The Royal Park Hotel ★★★★

There are plenty of symbols associated to London – the red phone box, the Houses of Parliament, the double-decker bus, Tower Bridge, the Union Jack, the Queen’s Guard, Buckingham Palace, the London Eye… You could go on forever, but I doubt Marble Arch would be near the top of many people’s lists. It is, however, a famous monument with a fascinating history, having been moved from Buckingham Palace to its current location beside Hyde Park in 1847. Formerly the state entrance to the palace’s courtyard, only members of the Royal Family and the King’s Troop were traditionally supposed to pass through the arch.

Now, however, you can pass through at your leisure, and what better way to get yourself feeling like royalty than to take the smallest of detours on the way to the nearby Royal Park Hotel and make this walk of kings? It is just as well to put yourself into a regal mood anyway, because you need to prepare to be treated like a king upon your arrival. Even from the outside the hotel looks palatial (it may not be Buckingham Palace but it is not too far behind), and on the interior it is even more splendid.

In the absence of my Bentley Limousine or Rolls-Royce, I made do with the more minor extravagance of a black cab to draw up outside the Royal Palace Park Hotel. I swept up the staircase and through the grand entrance beneath a colonnaded porch, where I was amazed at the first glimpse of the inside of my palace. As I stepped into the lobby, I saw a gleaming chequerboard marble floor, a roaring fireplace, an antique armchair, a classic portrait and ornate mirror on the wall, a smiling member of staff ready to greet me and make me feel at home, and even a beautifully-carved cabinet complete with crystal goblets and fancy spirits (‘they know me too well’, I thought to myself).

The plush palace continued to envelop me in royal luxury as I made my way to my Executive room. Weary from my journey, I took a long shower in my stunningly spacious and superbly equipped bathroom, before sinking onto my soft bed for an afternoon snooze. The bed on its own was pretty special, with an elegant canopy and headboard bedecked with beautiful fabric. Class and style hung over the whole room like a typically heavy London sky, with soft lighting reflecting off immaculately polished rich mahogany furniture, classic design and décor and a large, luminous window overlooking the treetops of Westbourne Terrace.

While I would happily have laid like that for hours, I knew I had to rouse myself. Firstly, because it would be criminal to ignore the fantastic city just outside; but more pressingly, it was the afternoon and I was just in time for one of the hotel’s crowning glories. Though I had already glimpsed the splendour of the dining room, I opted to take my afternoon tea amid the peace and seclusion of the garden. I was extremely tempted by the ‘Cocktail Afternoon Tea’, in which cocktail ingredients were inventively reworked into boozy cakes and desserts. However, I wanted the classic English experience for my first afternoon in London, so I went for the more traditional option, allowing myself the small twist of enjoying my scones, sandwiches and cakes with a refreshing glass of champagne. There was always the next day to enjoy a cakey cocktail anyway…

In a bid to walk off some of that cake, I set off in the direction of my favourite corner of London, Hyde Park. While I love the hustle and bustle of the city centre with its endless list of things to see and do, sometimes the fast-paced London lifestyle can get the better of me, in which case there is nothing better than sitting under the shade of a tree looking over the huge Serpentine Lake. I could walk for hours in this glorious urban garden, and that is exactly what I did. I skirted around the Serpentine towards Hyde Park corner, briefly leaving the park behind to catch a glimpse of Buckingham Palace, before returning and heading towards the magnificent Kensington Palace at the far end.

Soon enough I was well and truly worn out, and it was time to leave the two palaces behind and head back to my own, the Royal Park Hotel. Before I retired to my room, there was one final thing to take care of. I made sure to order a full English breakfast to be brought up to my room in the morning, because how else would you start a day in London? And because this is a modern palace, I made use of the free Wi-Fi to plan a busy itinerary for the following day, before slipping into a blissful sleep ensconced in my luxuriously soft bedding. Fit for a King, wouldn’t you say?