I have been planning to visit the Hampton Court Palace while in London for quite some time now. Finally, on my recent stay in London I got that opportunity.
One of the reasons, I especially wanted to explore it is that The Wilderness Garden there houses the oldest maze known in Britain. It was built for King William III and Queen Mary II in 1690. I have longed to 'get lost' in it for a bit.
I chose my visiting day according to the weather report. And accordingly, it was a really fine day in London when I boarded a train at the Waterloo station for The Hampton Court Palace. It pays off to choose a good day against a rainy one as the gardens there are such a huge part of the visitor experience. My day was also a bank holiday in UK, so there were some extra attractions, like a big picnic on the lawn that made the visit really pleasurable for me and other visitors.
Since I did not really know much about the palace beforehand, I was very pleasantly surprised to find such splendor. It really homed on me how the history can be told in so many interesting ways to make it alive even for today.
What I learned is that actually there are two palaces there; first one a Manor house developed into a palace by Thomas Wolsey, who was a powerful administrator for Henry VIII. He entertained the king there as well as a huge number of foreign dignitaries. In reality the place was a genuine hotel with kitchens servicing 1200 guests per day.
The second palace is a lovely baroque building built for Mary II and William III. They made the palace in what it is today.
And then there are the gardens from different eras kept with great dedications and research of which the Wilderness and the Maze (originally there were four of them) is the most popular.
My day at Hampton Court was all about understanding the dedication and the compassion of the people who have preserved the history for us in a way that speaks to a modern visitor. Even just seeing half of it convinces me that how we relate to history is through well written and illustrated storytelling. Learning about the young king Henry VIII certainly proves that.
What we remember from our history books is a completely different picture we get from the beautifully told story at Hampton Court Palace. There you come to understand the tragedy, the intrigue and the romance gone wrong that you otherwise might miss between Henry VIII and his first wife of more than 20 years, Catherine of Aragon.
I was walking through the rooms that depicted the young Henry VIII and came to a stop at the end. "This is a really sad room", I heard a father telling his son beside me.
On the wall there are all the names of their stillborn children (mostly boys) as well as the names of those children who died at birth. And of course Mary I and the little boy who lived for six weeks is there, also. The explanations on the chairs named Catherine, Henry and Thomas tell about the decision Henry made to divorce Catherine and how it affected the nation. Their individual stories.
This is real history lovingly brought to life for us in the modern world. I was left thinking how important it is to know those stories today. Now 20 years of their life and all those children has not gone unnoticed just because history has preferred hero stories instead of real life stories.
I really liked walking through the baroque palace with its wonderful ceiling art and small details, including bits and pieces of the Mary's famous porcelain collection.
There was an exhibition there about the the secrets of the State beds. Unfortunately no pictures were allowed otherwise I would have photographed the queen's bed that reminded me of the fairytale of the 'Princess and the Pea' with its layers upon layers of silk mattresses, just like in all the illustrations I have seen. What a story it turned out to be, firmly grounded in the historic reality.
Finally, it was really fun 'getting lost' in the maze for a while, walking the old paths with lots of laughing families. And of course we found 'the heart'. It was not a very difficult task at all:
And the gardens were lovely, especially the Wilderness, that called the visitor to sit a while on a bench while taking in the atmosphere.
All in all, a day at the Hampton Court Palace was a success and I must go back since I missed the famous kitchens and the King Henry VIII's apartments and much more, I am sure.
But it was a start and a lovely day at that! I recommend it very warmly for anyone wanting a flash back to the long gone eras of royal life in Britain.
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