six wives of one king day 2

Day 2 Our first full day on tour, and it was memorable. We only had to walk across the road to Hampton Court Palace to immerse ourselves in the heart of Tudor Britain. The Palace is the only one left out of the 60 Palaces that Henry VIII built or confiscated. It is a vast place with many parts to see form the Tudor period. There are the Kitchens, or really a food factory for 700 meals twice a day. The Great Hall is wonderful and when there is nobody else in there you can hear a pin drop. The Young Henry exhibition follows the life of Henry, and along the Gallery that resonates with Tudor events, Catherine Parr married Henry here and Catherine Howard ran screaming after Henry after her arrest. The Chapel Royal also holds an important place, here Henry received the letter damning Catherine Howards infidelity. There are many other exhibitions to see not in the Tudor period such as the Wild the Beautiful and the Damned. Portraits of the mistresses and courtesans of Charles II are on display, some incredibly beautiful women and one huge one of Charles II in full royal regalia. The real joy of the day though is little play-lets running throughout the day, and today’s theme was Henry VIII trying to woo and placate Anne Boleyn, it is hugely entertaining and a great way to get schoolchildren engaged in history. We managed to catch up with Henry and Anne and get a royal photo.It was great fun and we got involved in the action, Cromwell was a great character and the King can command silence from any group of school children. We the travelled to Windsor only 16 miles away but along the river Thames and again there is history all around you, we passed the site of the signing of Magna Carta in 1215 the first written bill of human rights. At Windsor we were just on time to attend the evensong service in St Georges Chapel. It’s a great feeling when challenged where you’re going at the gates of Windsor Castle to reply evensong and be shown the way to go. We finished the day and a fine Greek restaurant and some Greek beer.