Hampton Court Palace

Fit for a King

Hampton Court Palace is a medieval royal palace in the Greater London area of Surrey, surrounded by gorgeous gardens and beautiful parkland. It was built during the reign of the infamous King Henry VIII in 1515 as the stately home of Henry’s friend and advisor Cardinal Thomas Wolsey. When Wolsey failed to win Henry’s divorce from Catherine of Aragon the pair fell out, culminating in Wolsey’s death.

Henry seized Hampton Court for himself in 1529 and extended it to accommodate his enormous court of over a thousand people. He built huge kitchens, a Royal Tennis Court and the last medieval Great Hall in England with a beautifully carved hammer-beam roof. Hampton Court is one of just two remaining palaces which belonged to Henry VIII; the other is St. James’s Palace. 

Mismatching monarchs

Visitors to Hampton Court will notice that the palace appears to be in two different styles. This is the result of an ambitious renovation project begun by William of Orange and his wife Queen Mary II in the late 17th century to turn Hampton Court into a Baroque masterpiece to rival France's Palace of Versailles. However, work was stopped in 1694 after the death of the Queen, leaving the palace a hybrid of Tudor and Baroque design - though the pink brick used throughout lends a fluidity to the building. The last monarch to reside in Hampton Court was George II, and the palace was opened to the public by Queen Victoria in the 1800s. 

The Gatehouse is one of the more interesting structures of the palace. It features an astronomical clock dating from 1540 which displays not only the time but also the month, the phase of the moon, the quarter of the year, the ecliptic position of the sun, and the twelve signs of the zodiac. It also shows the hour that the moon crosses the meridian, and thus high water at London Bridge - vital information for visitors from London, who would have travelled by barge and needed to avoid the dangerous rapids at low water. This gate is commonly referred to as ‘Anne Boleyn’s Gate’ since her apartments were located above it around the time she was executed by her husband. Henry VIII’s state rooms were lost in the redevelopment, and in their place, new staterooms for William and Mary were built around the Fountain Court, a lovely courtyard lined round with narrow archways. 

William of Orangery

Inside the spectacular rooms of the palace, visitors can see what remains of an amazing collection of artwork, which has decreased somewhat over time. The walls are decorated with frescoes and valuable renaissance paintings. The most important of these are Andrea Mantegna’s nine ‘Triumphs of Caesar’ paintings, on display in the Lower Orangery. The ‘Raphael Cartoons once housed in the Cartoon Gallery are now in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Much original furniture from the Stuart and Georgian eras also remains and the King’s Guard Chamber shows much of the royal armour and weaponry used in the 17th century. The Royal Chapel with its magnificent ceiling is one of the great sights of Hampton Court. Legend has it that the ghost of Henry VIII’s fifth wife, the young Catherine Howard, haunts this chapel after she was dragged from it screaming for the mercy of her elderly husband. She was Henry’s second wife to be beheaded for adultery after Anne Boleyn. 

The stunning gardens of the palace, with their streams, pavilions, flowers and fruit trees, have been expertly maintained, particularly the Privy Garden of William of Orange which was replanted in period style in 1992. The gardens feature a Banqueting House for less formal meals and a greenhouse. Here visitors can see the ‘Great Vine,' planted in 1769 and now perhaps the longest in the world, stretching over 100 feet and still producing grapes. Possibly the main attraction of the grounds, however, is the Hampton Court Maze created for William of Orange with over half a mile of winding pathways and manicured hedgerows. Just a train ride from the city centre, Hampton Court is a wonderful sight and a great day out.