Exclusivity At A Price

~ beetleypete

Kensington Palace Gardens in London has the most expensive property prices in Britain. Many of the grand residences there house foreign embassies and diplomats, as well as private homes of the super rich, most of them foreign nationals. At each end of the street are private security guards and armed police checking vehicle access, and most of the diplomatic residences also have armed police officers guarding them.

It is in an ideal spot in London, next to the royal residence of Kensington Palace, and Kensington Gardens, a public park. Also close to Hyde Park and Buckingham Palace, and the shops of Kensington and Knightsbridge. But even a millionaire cannot afford to live there, as the average price for a house is £20,000,000. Some of the larger houses are worth over £145,000,000. No less than ten grand properties on the street are owned by the Saudi royal family.

At a time when many Britons are using food banks, struggling to pay gas and electricity bills, and millions here are barely getting by on the basic minimum wage, I personally find this obscene.

This graphic from a newspaper (The Daily Mail) shows the street and some of the houses that line it.

62 thoughts on “Exclusivity At A Price”

  3. I have relatives who worked in big houses (in Golders Green in their case), and they were quite grand, but nothing compared to these ones. And the owners weren’t local either, I might add. Having a decent home should be a right for everybody, and not exclusive of a few.

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  7. Even if I could afford it, I would be ashamed and disgusted to live there! What a travesty to live like that, to waste that much money on a home and security when so many people in this world are putting their children to bed hungry at night. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr …

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    1. It’s out of control, Sue. Wealth being flaunted in a way that is just degrading ordinary people. Even our Prime Minister and his wife are worth well over £700,000,000. How can they possibly relate to anyone who works for £11 an hour? Why don’t they care that the vast majority of the population is struggling to cope? It burns me up inside with rage, to be honest.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  10. My question is how long have the embassy owned residences been embassy owned? Recently, in the ridiculous millions, or longer in slightly less obscene millions. For some reason I don’t see the French or Finns coughing up A hundred mil for a politician. I could be wrong and the money could come from lobbyists, but tstill. And who wants to live next door to a notorious Russian gangster?

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    2. A few of the embassies have been there since the turn of the century, Phil. But most are more recent residents of that exclusive address, at a time when house prices there were well below £10 million.
      The Russians and the Israelis have weapons in their embassies there, brought in using ‘Diplomatic Immunity’ luggage.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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        1. Oh yes. Diplomatic Immunity is very frustrating. Diplomats cannot be prosecuted for anything, including murder. The only resource left to the police is to ‘ask’ for their diplomatic credentials to be revoked, and for them to be returned to their home country. (Sometimes, the police ‘insist’, rather than ask.)
          That applies to any country that is a member of the Congress of Vienna.

          I worked for the Diplomatic and Royalty Protection Group in London’s police from 2004-2012, when I retired. It is one of the few units in the Metropolitan Police that is fully armed 24/7, with 9mm pistols and sub-machine guns. Glock pistols, and H&K sub-machine guns.

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        1. Both those embassies have staff that are paranoid, and demand to keep the weapons to protect themselves. In 1994, the Israeli Embassy was bombed, despite being guarded. Ever since then they have had their own agents inside the building to protect it from within. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, there have been many unauthorised protests outside the Russian embassy.
          Best wishes, Pete.

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            1. In London you have to officially apply for permission to demonstrate in the streets. (Which is usually granted) Of course, many people ignore that, hence my use of ‘unauthorised protests’.
              Best wishes Pete.

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  11. It is totally obscene. The gap just gets wider and deeper. I have no desire to live as they do or to possess all the fancy things they do but where is their moral conscience? I suppose they look upon the rest of us as almost another species. But it will not end any better for them than for us.

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    1. They can only sleep in one bed at a time, no matter how many billions they have accumulated. How many rooms in those mansions are never used, I wonder?
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  13. Pingback: Exclusivity At A Price — beetleypete | Ned Hamson's Second Line View of the News

  14. That level of wealth is obscene, indeed, especially given a portion of their wealth is attained from the hardship of others. Wealth does not trickle down, but poverty sure does.

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    1. I doubt they would ever sell Kensington Palace itself, GP. Many royals live in apartments inside, and it is technically owned by The Crown. But I am sure the King/Queen would get their hands on the proceeds if it was sold in the future.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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    1. Thanks, Lorraine. Almost every property there is owned by someone who is not British, so they appear to have unlimited funds to use to buy a house at such an exclusive address.
      Best wishes, Pete. x

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  25. Thank you for this Pete. I also find it to be totally obscene. How this has been allowed to happen – can only be put down to Conservative governments! I was born in London in 1946 right at the end of the War and remember it so differently. Thank you for highlighting this.

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    1. My pleasure, Janet. It was always a rather exclusive area, but the injection of foreign money after 1980 started the ridiculous rise in prices there. It currently seems to have no upper limit, as Arab princes try to outbid each other for any house that comes up for sale.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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