Hampton Court Palace and Windsor

Day 3-

Hampton Court Palace, perhaps the most famous palace in the English speaking world, was our first visit today. We got there just after the door opened and we were the only people in the Great Hall so great was the silence in that ancient hall that we were whispering to each other so as not to break the magic spell of the moment.

The place is just vast and plenty to see and watch with many exhibitions and paintings of the Tudor period. The Palace was owned by Cardinal Wolsey until Henry VIII one day being rowed by said to Wolsey what a nice place you have here. Wolsey, who was spending lavishly and so much so that the Palace outshone anything Henry had. He gave the Palace to Henry as a gift which was very generous but Wolsey was a very wealthy man.

There was a new series of playlets put on, this time it was the King’s marriage to Catherine Howard and to see them puts the children in awe of the man and place. You are encouraged to shout “God save the King “ a lot. The actors are very entertaining and engage the crowd a lot, we had to leave before the end of the day to travel to Windsor castle.

Windsor the home of our present Sovereign Queen Elizabeth II and the largest inhabited castle in the world. It’s huge but you only get to see the State apartments, we got there just as the gates were closing so we went through with the last wave of visitors.

Some rooms were crowded and some were empty but the real Tudor heart are the portraits of Henry VIII Mary Elizabeth and James. The Dynastic portrait with Jane Seymour, Anne Boleyn , the Field of the cloth of Gold. That last one has a new head of Henry VIII sewn into the painting and when the light is on it looks very peculiar.

We had dinner at a family run Greek Restaurant called Latinos and a very nice full table meze for everybody. We’re staying tonight at the Sir Christopher Wrens House hotel right on tye Thames under the ramparts of the castle.

www.tudorhistorytours.com