Hampton Court Palace occupies a lovely park on a bend in the River Thames a few miles southeast of Central London. The property once belonged to the Knights Hospitaller, but in 1514 was leased by the powerful Cardinal Wolsey. Wolsey had grown immensely rich as Henry VIII’s Lord Chancellor, and here he set about to build the most splendid palace in all of England. Constructed of brick in a style later called ‘Tudor’, it had 280 guest rooms and required 500 servants to maintain it. Tradition says that when asked by Henry VIII what he meant by building himself so magnificent a palace, Wolsey smoothly replied that he intended it as a gift worthy of His Majesty. Whatever the circumstances, it became the possession of the crown in 1529.
Hampton Court Palace was a royal residence for some 231 years, from Henry VIII to George II. Over much of this time it was the centre of the brilliant social life of the royal court. From the standpoint of London’s Christian history, however, its most important period was during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and Mary I, and one incident during the days of James I.
It was here that Henry VIII spent honeymoons with two of his brides, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard. Edward VI was born at Hampton Court to Henry’s third wife, Jane Seymour, in October 1537, and poor Jane died there less than a month later. When Edward became king at age nine he spent much of his time at his childhood home. Edward’s half-sister, Mary, also loved Hampton Court, though it was here she waited in vain for the child that was not to be. A half century later (1604) King James I held a council of churchmen at Hampton Court, known to history as the Hampton Court Conference.
When visiting Hampton Court, keep in mind that quite a large section of the palace was rebuilt at the end of the seventeenth century. This ‘New Palace’, constituting the royal apartments on the south and west sides, was designed by Sir Christopher Wren and constructed in classical Renaissance style. But the palace as seen from the west, where visitors enter, is probably the finest example of Tudor architecture in existence. The approach is by a bridge over a dry moat between rows of royal ‘beasts’, across a court and under a gateway named after Anne Boleyn, as it was embellished by Henry during her brief occupancy. On the opposite side of the gateway is a famous astronomical clock, made for Henry VIII in 1540. The Chapel Royal is of especial interest, with its fine fan-vaulted roof added by Henry VIII, as is the Haunted Gallery outside where Catherine Howard was seized after trying to reach Henry at his prayers and plead for mercy. Her ghost is said to walk by night with its severed head underneath its arm. Also of primary importance is the extraordinarily fine Great Hall where Henry VIII dined at various times with four of his queens.