HAMPTON COURT and ALL ABOUT HARRY

Oh Henry, how lavish you were! How colorful, charismatic, nasty. How misunderstood. 
 I like to think you weren't always the obese wife-killer we think of today.  But there's something about you...... On the day that Henry was crowned king (April 21st 1509), Thomas More wrote in a poem presented to Henry at his coronation:

“This day is the end of our slavery, the fount of our liberty; the end of sadness and the beginning of joy.”

Today was heaven for me, a self proclaimed Tudor-file. I was in Henry VIII's house, where he lived, ate himself to death, ruled the British world with merciless power and wielded frightening fists unlike anyone. Oh joy! 


Getting there was fun too. We walked to Waterloo Station and took the Hampton Court train, a pleasant 45 minute ride. The whole time I was singing.....

Terry meets Julie, Waterloo Station

Every Friday night

But I am so lazy, don't want to wander

I stay at home at night

But I don't feel afraid

As long as I gaze on Waterloo sunset

                                                             I am in paradise

Waterloo Station

And here we are! Hampton Court Palace was England's most significant palace of the Tudor age. From 1515-1521, the Lord Chancellor of England and soon-to-be Cardinal, Thomas Wolsey, transformed a medieval manor (situated 13 miles southwest of London on the north bank of the River Thames) into a palace deemed superlative. And it is! In 1529, as Wolsey fell from favor, the King seized the palace for himself ("I like this, thanks Tom!" and begun a process of rebuilding and remodeling which lasted ten years and created this stupendous pile of fanciful great living.

Henry wanted anyone who came to Hampton Court to be dazzled by his wealth and power. The King hired Europe’s finest craftsmen and gardeners spent the equivalent of millions in today’s money extending and improving, creating magnificent apartments for his wives and his son. He rebuilt the Great Hall and extended the Kitchens to cater for his huge court. 

Can't You See Him Strutting Down This Walkway?

Henry did a lot that was good. OK, so he wasn't very nice about it, but it doesn't mean it was all bad. 

 Henry and his minister Thomas Cromwell oversaw the dissolution of the monasteries from 1536-40. This changed the architectural and religious face of Britain.The sale of monastic property created a land market in England, which enriched a rising new class of country gentlemen. Henry used Dissolution cash to found the Navy, building the warships which later defeated the Spanish Armada. He also invested in dockyards and strengthening coastal defenses.

Fantastic Tudor Decorative Chimneys!

Henry  had a great love of food and drink. He lived in an age when those who could afford to do so, ate in huge quantities. It was a demonstration of your wealth as was a sizable waistline in your later years.

The kitchens served hundreds of meals a day. This man was cooking beef the old way, on a spit. It took 4 hours. 

Check Out the Years of Cooking Fires! 

Well Done Exhibits

You Could Feel the Life That Was Here

Henry had a passion for sport  His greatest love was hunting on horseback, preferably deer or wild boar. Henry liked to think of himself as an intellectual. He believed that he had a quality mind and that he was a true Renaissance man. He surrounded himself with men of intellectual ability – men who could match his own ability. Thomas Cromwell, Thomas More and Cardinal Wolsey were all men of high intellectual ability and it is believed that Henry selected men to work for him only if they matched his perceived ability level.  The only time when he made decisions that history will judge him on (such as putting on trial Anne Boleyn) was when he allowed his emotions to take precedent over his intellectual thinking.


Henry patronized innovation in both the arts and sciences. He promoted parliamentary government; he established efficient tax schemes and substantial new government bureaucracy. And he won respect for England in Europe.

The Great Hall, which is the best surviving room of the Tudor state apartments, is the last medieval great hall of the English monarchy. Henry commissioned fabulous tapestries for his walls, woven with silk and gold thread that glittered in the candlelight. Henry's tapestry collection is worth millions.

So was he an overbearing bully of people or a strong leader? Did he abuse his position and authority if he did not get his way or simply act as a king did then? Did he treat people as disposable assets as and when it suited his purpose or, again, was he merely acting as any monarch did then?  If you were brought up to believe that you were king because of God’s will, then can Henry be criticized for what he did to others when he was simply fulfilling the will of God?
And if he'd been "nice" would he have even survived? 


Such was the complexity of Henry VIII!

Intertwining "A" and "H" for Anne and Henry

Pomegranates, Katherine of Aragon's Symbol

William III's massive rebuilding and expansion project  destroyed much of the Tudor palace. Work ceased in 1694, leaving the palace in two distinct contrasting architectural styles, Tudor and Baroque. Yuck. During this work, half the Tudor palace was replaced and Henry VIII's state rooms and private apartments were both lost. He tore up Henry's bedrooms! I don't like this later style of architecture.

I'm Gonna Miss This