Hampton Court Palace

Hampton Court Palace stands beside the River Thames twelve miles upstream of central London. The Grade I listed royal palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, Henry VIII’s chief minister. Wolsey lavished 200,000 crowns on the finest Renaissance-style palace in England. Within seven years he built the Base Court, an inner gatehouse and Clock Court with state apartments. When Wolsey fell from favour in 1529 he handed the palace to the king, who enlarged it to house his court of more than one thousand people. The palace is famous for its two contrasting styles: Tudor brickwork from Wolsey and Henry VIII, and Baroque wings added between 1690 and 1703 for William III. The astronomical clock in Anne Boleyn’s gate still shows tides at London Bridge and phases of the moon. The Great Hall, completed in 1535, has a carved hammerbeam roof and once hosted royal feasts on a raised dais. Historic events include the birth of Edward VI in 1537 and the confinement of Catherine Howard in 1541. Visitors walk from Tudor courtyards through Baroque wings to the Great Vine, said to be the world’s largest. The palace gardens contain the famous maze and a surviving royal tennis court. Artworks from the Royal Collection hang in the state apartments. George II was the last monarch to live here, and the site is now cared for by Historic Royal Palaces. Annual festivals fill the Home Park with music and flowers.