Which tudors resided in hampton court

Of all the Royal and ancient buildings along the banks of the River Thames in and near London, none evokes more colourful memories or romantic associations than the Palace of Hampton Court. It is less spectacular than Windsor Castle and less historic than either Windsor or the Tower of London. Yet this cluster of weathered red-brick Tudor courts, gatehouses and tall decorative chimneys, set in magnificent gardens shared with the State Apartments of a later century, has great charm.

For more than two centuries Hampton Court Palace was the favourite residence of England's kings and queens. Apart from William and Mary, for whom the extended palace was built in the 17th century by Christopher Wren, the sovereigns most closely associated with Hampton Court's history are the Tudors; especially Henry VIII, in whose reign the Tudor palace took its present shape and form.

Henry spent his honeymoon there with five of his six wives. Anne Boleyn, the first to have apartments in the palace prepared for her, never lived to see them completed.

Shortly after her execution, the king wed her lady-in-waiting, Jane Seymour, and the Royal masons and carpenters set to work altering the letter A into a J wherever it was intertwined with an H in the palace decorations.

Elizabeth I, like her father, loved Hampton Court, despite having been held prisoner there shortly before her own accession. She often enjoyed relaxation from the cares of the state at the palace. Records tell of her dancing, playing the virginals, watching entertainments in the Great Hall and flirting with her courtiers.

She was resting in the gardens after the traditional goose banquet on Michaelmas Day, when a messenger brought her news of the defeat of the Spanish Armada. In , when he was Archbishop of York and close to the height of his power, he leased the manor of Hampton in Middlesex from the Knights Hospitallers for L50 a year.

The palace and its rich furnishings cost Wolsey , gold crowns and on completion, Hampton Court was said to be 'more lyke unto a paradise than any earthlie habitation'. Wolsey lived there in regal splendour with a household of nearly until his downfall a dozen years or so later.

The Cardinal entertained lavishly and one of the last occasions was his hospitality to the French ambassador and his retinue of when a treaty between England and France was signed in The seemingly magnanimous gesture was really a desperate attempt to regain Henry's favour, which Wolsey finally lost after failing to obtain a papal sanction for the annulment of Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon. By the break between King and Cardinal was complete, and Wolsey was stripped of what remained of his power and wealth.

York Place was taken over and became part of Henry's new Palace of Whitehall. Although Wolsey received a pardon in and returned to York Place, he was arrested later that year for high treason and died while being taken to London for trial. Henry lost no time in altering and enlarging Hampton Court to make it one of the finest Royal homes in Europe. Only Wolsey's Great Gatehouse and two of the original courts survived so that the Tudor palace that visitors see today dates mainly from the midth century.

It is built of patterned brickwork, varying in colour from rose to deep crimson, with dressings of stone. Above the walls rise carved brick chimneys in groups of two, three, of four, each stack being of slightly different design from the rest.

The most impressive of the older buildings is the Great Gatehouse, which still serves as the main entrance to the palace from the west. This has flanking embattled towers and a handsome oriel window, above which is a carved panel showing the Royal arms of Henry VIII.

Originally the gatehouse was two storeys higher, with lead cupolas on turrets crowned by gilded weathervanes. Unfortunately, these were taken down in the 18th century.

The approach is by a footbridge across a former moat, which was filled in during the reign of Charles II. Ranged along the bridge parapets are modern replicas of the Tudor King's Beasts, which in Henry's time were displayed in many parts of the palace and gardens.

Still, in good working order, its three copper dials indicate the hour, the sign of the zodiac, the month and day, the number of days since the beginning of the year, the moon's phase, and the time of high water on the Thames at London Bridge. In accordance with the general belief of the 16th century, the sun is shown revolving around the earth. Henry's most important addition to the palace is the Great Hall, which towers above the north side of the Clock Court.

Begun in , it took four years to complete. The King was so impatient to have it finished that craftsmen were put to work on it during all hours of the day, working at night by candlelight. One of the finest medieval banquet halls in existence, the Great Hall is more than feet long, 40 feet wide and 60 feet high, with a wonderfully carved and decorated hammer-beam roof.

Amid the carved foliage of the main supports of the roof, and on the richly decorated lantern-shaped pendants, are the arms of Henry VIII, sometimes coupled with those of Anne Boleyn. The Chapel Royal boasts a superb golden hammer-beam roof.

Henry's last marriage, to Catherine Parr took place there in , in the Chapel Royal. The Palace continued to be occupied by Henry's successors, the unfortunate Charles I was imprisoned there during the Civil War, after his execution the palace was retained for the use of the Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell. He also planted the long avenue of limes that radiate from the East Front as well as installing the Great Canal.

William who suffered badly from asthma disliked the smog laden air of London and wished for a country retreat. The superb paintings on the ceiling of the King's bedroom are the work of Antonio Verrio and fittingly depict Endymion lying in the arms of the god of sleep, Morpheus. Verrio, a celebrated Italian artist is also responsible for the magnificent murals that adorn the King's Staircase, the Queen's Drawing Room and the ceiling and wall panels in the Banqueting Room.

Carvings by Grinling Gibbons may be seen on the frames of the mirrors between the windows in the Banqueting Room and the oak reredos in the chapel. The Royal Apartments were first opened to the public by Queen Victoria. In March a disastrous fire gutted an entire wing of the Palace, which underwent an extensive and sympathetic restoration involving a working party of architects, historians and other experts.

Though he died from natural causes, his health was poor: he had become obese and the leg wound from his jousting accident had become ulcerated. Intriguingly, the sarcophagus that was originally intended to form part of Henry's final resting place was eventually used for the tomb of Lord Nelson in St Paul's Cathedral. Visit us. Queen's House. Plan your visit. Top things to do. Visit Us. Search Want to search our collection? Search here. We use cookies to ensure you have the best browsing experience and to help us improve our website.