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Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 ENGLAND: LONDON
AND THE COTSWOLDS HAMPTON COURT The Palace
Monday, May 23. Andy
and Liz had taken today off from
work.. We
had a leisurely morning before
catching the tube at 10:15 to go
to Hampton Court Palace in
Richmond-upon-Thames. It was a
long ride and required a transfer
to a train at Waterloo Station. We
got to the Palace about 11:30. This property was seized from a religious order by Henry VIII in 1514; then it was acquired by Cardinal Woolsey. He built a splendid palace that forms the nucleus of the present one. Henry reacquired the property in 1528 and enlarged it. This Tudor Palace was built in the Gothic style. More than a century later, massive changes were made by King William III (of William and Mary). Most of the Tudor Palace was demolished and replaced by two new wings. This baroque palace was designed by Sir Christopher Wren.
After
buying our tickets, we thought we
would see the different wings of
the Palace in chronological order.
Not being fully aware of the
palace's history, we
followed some "Young King Henry"
signs. It turned out that
was a permanent exhibit,
actually in the newer
palace. The exhibit covers
the life of young
Prince Henry, Katherine of
Aragon and Thomas Wolsey. It
was very interesting. Then,
since we were already there,
we went through the King
William wing.
Since King William and Queen Mary were co-rulers, they had separate apartments, connected by a long gallery. We went to Mary's wing next.
Exiting the William and Mary wings, we saw signs indicating the direction to "Henry VIII." That took us back through the courtyard. As we passed through there, we saw a line of costumed docents, apparently coming back from lunch. The signs led us to the kitchen, the Great Hall, and the Chapel, apparently about all that remains from Henry's Tudor palace. The Great Hall, where Henry had dined regularly, was the most impressive by far, 40 x 108 feet, lined with Belgian tapestries and featuring stained glass windows.
The kitchen rooms were below the Hall. In Henry's time the kitchen occupied more than 50 rooms. The Chapel Royal was nearby. Cardinal Wolsey built this Chapel on the site of the former 13th century chapel of the Knights Hospitaller of St. John of Jerusalem. The interior has been modified by successive monarchs. A replica of Henry VIII's crown was displayed in the chapel. (The original was melted down by Oliver Cromwell.)
We had gotten separated from Andy and Liz early on but called them from our cell phone and arranged to meet at 14:30 for tea at a courtyard restaurant. The menu read "afternoon tea." Based on our earlier experiences, that was the most generous tea, so Jane and I decided to share one tea. When it came, it was the skimpiest tea of any kind that we had ever seen. There was only one of each item, and the one "scone" was less than a third the size of those we had had before. |
