Why Dr Lucy, queen of dress up, yearns to wear Princess Di’s frock

Ever wondered what goes on in Britain’s stately homes and castles while the doors are closed during lockdown? Chances are, Lucy Worsley is inside, singing ‘ wheee!’ and skipping through the corridors in a jewelled gown. She’s joint chief curator of some of London’s most magnificent royal buildings, including Kensington Palace, the Tower of London and Hampton Court.

visitors are barred at the moment — but not Dr Lucy. ‘I’ve got the keys,’ she giggled, leading us through the gates on her Royal Palace Secrets (BBC4).

even when day trippers are admitted, some of the most interesting rooms remain out of bounds. When Lucy first applied for her post, the job interview was conducted at Kensington in the room where Alexandrina victoria of Kent was born in 1819 — later to be Queen victoria.

And at Hampton Court, staff training is done in an upstairs room with office furniture and a nylon carpet. Once, it was the palace bedroom of Catherine of Aragon, then Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour . . . Henry vIII’s first three wives.

Queen Jane died there shortly after giving birth to the future edward vI, and her ghost is said to haunt the Silver Stick staircase that leads to the old bedroom. Naturally, to tell this story, Lucy had to don a white cotton nightdress and float through the halls.

With no one around to see her, she flung herself into the costume box and indulged her love of dressing up to the limit. At Kensington, she imagined herself as both victoria and Prince Albert, using a split screen — in bustle and flounces at the top of the stairs, in military uniform at the bottom.

The yearning on her face, when she unwrapped the midnight blue velvet dress that Princess Diana wore to the White House in 1985, was palpable. It seemed almost cruel that she couldn’t try it on — and dance, like Diana, with John Travolta.

Dr Lucy had most fun at the Tower, where she fed dead mice to the ravens, and dressed as Anne Boleyn on the day of her execution. Her ermine cuffs, we learned, were symbolic of her royalty, and her crimson dress signified martyrdom. See, it’s not just fancy dress.

Her most hilarious get- up included a mitre and crozier, as she pretended to be the 12th century’s Bishop Flambard, the Tower’s first escapee. Dr Lucy climbed down a rope from a window and landed in a heap of robes on the lawn. Honestly, should she really be trusted with those keys?

Also enjoying himself on the banks of the Thames was Tony robinson, helping with the restoration of Battersea Power Station. Sir Tone, who will always be the turnip-munching Baldrick to us, cemented a brick at the top of the building — a brick he moulded and fired himself in a traditional kiln.

The only dressing-up involved was a hard hat and high-viz jacket. Nothing frivolous here, not even the show’s title — The Thames: Britain’s Greatest River With Tony Robinson (C5). It was, though, a lively, off-beat look at modern history.

Inside the station’s control room, specialists are returning its walls of glass dials and meters to mint condition. The glass ceiling, blacked out during the Blitz, is also being replaced.

restoration experts have tested dozens of mixes of paint, to achieve precisely the right shade. It’s all part of a £9 billion housing development. The power station will even get its own Tube stop.

But whether the immense inflatable flying pig from the Pink Floyd album cover will also be reinstalled, we were not told.