57Designer, an ex-theatre producer, Charlotte.
01:00How do we feel about buying a kilometre of green lights?
01:03And business partner, former costume designer, Adrian.
01:07If they'd been purchased at full price, it was over 7,000 pairs.
01:10Right.
01:11Okay.
01:12Eight years of Christmas installations just keep getting bigger.
01:15Well, it totally looks like it's not going to fit.
01:18Bolder.
01:19I'm just worried about that statue.
01:20And riskier.
01:21Good job!
01:22Good job!
01:23Sidestepping priceless antiques and cautious clients.
01:30How can they make an armoury?
01:32Christmas.
01:33Christmassy, yeah.
01:34The clock is ticking.
01:35Three, two, one.
01:37To doors opening.
01:38God, it's fabulous.
01:39For Christmas.
01:40Next year's ambition is...
01:41Not to break the team.
01:44On the edge of Hyde Park in London, this is Kensington Palace.
01:57Home to royalty for more than three centuries, it has over 500 rooms, hosts state ceremonies and is a major public attraction.
02:16This year, it's decided to go big for Christmas and has called in the experts.
02:27We're really excited because this is our first actual royal palace.
02:31But it's going to be very different and, to a certain extent, a bit daunting.
02:40There are many grand apartments at the palace, but this one is particularly special.
02:46It's the birthplace and childhood home of none other than Queen Victoria.
02:51Mantle, arrangement, tree.
02:54A place for living in rather than a royal showpiece.
02:58Historic royal palaces want it filled with memories of Victoria's treasured winter trips to the seaside.
03:05This is the room where we're imagining departure from the palace.
03:09Central luggage structure.
03:11As if it's sort of getting ready to be loaded onto a carriage.
03:15Adrian and Charlotte have to sprinkle festive magic over ten rooms.
03:20Including Victoria's nursery and the Red Saloon.
03:24Grand finale.
03:26Grand finale.
03:28We're making peg dolls in the style of Victoria's own peg dolls.
03:33She had an extensive collection, over 300.
03:35So we imagine that she imagined her seaside pier Christmas scene as little peg dolls.
03:45Christmas in 1800s Britain was beginning to look a lot like,
03:49well, Christmas.
03:51The now familiar tree was introduced by Victoria's German grandmother.
03:56Decorated with candied fruit, nuts and candles.
04:00This is where we want to present Victoria's tree.
04:03Charlotte's collared Kensington curator Miles to ensure their Christmas would be recognisable to young Victoria.
04:10I think for us this is about telling quite an exciting but relatively unknown story that Christmas as we know it today in many ways was born here at Kensington Palace.
04:19So Christmas trees were placed on tables.
04:21They weren't left on the floor as we might display them today.
04:24Presents were displayed around the tree but they were not wrapped.
04:28So it's still relatively vintage in look and feel.
04:32And I think what's really important is trying to evoke a sense of period authenticity.
04:38A real kind of look and feel that is complementary to the historic interiors here.
04:43The rooms in which Victoria was born, grew up and enjoyed Christmas.
04:47So that's a full arch.
04:49Adrian's checking the plans with Laura from the palace.
04:52On this side of it, there's a floristry archway.
04:55She's got a long list of house rules.
04:58It's quite a small room.
04:59We want to make sure that it is safe.
05:01So the painting here won't need to move.
05:04There'll be enough width here for wheelchair users to come through.
05:07Yeah, I mean we're probably losing about 10 centimetres total.
05:11Working in historic buildings is nothing new for Team Christmas.
05:15For seven years they've been installing festive displays in castles and stately homes across Britain.
05:31What is new is the theme.
05:35Previous Christmases have been pure flights of fancy.
05:38From Mad Hatter's Tea Parties, The Land of Oz, Fairy Tales and Pirates.
05:44But Kensington Palace has asked for something grounded in historical fact.
05:49And a seaside holiday is hardly the usual Christmas fair.
06:02Charlotte and Adrian have come to Ramsgate to work out what links it with the young Princess Victoria.
06:12I would love to show you where Queen Victoria slept.
06:18Fabulous.
06:19Local historian Clive has brought them to Albion House, where she stayed not long before she became Queen.
06:25Oh yeah, look at that, it's amazing.
06:30Amazing outlook.
06:34Don't you really get the feel of it?
06:36Yeah.
06:37And I think they might have had, well they would have had donkey rides on the sands and they would have had bathing machines so that people could dip in the sea.
06:46So the Royal Pavilion would not have been here at that time.
06:50That was later.
06:51But she could have looked out and she would have seen the obelisk that was built to her uncle, George IV.
06:57Victoria visited Ramsgate several times in her youth.
07:02As heir to the throne, it offered an escape from the formalities of life at court.
07:08So Ramsgate was more casual in feel to her main childhood in Kensington Palace.
07:16Yes, and she loved it.
07:17She had had a very difficult childhood, really, because she was going to become Queen.
07:22But that meant that there were factions trying to control her, including her mother.
07:28The princess's diaries reveal she led a claustrophobic childhood.
07:33She was under permanent adult supervision, had to sleep in the same room as her mother, and hold hands going up and down stairs, even as a teenager.
07:43Everything was regulated.
07:46It was sort of quite stressful, really.
07:49But Ramsgate was relaxed and happy as it is today.
07:53And Queen Victoria absolutely loved it.
07:55And I think there was a whole, you know, there were all things, issues that happened.
07:58I mean, there were donkeys and Punch and Judy and all these, all these things.
08:02So it was, within the Victorian context, it was fun.
08:10In terms of research, this is not a bad gig.
08:14Your treat for being a good girl by the seaside.
08:17A good girl by the seaside.
08:20But trips here were clearly more than a brief jolly for Victoria.
08:25Her diaries record conversations with fishermen and other local sights and sounds.
08:31They were memories she could conjure up back at the palace.
08:36I think we could go even further with that feeling of her, like, really just wandering the seashore, enjoying it,
08:42picking up pebbles and shells and, like, watching the characters and then rushing back to paint them and get all the details down about the way they looked.
08:52Yeah, and it's kind of like a lovely kind of artistic chaos of all the different things and the things she was reading.
08:58A contrast to how the other rooms are feeling.
09:01Yeah, yeah, yeah.
09:02And the contrast of what her room would have been like at Kensington and everything in its place and everything ordered and everything.
09:07It's just a bit dull.
09:13It's July.
09:14On an old farm in Yorkshire, Charlotte and Adrian's Team Christmas are gearing up for Kensington Palace's trip to the seaside.
09:27Model maker Mark is starting a miniature of Albion House for the drawing room.
09:33Laura's in charge of a series of grand floral arches and Dave's welding a support for a suitcase Christmas tree to go in the schoolroom.
09:43This is the kind of dirty steel part that will eventually end up being a beautiful display.
09:51Juliana's helping sort over 60,000 baubles to try to find any that fit the theme.
09:58Anything antiquey.
10:00It's kind of Victoria, but in Regency period.
10:04But I think we're allowed a little bit of artistic licence.
10:06It is Christmas after all.
10:08But the full list of rules has come in from the palace.
10:12It's not good news.
10:15Kensington, zero glitter.
10:19So we've been stock planning decorations for eight years and nothing says Christmas, like a bit of sparkle, but...
10:27Glitter, not acceptable in these environments because it can get into the carpets, into the collection pieces, so we have to go for completely no glitter.
10:35I mean, we can't use these ones, obviously, because of the glitter.
10:40You know, there are some things that are more embellished.
10:43I'm hoping that we might get away with a few of these.
10:46The rules are strict.
10:48No glitter anywhere or on anything.
10:54So, yes, it is the first week of July.
10:57And, yes, I will be going to Marks & Spencer's food shopping tonight.
11:01And, yes, everyone will be looking at me because I'm covered in glitter.
11:06It's just part and parcel of the job.
11:08In fact, I'll probably have to have a full, like, detox several days of showering before I even am allowed to walk into Kensington.
11:18Because it won't just be the decorations, it will be me just giving off glitter everywhere.
11:22Kensington Palace opens its festive display in two months' time.
11:38But Team Christmas is struggling to find baubles that comply with the strict no glitter policy.
11:44We'll start you off with making clear icicles, like so.
11:52Adrian and Juliana have come to one of Britain's last glassblowers to try to make their own.
11:58They're perfect for our scheme for that tree in Kensington.
12:02I'll get the first bubble in for you because that's the most difficult.
12:07And you'll put the pattern in and arrange it.
12:10Tim Simon has been making bespoke glassware for over 40 years.
12:17Right, are we ready?
12:18Yeah, I'm going to go first.
12:20OK.
12:23First, he fetches a gather from the furnace.
12:26A blob of molten glass to dip in frits.
12:29Powdered colours made of oxidised metals such as cobalt and tin.
12:33Right.
12:35Now pick it up on the shiny.
12:38Yeah.
12:39Keep it turning and level.
12:41And then plonk.
12:43Is that enough?
12:44No, come on.
12:45No, no, give it some welling.
12:46OK, give it some welling.
12:47Yeah, and again.
12:49There.
12:51And the same in the blue.
12:52In that one?
12:53Yeah.
12:54And over and there.
12:56And then into the glory hole.
12:58Adrian has to heat the gather to over a thousand degrees.
13:05Not so far.
13:06Melting the frits into the glass.
13:08Right, I'll take over now.
13:09Yeah.
13:10You go and sit down and get the tweezers ready.
13:12There's my tweezers.
13:14To do the icicle.
13:16Oh, this is exciting.
13:21This is aqua and gold.
13:22Right over, that's there.
13:31Am I right?
13:32Right.
13:34Have I made it difficult for us?
13:36No, no.
13:38Just different.
13:43Go on, keep pulling.
13:47A unique icicle.
13:49And down.
13:51A little bit of tension there.
13:53Keep it straight.
13:55And rattling out.
13:57Yep.
13:59I like that one.
14:00Yeah?
14:01Yeah.
14:02Very unique.
14:03Yeah.
14:06Baubles became big news in Britain after Victoria's marriage to Prince Albert,
14:11who introduced them from his native Germany.
14:15Quick.
14:16Well, it's still hot.
14:18Go.
14:19Give it some welly.
14:21At the time, they were all made this way.
14:24Whoa, whoa, whoa.
14:25Not too big.
14:27There you are.
14:28Just a little puff now.
14:29That's fine.
14:31Modern baubles, a machine blown by the million.
14:34And spray painted, usually with a dreaded dose of glitter.
14:39A little bit more.
14:40Come on.
14:41Blow, blow, blow, blow.
14:43That's fine.
14:44Adrian and Julianas are going into a kiln to cool slowly.
14:49Yeah.
14:50It'll be at least six hours before they're tough enough to handle.
14:53I don't think you could equip an entire tree in the way that we decorate trees, which are loaded.
15:03You know, our standard eight-foot trees have got about 2,000 decorations on it.
15:06Nice.
15:07I think I'd be here for weeks if I had to create enough baubles to do the coverage that we would normally do.
15:19This year, Charlotte and Adrian have their sights set on London.
15:22And they've decided to go big or go home.
15:26As well as the palace, they're taking a massive gamble on a second British landmark.
15:34Chiswick House is overseen by English Heritage.
15:37But they're not hiring Team Christmas.
15:40Team Christmas are hiring Chiswick House, installing a theme of their own and hoping to make it pay by selling tickets directly to the public.
15:51Partridge in a pear tree.
15:54Two turtle doves.
15:55Two turtle doves.
15:56Three French hens.
15:58Four calling birds.
16:00Five old rings.
16:03It's lovely at Chiswick.
16:05You know, we don't have a client brief.
16:07It's kind of up to us at what we do.
16:09The tricky thing is, therefore, if people don't like it, it's all on us.
16:14It's all on us.
16:15Yeah.
16:16They've plumped for the 12 days of Christmas.
16:21This is incredible, this room.
16:22And 12 drummers drumming.
16:23But Chiswick House is small, as these places go.
16:27So cramming in all the days will be a challenge.
16:31How are the geese represented then?
16:32One in the hearth, one off the hearth, then maybe one under a chair.
16:38What's more, their hire only covers installation and Christmas opening.
16:42Measuring tapes at the ready.
16:44They won't see it again until November.
16:46One zero or six zero or eight.
16:48And another venue means events manager Joy has another set of rules.
16:54The tricky thing for us, Joy, is that because of the intense, beautiful compactness of the house,
17:03we're really reliant on people being able to get quite close to things.
17:07Yeah, of course.
17:08And to look at the detail, because we don't want anyone to go away feeling like they haven't had their money's worth.
17:12Yeah.
17:13For their ticket price.
17:14So we would be generally, apart from the areas that you traditionally rope and pole due to valuable furniture pieces,
17:22inviting people to get as close to things as possible.
17:25Their biggest concern is going to be about wet shoes coming in and the extra traffic that comes through.
17:30Because the house is normally only open from April to September.
17:33Yeah.
17:34And whilst we do have the additional things in place by the front where, you know,
17:38we'll have matting and things like that for people to wipe their shoes off as they come in and people explaining that.
17:42But if we do want them to interact and be able to have free movement around,
17:46is it a case of flooring wall to wall?
17:49Mm.
17:50But then added cost.
17:56As well as nine lavish rooms, Haia includes the outside.
18:00One, two, three...
18:02Four, five.
18:03Four, five.
18:04Yeah.
18:05...and Queen of Christmas will greet the punters.
18:08But even out here, there's restrictions.
18:10She'll be about 15 feet tall and she'll be dressed in foraged greenery.
18:14We would need to run that past the garden because of bringing in alien species into the garden.
18:18Right, I see.
18:19Yeah.
18:20OK.
18:26August.
18:27There's now two historic properties and two sets of rules.
18:34At Christmas HQ, the team's been briefed.
18:40Silk, velvet.
18:42Juliana's steering clear of glitter by making clothing for Kensington's peg dolls.
18:48It's a bit drab, really.
18:50That might be nice.
18:52That's what you want.
18:53Oh, yes.
18:54That's perfect.
18:55Dave's avoiding anything organic with a steel pear tree for Chiswick's main haul.
19:03I'm marking out where these branches are going to come off.
19:06Just spacing them fairly evenly.
19:09I'm in danger of overthinking this now.
19:13And Laura's taking no risks either with her Queen of Christmas.
19:20We're doing a base of faux greenery
19:23and then we will be covering it with foraged greenery from the grounds in Chiswick.
19:32The reason why we can't just forage here and install it
19:36is because the trees are sort of protected there,
19:40so you have to use their greenery on their grounds
19:43so that we don't cross-contaminate.
19:45London's heritage properties are proving complicated.
19:52The team needs new ideas.
19:5815 miles south, in the historic city of York, this is Fairfax House.
20:03A grade one listed building from the same period as Kensington and Chiswick.
20:10It's an award-winning museum.
20:12At Chiswick, they have three rooms.
20:14The red, the green and the blue velvet rooms.
20:17Charlotte's come to quiz curator Sarah about what makes it so special.
20:21This is one of my favourite things.
20:23So if you talk to my team, they're like, Charlotte does tables.
20:24Oh really?
20:25I don't do Christmas trees.
20:27I do not go near Christmas trees or fairy lights, but I love to do tables.
20:31So that's my thing.
20:32So I'm always looking for ideas of how you can create a piece that's...
20:36It's that balance, isn't it, between it not being a mess,
20:39but at the same time it has to feel like the energy of the people that are using it, right?
20:44You do really do it exquisitely here.
20:47We have to kind of balance as well.
20:49So lots of these are collection items.
20:50Yeah.
20:51So we have to kind of do a mixture of kind of displaying these pieces
20:54so they're kind of showcased because they're part of our collection
20:56but also making them feel like they're objects in a house
20:58that are being kind of used by the imaginary people.
21:01As they would have been being used, yeah, absolutely.
21:04Injecting the Georgian grandeur with a sense of life is Sarah's speciality.
21:10And who made these mice for?
21:11Oh, so our volunteers make them.
21:13Oh, do they? That's amazing.
21:14It's funny because we're doing it this year but with peg dolls.
21:17She relies heavily on food.
21:20Even worse than glitter, it's banned from most heritage properties.
21:25But you can't eat any of this.
21:28Getting good replica food, right?
21:29It's hard.
21:30It's hard but you've got some amazing pieces here.
21:32So where do you source your replica food?
21:35So some of it we buy from specialist makers.
21:37Yeah.
21:38Other bits we dry out ourselves.
21:39You might notice the bread rolls.
21:40They're kind of really slowly dried in our oven.
21:42Okay.
21:43Fruit cakes upstairs.
21:44Also visitors love the smell of fruits and vegetables.
21:46It's kind of really powerful on, you know, kind of how you experience the space when the smell's included.
21:51So we get creative with how we display things.
21:53And wouldn't be completely without the pineapple.
21:56At Chiswick we are doing the 12th night party.
22:00You haven't got any rope and pole or anything in here, have you?
22:03No.
22:04So a couple of years ago we made a decision to kind of remove all the ropes and barriers so visitors can kind of navigate round the spaces quite organically.
22:10Yeah.
22:11So you do feel like you're sneaking around somebody's house.
22:13Yeah.
22:14It's an idea that the Fairfaxes have just left the room and you're kind of sneaking in to experience it.
22:18Yeah.
22:19That is something that we want to achieve at Chiswick with a party in motion.
22:24This is just an exquisitely darn example of what we're trying to achieve.
22:28With Christmas installation fast approaching, Charlotte's found plenty of food for thought.
22:34These jellies.
22:35They even wobble.
22:36So if you kind of wobble the plate they've got a good kind of jelly wobble to them.
22:40Oh my goodness.
22:41They look amazing.
22:50It's September.
22:52In eight weeks time the team in Yorkshire have to take Christmas to two high profile London venues.
22:59As it gets closer to install time it can get a bit manic.
23:03Always get there though.
23:04Through panic or coffee or gin.
23:07Kensington Palace is being filled with the seaside memories of a young Queen Victoria.
23:13Her mother and her governess.
23:16And the worst, most difficult bit was to make an organ grinder and his monkey.
23:23Chiswick House will be home to the 12 days of Christmas.
23:27From partridges in pear trees to drummers drumming.
23:30I am currently pinning in one of the nine ladies dancing that is going to Chiswick House.
23:37There's about 16 costumes we're making in total for Chiswick.
23:42They'll be all in different colours, gorgeous baroque style fabric.
23:46So I just had a chat with Adrian and we'll have to trim off all the glitter from these because it's going to shed too much.
23:53But strict regulations at both properties are making life difficult.
23:58And time is running out.
24:04Adrian's back in London on the hunt for guilt-free decorations.
24:10So, ideally we're looking prop-wise for primarily anything that can do the seaside theme.
24:18Yeah, okay.
24:19So anything that's existing...
24:20Let's have a rummage.
24:21..in this fabulous secret store of props.
24:25This is an official prop store for places like the Tower of London and Hampton Court Palace.
24:33There must be something they can fish out for Kensington.
24:37What have we got?
24:38I have no idea.
24:40Oh.
24:41Okay.
24:43Glitter.
24:44Glitter finish.
24:45Absolutely not.
24:46Absolutely not.
24:47Back in the back.
24:48In it goes.
24:50It's just very hard because there's so much product.
24:52Even if it's like a tiny little detail, you've really got to stand and look at each piece and just make sure that it's passing the no-bitter test.
25:01A lack of glitter isn't his only constraint.
25:04Because it's not even Victorian.
25:05No.
25:06It's Princess Victoria's Regency 1835 Christmas.
25:10Yes.
25:11Beside the sea in Ramsgate.
25:12So you couldn't be in a more specific.
25:15Now, don't ask me when we've used this in the past, because I have no idea.
25:19These I love.
25:20Yeah.
25:21Because it's got that kind of nice vintage-y feel.
25:23These look fun.
25:25And I think these were used for the display around King George IV coronation.
25:29Nothing screams a seaside than a gold-coated lobster.
25:34It's a good haul, but there's a catch.
25:37I know that anything new that I'm purchasing prop-wise, we've said anything in leather, wood, textiles, paper, has to go through the freezing process.
25:49Yes, yes.
25:50So we have to have things frozen before it comes into an interior site like Kensington Palace.
25:55And what does it do?
25:56So it basically removes any pests, anything that could have gotten into the material or the fabric that could then spread.
26:05How cold is the freezer?
26:07So we would have things in the freezer for two weeks at minus 21 degrees.
26:12And it's not just the new stuff, it's everything.
26:17So that would include any props that are here along with all the new stuff.
26:21Exactly, yeah.
26:22Because it's been taken out of the palace.
26:25That's just knocked two weeks off prep time.
26:28It's a bit of a maze, isn't it?
26:31The least the palace can do is provide a tree or two.
26:34So this is our Christmas tree room.
26:38Our floristry, our Christmas trees.
26:40This is music to your ears, I think.
26:44Kensington Palace needs at least eight trees, all artificial.
26:50Hang on a second.
26:51I think our wires are crossed.
26:54The earliest artificial trees were made using dyed goose feathers.
26:59But by the late Victorian period, there was a surprising new development.
27:03I would hate to think how many trees I have decorated in the last five years.
27:10Toilet brush manufacturers realised their bristles on a stick were the ideal way to eradicate dropped pine needles.
27:18And the modern fake tree was born.
27:21General all over fluff is essential to get it looking good once it's enclosed.
27:26Who knew they'd end up in a royal palace?
27:29How do you feel about faux trees versus real?
27:32Well, in my house at Christmas, we always have a real one.
27:35Yeah.
27:36I think my family wouldn't let us get away with a faux one.
27:37But for a palace like Kensington, there's just too much risk that comes with having real trees in there.
27:43Bugs.
27:44Lots of bugs, pests that are in there.
27:46And real Christmas trees are so flammable as well.
27:50So it's just a no to have them inside our historic spaces.
27:52Seeing it out, and actually out in a bigger space, Laura, I think this is actually quite good for room one.
27:57It's quite a good size.
27:58The height's good, but what I'm happy about, it's purposefully slim.
28:01November.
28:02Only two weeks until pretty much everything has to go into quarantine.
28:15Juliana, I'm almost finished. Do you want to come up and have a look?
28:18Including a replica of young Victoria's Christmas dress.
28:23Oh, gosh, it's beautiful.
28:25She has to go in the freezer as well, because it's silk and cotton.
28:29And all the wooden peg dolls.
28:31My only thing about this is it's quite summery.
28:34So it'd be quite nice to sort of, if we can allude to the winteriness of it via a natural element, like a little bit of snow dusting or ice,
28:40then we'd have that sort of Christmassy feel without it being about decoration.
28:46Decorations considered risk-free have to be kept separate until the transport arrives.
28:51So we've been really busy with Kensington.
28:54The arches have all been made, so we're storing them in these tents.
28:59But it's always a bit nerve-wracking putting them on the lorry after all your hard work.
29:04Fingers crossed, it'll stay in one piece when we take it over to Kensington.
29:10Both properties are due to open their Christmases within days of each other.
29:16I am about to lose this land.
29:19First thing you've carried all year?
29:20Yeah, exactly.
29:22Thank God there's somebody that knows what they're doing.
29:24Right, thank you.
29:26Next stop, London.
29:38Chiswick House.
29:40The first of two trucks has arrived from Yorkshire.
29:46An installation is meant to be well underway.
29:51But it's not.
29:52We had planned to do work outside, but the weather is very inclement, so we've put a bit of a stop to that, and I'm just getting a huge team effort in to get ourselves organised with our retail offer.
30:08And then the next big thing that's going to happen today is that we've got our second vehicle arriving, and that's got some of the big set pieces on it, and all of the costume and all of the floristry.
30:18Adrian and Charlotte have taken a gamble hiring Chiswick House for their own Christmas display.
30:24To help cover costs, they'll be running an on-site gift shop. But it's created a job that no one bargained with.
30:33We are currently just bagging up all of the decorations that have glitter on for the retail space in Chiswick House. They're absolutely beautiful, but some of them do have traces of glitter and we can't have any glitter in the house, so we're just containing that at the moment.
30:54How many boxes have we got here today? Probably about a hundred. It's probably about a quarter of the retail product.
31:04My first horror when I realised how stringent their stipulations were was that I was just going to have to just lose all this product and find other elements, but we've come to a good solution.
31:19Individually wrapping each bauble is slow going.
31:25They'll just have to make up time when everything else arrives.
31:31It's late afternoon. Already half a day behind schedule. There's still no sign of the second truck.
31:39They've just told me that the driver's not going to be here until 4.30.
31:43And Chiswick House and Grounds locked down at 5pm. So I'm just going to go and talk to the Chiswick team and alert them and see if there's a problem solve in case anything in Friday night London traffic makes things any worse.
32:02Still missing the materials to protect the house from accidental damage during install.
32:09Oh, pretty!
32:10Without it, they're relegated to the basement, Santa's grotto. But even here, they've got to be careful.
32:20You can't put anything against the wall, so we're having to leave quite a bit of a gap. And then I have to be careful myself to not hit or knock anything, which is, again, sometimes a little difficult when you're just trying to get things done.
32:37It's 8pm. It's what I love on a wet Friday night in West London. Waiting for a lorry. And the fear of being locked in the park.
33:07At Kensington Palace, the team have just two days to install Princess Victoria's Seaside Christmas.
33:17It's a very simple decorative scheme on these trees. The stuff on the top of this box is for the mantle, so we're going a bit harbourside is the idea.
33:27Fifty boxes of decorations, eight Christmas trees and much more have to be carefully carried to their designated rooms.
33:34But that's easier said than done for the large, welded archways.
33:42Yeah, lift that leg up.
33:44Somebody lift the bottom leg.
33:47Right, that's it.
33:49We'll just hold it together and we'll get it through.
33:52It's quite narrow. It's quite narrow, isn't it?
33:58While floristry avoids trashing one building...
34:01Yeah.
34:05Master model maker Marks checking for damage on another.
34:18We thought we might have a pile of match wood, but we've by and large survived the journey.
34:24Unfortunately, we have had some damage to the railings.
34:31The downpipe for the drainage has come away.
34:35And it's just generally been marked by transit, so the paintwork looks a little bit less than pristine.
34:42So not a disaster, but a bit of a pain.
34:45In Victoria's schoolroom, Adrian's struggling with his Christmas tree made of suitcases.
34:53I kind of want to get it more triangular.
34:55More triangular.
34:57But that might just be a case of us doing a little something small at the bottom.
35:01Yeah.
35:02This is all a bit precarious, isn't it?
35:05Yeah.
35:06We'll just slot in.
35:09That's good, because look at that.
35:11It's perfect.
35:15Yeah.
35:17With thousands of visitors expected over Christmas, safety is key.
35:21Yeah.
35:23All design changes need signing off by the palace.
35:27It's not stable yet.
35:28I'm just trying to get it visually correct.
35:31And then we will deconstruct it and rebuild it with an awful lot of fishing wire.
35:41She's having a little chat with the little sailor boy.
35:45He does look as though he's got his trousers down, doesn't he?
35:48With those boots.
35:49Yeah.
35:54Ten miles away, the team at Chiswick are trying to make up for lost time.
36:04The floor protection has arrived, so decorating can begin in earnest.
36:08We need to make sure that nothing's at risk of bumping into any parts of the house.
36:13One.
36:14Oh no, it needs to go this way.
36:15The festive queen is being dressed in green, gathered from the estate gardens.
36:25While the dancers are almost ready to take their places in the gallery.
36:29There we go.
36:32There you go.
36:33She's in, she's on.
36:35But yesterday's weather has taken the shine off the fifth day of Christmas.
36:39It was just, it was absolutely chucking it down with rain and this got soaking wet and it still hadn't a full paint job really so it's just looking a bit worse for wear so I'm just cleaning it back.
36:56Before we give it another coat and then it should look like a gold ring again.
37:06Am I okay to lift one of them?
37:08Yes, just from the bottom right.
37:11Right.
37:12The last day is also in jeopardy.
37:17It's the big yellow one on the right, I think it was.
37:21The drums were meant to be on a stand, but curator Lydia has declared it too precarious for the blue velvet room.
37:27There we go.
37:28She's overseeing Charlotte's emergency alternative.
37:34Yes, so this one is over there.
37:40Yeah.
37:41Everything has to be at least a metre from the delicate surroundings.
37:46I think this one is underneath here and then that one's on top.
37:50This drum.
37:52Yep.
37:54Let's go forward.
37:55There we go.
37:58Okay.
38:00So there we have our 12 drums.
38:07Yeah, we're at 1.7-ish, 1.6, 1.07-ish.
38:12So we're good.
38:13Lovely, thank you Lydia.
38:14That's all right.
38:15Good.
38:16Brilliant.
38:18The mannequin intensive Chiswick house is rapidly filling with lords a-leaping.
38:25Maids are milking and ladies dancing in various states of undress.
38:30The biggest of all is ready for her fitting.
38:31We have a rest.
38:32We have a rest.
38:33I'm not really resting.
38:34I'm kind of holding all the weight.
38:35You need to go.
38:36Yeah.
38:37You need to go.
38:38Yeah.
38:39Can someone go in the middle?
38:40Yeah.
38:41One, two, three.
38:42Yeah.
38:43One, two, three.
38:44Yeah.
38:45Mine's good.
38:46Mine's good.
38:47Mine's good.
38:48Mine's good.
38:49It's the final day of installation.
38:50at Kensington.
38:51It's the final day of installation at Kensington.
38:54Christmas has to be all wrapped up by tonight.
38:55Christmas has to be all wrapped up by tonight.
38:56It's the final day of installation at Kensington.
39:01These are my vintage napkins that have been through the freezer.
39:02It's glassware we have to be all wrapped up by tonight.
39:03These are my vintage napkins that have been through the freezer.
39:08glassware we had to go modern to get a full set.
39:09Yeah.
39:10But we like the blue.
39:11And this is my dinner service.
39:12Yeah.
39:13Yeah.
39:14Yeah.
39:15Yeah.
39:16Yeah.
39:17It's the final day of installation at Kensington.
39:20Christmas has to be all wrapped up by tonight.
39:25These are my vintage napkins that have been through the freezer.
39:30Glassware we had to go modern to get a full set.
39:32Yeah.
39:33But we like the blue.
39:34And this is my dinner service.
39:36The palace is really beginning to sparkle.
39:45There's a little bit of glitter there.
39:47So I'm going to chop the end of it off.
39:49A little too much for Selena.
39:52When we made this, we originally thought that every product did not have any glitter.
39:56But it turns out that this particular one just has a tiny smattering on the ends of these leaves of this branch.
40:02So most of it actually hasn't got it, but it's just right on the end.
40:05So I've got to go through the whole of the banister and just cut off the ends of this particular copper leaf.
40:14Obviously today's the final day.
40:15We're rushing around trying to get everything put in in time.
40:18So I'm just trying to do this.
40:20It's going to take as long as it takes to make sure that we've got rid of all the glitter.
40:23At Chiswick House, the 12 days of Christmas are coming on apace.
40:35Last minute adjustments should see the dancing ladies decent before the lords leap into action.
40:44And Laura's adding a note of finesse to floristry.
40:50We're in the red velvet room, which is the pipers piping.
40:54So we wanted to sort of reference the music.
40:57But the gold rings are still looking a little lacklustre.
41:01The trick to this is just don't put so much gold paint on that it drips everywhere.
41:08Because can you imagine having to go over it again?
41:10Seven swans have all been folded into one larger than life figurine.
41:16This could be her swansong.
41:21As we lift her, she's going to go in on her back.
41:25So if any damage happens, it's round the back of the dress.
41:28So I think two people on the heavy base and one person catching the top of the torso.
41:37To be honest, we could probably go up this way.
41:40Are you all right with her?
41:42Yeah, yeah, good.
41:43Made with dozens of paper doilies and origami creations,
41:48Meg, Sarah and Adrian have to squeeze her through four doorways
41:53to reach her resting place in the bedchamber.
41:58We'll go a bit higher, maybe.
42:01She has a delicate exterior.
42:05But a heart of steel.
42:07Beneath her skirts is a metal frame.
42:13If anyone slips, it's hard to know who would come out worse.
42:17Her or Chiswick House.
42:19Could she be turned slightly?
42:22She's too wide for these doors.
42:24That's all right.
42:25Wait.
42:30Okay, thank you.
42:31Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant.
42:32Two doors down.
42:33Come on up, guys.
42:34Excellent.
42:35Two to go.
42:36The doors slowly.
42:37Yeah.
42:39And then we're going to reverse.
42:42So, Megan, you're going to go in backwards.
42:45Megan, you okay?
42:46Sure.
42:47Can you stop?
42:48I think...
42:49Yeah?
42:50You all right?
42:51Almost there.
42:52Okay.
42:55Just keep going a little bit further, Megan.
42:59There we go.
43:00Beautiful.
43:04With time running short, Eve's hanging nearly a hundred metres of faux spruce garland.
43:10It's another job that's taking longer than expected.
43:15We've essentially realised that we need a lot more protection than we first expected on the stonework.
43:20So, what we've had to do is back all of the garlands and the wreaths with hessian,
43:26so that none of that is going to scratch the stonework,
43:29because that can cause it to deteriorate.
43:31But we've also had to do a lot with the contact points.
43:35So, we've got bubble wrap, we've got hessian involved.
43:38It's taken us about four hours so far.
43:40We've still got a little bit more to do, and the light's going.
43:43So, I think it's time to crack on and hopefully get done.
43:50The countdown to Christmas is almost over.
43:58Just a few last details on this very sweet seaside painting retreat.
44:04Oh, wow.
44:14It's down to the final few baubles.
44:19I was dubious when we were making them as to whether they were going to look good enough
44:24and whether they'd work with the scheme on this tree.
44:26But they look really lovely.
44:28They're really sweet.
44:29Nice to put in a little handmade touch.
44:32It's opening night.
44:42Our heads are fully in Christmas, 11 months of the year,
44:59which is ultimately pretty exhausting.
45:03The only time we can't properly enjoy it is when we down-tooled, open the doors.
45:10And sit back and see whether the visitor really loves it.
45:13Yeah.
45:14fill the door over to about three people.
45:15Yeah.
45:16In April one, I will be distancing.
45:18I fit upon your sign.
45:19But I will go and meet my peers really hard to figure out the chuckle.
45:24Not just like the Kingsley brighten, but I yoki when I'm a friend,
45:35But we won't forget about the sauce.
45:36I'm telling you someone.
45:37Ting you a foon right to join the juice right down at home.
45:39I hold you seriously.
45:40It's a huge relief to have got it done, huge relief to have got it done, and I am really
46:00proud of it.
46:01I think we did very well.
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