Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames.
The building of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, Archbishop of York and the chief minister of Henry VIII. In 1529, as Wolsey fell from favour, the cardinal gave the palace to the king to try to save his own life, which he knew was now in grave danger due to Henry VIII's deepening frustration and anger. The palace became one of Henry's most favoured residences; soon after acquiring it, he enlarged it to accommodate his sizeable retinue of courtiers.
In the early 1690s, the joint monarchs William III and Mary II started massive rebuilding and expansion work, which was intended to rival the Palace of Versailles, destroying much of the Tudor palace. His work ceased in 1694, leaving the palace in two distinct contrasting architectural styles, domestic Tudor and Baroque. While the palace's styles are an accident of fate, a unity exists due to the use of pink bricks and a symmetrical, if vague, balancing of successive low wings. George II was the last monarch to reside in the palace.
The palace structure and grounds are cared for by an independent charity, Historic Royal Palaces, and is open to the public. The palace displays works of art from the Royal Collection. The palace gardens include the Hampton Court Maze, the royal tennis court, and the world's largest grape vine . The palace's Home Park is the site of the annual Hampton Court Palace Festival and Hampton Court Garden Festival.
History
Medieval
What would become Hampton Court Palace was originally a property of the Order of St John of Jerusalem. Daubeney expanded the previous structures, and built the Great Kitchens that still survive today (although much altered). After Daubeney's death in 1508, his 14 year-old heir, Henry Daubeney, had to wait until 1514 to inherit his father's possessions. A month later, he relinquished his lease, and the Order of St John of Jerusalem re-leased Hampton Court to Thomas Wolsey.
Tudor times
thumb|300px|Hampton Court Palace, with marked reference points referred to on this page. A: West Front & Main Entrance; B: Base Court; C: Clock Tower; D: Clock Court, E: Fountain Court; F: East Front; G: South Front; H: Banqueting House; J: Great Hall; K: River Thames; L: Pond Gardens; M: East Gardens; O: Cardinal Wolsey's Rooms; P: Chapel.
Thomas Wolsey, Archbishop of York, chief minister to and a favourite of Henry VIII, took over the site of Hampton Court Palace in 1514. Over the following seven years, Wolsey spent lavishly (200,000 crowns) to build the finest palace in England at Hampton Court. (B on plan), was his creation, as was the second, inner gatehouse (C) which leads to the Clock Court (D) (Wolsey's seal remains visible over the entrance arch of the clock tower) which contained his private rooms (O on plan). Henry VIII stayed in the state apartments as Wolsey's guest immediately after their completion in 1525.
In building his palace, Wolsey was attempting to create a Renaissance cardinal's palace of a rectilinear symmetrical plan with grand apartments on a raised piano nobile, all rendered with classical detailing. The historian Jonathan Foyle has suggested that it is likely that Wolsey had been inspired by Paolo Cortese's De Cardinalatu, a manual for cardinals that included advice on palatial architecture, published in 1510. The architectural historian Sir John Summerson asserts that the palace shows "the essence of Wolseythe plain English churchman who nevertheless made his sovereign the arbiter of Europe and who built and furnished Hampton Court to show foreign embassies that Henry VIII's chief minister knew how to live as graciously as any cardinal in Rome." Whatever the concepts were, the architecture is an excellent and rare example of a thirty-year era when English architecture was in a harmonious transition from domestic Tudor, strongly influenced by perpendicular Gothic, to the Italian Renaissance classical style. Perpendicular Gothic owed nothing historically to the Renaissance style, yet harmonised well with it. This blending of styles was realised by a small group of Italian craftsmen working at the English court in the second and third decades of the sixteenth century. They specialised in the adding of Renaissance ornament to otherwise straightforward Tudor buildings.Henry VIII and his courtiers visited Wolsey at Hampton Court in masque costume in January 1527, disguised as shepherds to play mumchance and dance. Wolsey was only to enjoy his palace for a few years. The architecture of King Henry's new palace followed the design precedent set by Wolsey: perpendicular Gothic-inspired Tudor with restrained Renaissance ornament. This hybrid architecture was to remain almost unchanged for nearly a century, until Inigo Jones introduced strong classical influences from Italy to the London palaces of the first Stuart kings.
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Between 1532 and 1535 Henry added the Great Hall (the last medieval great hall built for the English monarchy) and the Royal Tennis Court. The Great Hall has a carved hammerbeam roof. During Tudor times, this was the most important room of the palace: here, the King would dine in state seated at a table upon a raised dais. The hall took five years to complete; so impatient was the King for completion that the masons were compelled to work throughout the night by candlelight. This last item was of great importance to those visiting this Thames-side palace from London, as the preferred method of transport at the time was by barge, and at low water London Bridge created dangerous rapids. This gatehouse is also known today as Anne Boleyn's gate, after Henry's second wife. Work was still under way on Anne Boleyn's apartments above the gate when Boleyn was beheaded.
During the Tudor period, the palace was the scene of many historic events. In 1537, the King's much desired male heir, the future Edward VI, was born at the palace, and the child's mother, Jane Seymour, died there two weeks later. Four years afterwards, whilst attending Mass in the palace's chapel, the King was informed of the adultery of his fifth wife, Catherine Howard. She was then confined to her room for a few days before being sent to Syon House and then on to the Tower of London. Legend claims she briefly escaped her guards and ran through the Haunted Gallery to beg Henry for her life but she was recaptured.
thumb|An original Tudor roasting hearth in the Great Kitchens
King Henry died in January 1547 and was succeeded by his son Edward VI, and then by both his daughters in turn. It was to Hampton Court that Queen Mary I (Henry's elder daughter) retreated with King Philip to spend her honeymoon, after their wedding at Winchester. Mary chose Hampton Court as the place for the birth of her first child, which turned out to be the first of two phantom pregnancies. Mary had initially wanted to give birth at Windsor Castle as it was a more secure location, and she was still fearful of rebellion. But Hampton Court was considerably larger and could accommodate the entire court and more besides. Mary stayed at the palace awaiting the birth of the "child" for over five months, and only left because of the uninhabitable state of the palace due to the court being kept in the one location for so long. Her court departed for the much smaller Oatlands Palace. Mary was succeeded by her half-sister, Elizabeth I, and it was Elizabeth who had the eastern (privy) kitchen built; today, this is the palace's public tea room.
Two entertainments for the Stuart court were staged in the Great Hall in January 1604, The Masque of Indian and China Knights and The Vision of the Twelve Goddesses. On 6 January, Scottish courtiers performed a sword dance for Anne of Denmark. Their dance was compared to a Spanish matachin. Later in 1604, the palace was the site of King James' meeting with representatives of the English Puritans, known as the Hampton Court Conference; while an agreement with the Puritans was not reached, the meeting led to James's commissioning of the King James Version of the Bible.
King James was succeeded in 1625 by his son, the ill-fated Charles I. Hampton Court was to become both his palace and his prison.
thumb|[[Charles II of England|Charles II leaving Hampton Court]]
Following the Restoration, King Charles II and his successor James II used Hampton Court but mostly chose to live in other places. Charles made a significant impact on the palace's history by redesigning its grounds with formal gardens. He created a huge canal (The Long Water) to compete with Versailles. A passionate art enthusiast, Charles II filled Hampton Court with over 400 artworks, many of which are still on display in the galleries.
By current French court standards, Hampton Court appeared old-fashioned by the end of the 17th century. It was in 1689, shortly after Louis XIV's court had moved permanently to Versailles, that the palace's antiquated state was addressed. England had joint monarchs, William III and Mary II. Within months of their accession, they embarked on a massive rebuilding project at Hampton Court. The intention was to demolish the Tudor palace a section at a time while replacing it with a huge modern palace in the Baroque style retaining only Henry VIII's Great Hall.
The country's most eminent architect, Sir Christopher Wren, was called upon to draw the plans, while the master of works was to be William Talman. The plan was for a vast palace constructed around two courtyards at right angles to each other. Wren's design for a domed palace bore resemblances to the work of Jules Hardouin-Mansart and Louis Le Vau, both architects employed by Louis XIV at Versailles. However, the resemblances are there: while the façades are not so long as those of Versailles, they have similar, seemingly unstoppable repetitive rhythms beneath a long flat skyline. The monotony is even repeated as the façade turns the corner from the east to the south fronts. However, Hampton Court, unlike Versailles, is given an extra dimension by the contrast between the pink brick and the pale Portland stone quoins, frames and banding. Further diversion is added by the circular and decorated windows of the second-floor mezzanine. This theme is repeated in the inner Fountain Court, but the rhythm is faster and the windows, unpedimented on the outer façades, are given pointed pediments in the courtyard; this has led the courtyard to be described as "Startling, as of simultaneous exposure to a great many eyes with raised eyebrows."
thumb|The Fountain Court designed by Sir Christopher Wren: "Startling, as of simultaneous exposure to a great many eyes with raised eyebrows" The King's Apartments face south over the Privy Garden, the Queen's east over the Fountain Garden. The suites are linked by a gallery running the length of the east façade, another reference to Versailles, where the King and Queen's apartments are linked by the [[Hall of Mirrors. However, at Hampton Court, the linking gallery is of more modest proportions and decoration. The King's staircase was decorated with frescos by Antonio Verrio and delicate ironwork by Jean Tijou. Other artists commissioned to decorate the rooms included Grinling Gibbons, Sir James Thornhill and Jacques Rousseau; furnishings were designed by Daniel Marot.
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After the death of Queen Mary, King William lost interest in the renovations, and work ceased. However, it was in Hampton Court Park in 1702 that he fell from his horse, later dying from his injuries at Kensington Palace. He was succeeded by his sister-in-law Queen Anne who ruled from 1702 to 1714. Anne left a lasting impact on the palace and its grounds, drawn to its fresh country air and hunting grounds. Notably, she enhanced her private quarters, with the Queen's Drawing Room showcasing a Baroque ceiling painted by Antonio Verrio between 1703 and 1705, which famously features the Queen among divine figures. In 1710, she enlisted the famous architect Sir Christopher Wren to renovate the Chapel Royal, resulting in the elegant timber altarpiece and box pews that remain today. On Queen Anne's death in 1714 the House of Stuart's rule came to an end.
Queen Anne's successor was George I; he and his son George II were the last monarchs to reside at Hampton Court. Under George II and his wife, Caroline of Ansbach, further refurbishment took place, with the architect William Kent employed to design new furnishings and décor including the Queen's Staircase, (1733) and the Cumberland Suite (1737) for the Duke of Cumberland. However existing residents could continue to live there. In 2005 three remained, with none by 2017.
In 1796, the Great Hall was restored and in 1838, during the reign of Queen Victoria, the restoration was completed and the palace opened to the public. The heavy-handed restoration plan at this time reduced the Great Gatehouse (A), the palace's principal entrance, by two storeys and removed the lead cupolas adorning its four towers. Once opened, the palace soon became a major tourist attraction and, by 1881, over ten million visits had been recorded. Visitors arrived both by boat from London and via Hampton Court railway station, opened in February 1849.
thumb|Painting by <bdi>[[James Digman Wingfield</bdi> ]]
On 2 September 1952, the palace was given statutory protection by being Grade I listed. Other buildings and structures within the grounds are separately Grade I listed, including the early 16th-century tilt yard tower (the only surviving example of the five original towers); Christopher Wren's Lion gate built for Anne and George I; and the Tudor and 17th-century perimeter walls.
In 1986, the palace was damaged by a major fire, which spread to the King's Apartments. The fire claimed the life of Lady Daphne Gale, widow of General Sir Richard Gale, who resided in a grace and favour apartment. She was in the habit of taking a lighted candle to her bedroom at night, which is thought to have started the fire. The Hampton Court fire led to a new programme of restoration work which was completed in 1990. The Royal School of Needlework moved to premises within the palace from Princes Gate in Kensington 1987, and the palace also houses the headquarters of Historic Royal Palaces, a charitable foundation.
21st century
The location was used for a performance of The Six Wives of Henry VIII by rock keyboardist Rick Wakeman in 2009. The palace was the venue for the Road Cycling Time Trial of the 2012 Summer Olympics and temporary structures for the event, including a set of thrones for time trialists in the medal positions, were installed in the grounds. In 2015, Hampton Court celebrated the 500th anniversary of the groundbreaking of construction of the palace. The celebrations included daily dramatised historical scenes. The palace's construction began on 12 February 1515.
On 9 February the following year, Vincent Nichols, the Catholic archbishop of Westminster, celebrated vespers in the Chapel Royal. This was the first Catholic service held at the palace for 450 years, and the first since the Elizabethan Religious Settlement established Protestantism as the national denomination.
Contents
thumb|The Cartoon Gallery at Hampton Court
thumb|Queen Mary II's Bedchamber, also known as [[Caroline of Ansbach|Queen Caroline's State Bedchamber]]
The palace houses many works of art and furnishings from the Royal Collection, mainly dating from the two principal periods of the palace's construction, the early Tudor (Renaissance) and the late Stuart to the early Georgian period. In September 2015, the Royal Collection recorded 542 works (only those with images) as being located at Hampton Court, mostly paintings and furniture, but also ceramics and sculpture. The full current list can be obtained from their website. The single most important work is Andrea Mantegna's Triumphs of Caesar housed in the Lower Orangery. The palace once housed the Raphael Cartoons, now kept at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Their former home, the Cartoon Gallery on the south side of the Fountain Court, was designed by Christopher Wren; copies painted in the 1690s by a minor artist, Henry Cooke, are now displayed in their place. Also on display are important collections of ceramics, including numerous pieces of blue and white porcelain collected by Queen Mary II, both Chinese imports and Delftware.
Much of the original furniture dates from the late 17th and early 18th centuries, including tables by Jean Pelletier, "India back" walnut chairs by Thomas Roberts and clocks and a barometer by Thomas Tompion. Several state beds are still in their original positions, as is the Throne Canopy in the King's Privy Chamber. This room contains a crystal chandelier of , possibly the first such in the country.
The King's Guard Chamber contains a large quantity of arms: muskets, pistols, swords, daggers, powder horns and pieces of armour arranged on the walls in decorative patterns. Bills exist for payment to a John Harris, dated 1699, for an arrangement believed to be that still seen today.
In addition, Hampton Court holds the majority of the Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection, with a smaller amount being held at Kensington Palace, where it is displayed. The collection of over 10,000 items includes clothing, sketches, letters, prints, photographs, diaries and scrapbooks. Today, the dominating feature of the grounds is the great landscaping scheme constructed for Sir Christopher Wren's intended new palace. From a water-bounded semicircular parterre, the length of the east front, three avenues radiate in a crow's foot pattern. The central avenue, containing not a walk or a drive, but the great canal known as the Long Water, was excavated during the reign of Charles II, in 1662. The design, radical at the time, is another immediately recognizable influence from Versailles and was indeed laid out by pupils of André Le Nôtre, Louis XIV's landscape gardener. This garden, originally William III's private garden, was replanted in 1992 in period style with manicured hollies and yews along a geometric system of paths.
The palace included apartments for the use of favoured royal friends. One such apartment is described as being in "The Pavilion and situated on the Home Park" of Hampton Court Palace. This privilege was first extended about 1817 by Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, to his friend, Lieutenant General James Moore, and his new bride, Cecilia Watson. George IV continued this arrangement following the death of Prince Edward on 23 January 1820. Queen Victoria continued the arrangement for the widow of General Moore, following his death on 24 April 1838. This particular apartment was used for 21 years or more and spanned three different sponsors.
left|thumb|One of the palace's sunken gardens. In the background is William III's Banqueting House of 1700.
A well-known curiosity of the palace's grounds is Hampton Court Maze; planted in the 1690s by George London and Henry Wise for William III.
The formal gardens and park are Grade I listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.
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King's Beasts
thumb|The [[King's Beasts, Hampton Court Palace|King's Beasts, on the bridge before the Great Gatehouse]]
There are ten statues of heraldic animals, called the King's Beasts, that stand on the bridge over the moat leading to the great gatehouse. Unlike the Queen's Beasts in Kew Gardens, these statues represent the ancestry of King Henry VIII and his third wife Jane Seymour. The animals are: the lion of England, the Seymour lion, the royal dragon, the black bull of Clarence, the yale of Beaufort, the white lion of Mortimer, the White Greyhound of Richmond, the Tudor dragon, the Seymour panther, and the Seymour unicorn. The set of Queen's Beasts at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II replaced the three Seymour items and one of the dragons by the gryphon of Edward III, the horse of Hanover, the falcon of the Plantagenets, and the unicorn of Scotland.
In 2009 to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the accession to the throne of King Henry VIII, a new "Tudor Garden" was created in Chapel Court, Hampton Court, designed by Todd Longstaffe-Gowan. To decorate the garden eight small wooden King's Beasts were carved and painted in bright colours, The beasts are of a different design to those on the bridge, based on period drawings in the College of Arms.
Cultural appearances and influence
Florham, United States
thumb|Wren's Hampton Court inspired [[Florham, a Vanderbilt family house in Madison, New Jersey.]]
Inspired by Wren's work at Hampton Court, the American Vanderbilt family modelled their estate known as Florham, in Madison, New Jersey, after it. Florham was commissioned by Florence Adele Vanderbilt Twombly and Hamilton McKown Twombly from McKim, Mead & White. It was built in 1893.
Film location
The palace has been used as a location for filming film and television shows, including The Private Life of Henry VIII, Three Men In A Boat, A Man For All Seasons, Vanity Fair, Little Dorrit, John Adams (2008), The Young Victoria, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, The Theory of Everything, Cinderella, Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again!, The Favourite, Belgravia, The Great, and Bridgerton. Some scenes of the spin-off series, Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, were also filmed at the palace, as was the King's staircase in The Sandman <!--season 2 episode 3-->and Renegade Nell.
Poetry
Lydia Sigourney's poem Hampton Court records a visit to the palace with the bridal party following a wedding in March, 1841. It was published in her Pleasant Memories of Pleasant Lands in 1842.
See also
- Coughton Court in Warwickshire
- Het Loo Palace in the Netherlands
- List of works of art at Hampton Court Palace
- Treaty of Hampton Court (1562), also known as the Treaty of Richmond, signed on 22 September 1562 between Queen Elizabeth and Huguenot leader Louis I, Prince of Condé
- Hampton Court ghost
Citations
General and cited references
- Williams, Neville (1971). Royal Homes. Lutterworth Press. .
External links
- Historic photos of Hampton Court Palace
- Hampton Court by Walter Jerrold
- Hampton Court Palace entry from The DiCamillo Companion to British & Irish Country Houses
- Grace & Favour: A handbook of who lived where at Hampton Court 1750–1950 (pdf) – there are full floor plans of the palace on pages 10–13
- Aerial photo and map of the Palace - Google Maps
- Aerial view of the maze - Google Maps
- The Hampton Court Garden Festival
- The Royal Tennis Court at Hampton Court Palace
- The Choir of The Chapel Royal at Hampton Court Palace
- Aerial photo and solution map to the maze
- Online 3D Virtual Hampton Maze browser simulation
- Information, History and architecture of Hampton Court Palace