Kate Middleton Prepares Palace With Candles

Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge is creating a more pleasant atmosphere with candles at Kensington Palace before she moves in with Prince William.

He’s accustomed to the stuffy smells, but Kate spent $1,458 (£900) on scented candles by British interior designer Kelly Hoppen to get rid of them.

According to the Daily Mirror, “Whereas William is used to the smell and the feel of the palace, Kate is used to a more modern, relaxed environment. She felt it had an overriding musty, damp smell, and ordered a six-month supply of her favourite products to override this.”

Kelly Hoppen is an interior designer famous for her simple, yet opulent style. The designer candles Kate Middleton chose have lavender, sandalwood and moss-based scents. She also purchased several throw cushions to reflect her own minimalist-chic style.

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One of the best things about the return of warmer weather is getting to plant new flowers and starting the vegetable garden if you have one. Off to the Nursery by Alice Oehr is subtitled “a celebration of gardening, plants and seasons,” and it’s also a celebration of diversity (because gardening is for everyone) and caring for the earth.

The book starts with the work of getting the garden ready for spring, pulling out the old plants and spreading compost made from kitchen scraps. They grab tomatoes and peppers, learn about zucchini and eggplant and explore the tasty world of herbs.

They also look through the seeds, succulents, berries and fruit trees, flowers and aquatic plants, talking about the benefits of different plants and how fun they are to grow. Maybe you can relate to the family buying what seems like way too many plants?

The book was originally published in Australia, so some of the flowers mentioned might not be familiar to your or your kids, but that’s kind of fun, too. You can also use this as an opportunity to talk about which plants in the book can grow where you live and that just like animals, plants have preferred habitats, too.

Illustrations are colorful and the book combines a standard font and a hand written font to make it feel more like a journal about the garden. The illustrations include fun facts and growing tips such as always planting mint in a pot or germinating seeds on a wet paper towel before planting.

If you want to introduce kids to gardening or just talk about what kind of plants can be grown at home where you live (yes to tomatoes, probably no to the kumquat tree), this cute book is a great addition to your spring reading list.

About the book: 30 pages, hardcover. Published 2025 by Scribble US. Suggested retail price $18.95.

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