Friday, 17 January 2025

The Palace, Gareth Russell

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Hampton Court Palace is one of Britain’s most iconic and unusual palaces. Half Tudor, half Baroque, it offers a unique opportunity to explore a wide range of British history in a very tactile way. It’s also been home to some of the most significant events in the country’s history. Russell takes us on a whirlwind tour of five hundred years of history, encompassing family feuds, marital breakdowns, the imprisonment and escape of a King due to be beheaded, religious milestones, and even the pre-coronation ball of Queen Elizabeth II, bringing us back to the modern world.


We gain an understanding of the people who have shaped the very fabric of the building. Anne Boleyn was keenly interested in this and worked hard to smooth the different styles into something that looked deliberate. Traces of her were removed once Henry VIII had moved on to his next bride, but one remaining insignia was found many centuries later. Of course, the biggest change came with William and Mary, who had planned to destroy the whole of the Tudor palace. If money hadn’t dried up we would be left with a very different building today, a sad thought. Queen Victoria, keen to turn the palace into a visitor attraction, perhaps inspired by the success of Versailles, realised the public interest was firmly with the Tudors and so undertook work to restore and enhance the Great Hall. 


Its history as a place of public interest has grown across the centuries, but has been an aspect of It’s role through much of its existence, adhoc tours being provided by staff wanting to supplement their income during quieter periods. The presence of grace and favour residents onsite had also allowed access to a broader range of people visiting their friends and relatives in their apartments, seeing areas of the building that were otherwise inaccessible to the public. Now under the custodianship of Historic Royal Palaces, who do a wonderful job of interpreting the spaces, visitor numbers are at the highest they’ve ever been, and continual work to conserve and open up the spaces is undertaken.


Approaching a biography of a building such as Hampton Court, so rich in history and with such a long life is no small task. Russell opts to focus on one area of the palace in each chapter, on one connecting event, taking us through chronologically so that we have an understanding of how the various monarchs have felt about and used the palace. Many of the events of course have many links to places and people outside the palace and so at times it feels more like a romp through British royal history than specifically about the palace, but perhaps that is testament to the central role it has played.


Those with a broad understanding of the history involved will find familiar stories but also perhaps links that you may not have known. For me these included the time Charles I spent onsite in captivity and his escape, perhaps encouraged by his opposition. The King James Bible having connections to the palace in the conference held there in 1604 which led to both it and the Book of Common Prayer, both incredibly important moments in the history of Christianity. Finally, one chapter explored the arrangements around the grave of the Unknown Soldier which sits in Westminster Abbey. A huge range in content, and a demonstration of how the story continues long after the royal family regularly used it as a home or entertainment venue. 


An interesting read, written in such a way as to bring the magic of the palace and its history to life. If you have an in-depth knowledge of British history there might not be all that much new to you, but the breadth of the focus suggests that there will be nuggets of interest and revelation for most readers.


Pick up a copy:

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