Day 7 Hampton Court Palace

Day 7 Hampton Court Palace.

Only a short journey to get here today so we had the Great hall to ourselves right after the door opened. It’s great to be in there with nobody else, you can really feel the centuries falling away as you look at the Kings tapestries hanging there, each one as costly as a battleship and a magnificent work of art. The story of the series of playlets today was the King chasing Jayne Seymour around the Palace to try and woo her with poetry money. It was the time that Anne Boleyn was in disgrace and the actor playing Thomas Cromwell was especially creepy and unctuous, he even threw two us out of the council chamber! To the great enjoyment of the people gathered there. You just never knew when you would round a corner and there would be Jayne desperately trying to distance herself from the Kings presence and seeking your aid in her endeavours. Great entertainment and a history lesson in one go.

There is much to see in and around Hampton court Palace, the Gardens, the Maze, the Great vine, the kitchens, Young Henry, the history of the palace, and others, not to mention the drop dead excellent pot bellied pies in the kitchen cafe. We kept moving all day with the Tudor parts that we did not have time to visit the new exhibition of the Wild the Beautiful and the damned portraits of King Charles II principle Mistresses, so I well make a special effort to see them next time we’re there in May. We headed off into Central London where we finished off the tour in grand style with a Tudor Banquet in the medieval crypt in St Katherine’s Dock. It’s a hugely enjoyable show and finally exhausted after trying to find Henry all week, we found him here singing Greensleeves to us as we supped our ale and wine.