I had a wonderful time visiting Hampton Court Palace. To be honest, I was a little underwhelmed at first. The outside of the palace looked relatively plain compared to many of the other historical sites we had visited before, and although it was massive, none of its features really stood out to me. While impressive, the mass of red and brown bricks wasn’t as ornate as I expected from the palace of King Henry VIII. However, while the outside may not have intrigued me, what I found inside the palace most certainly did.
Equipped with our audio guides, the first part of the palace we visited were the kitchens. The sheer amount of storage areas, dishes, cooking utensils and more were a testament to the gluttony of the court. It must have been hellish to work there, preparing food for so many people, each with insatiable appetites. Of course, King Henry had his own private kitchen and dining materials, and I am glad I don’t have to deal with the pressure of cooking for a man who executed his own wives. While quite large in their own rights, the kitchens were only a small fraction of the palace as a whole, and so after walking through the massive cellar only used for alcohol, I went to explore what else the palace had to offer.
This, as it turned out, was not an easy task. The layout of the place meant that I spent much time looking at my map trying to figure out where I was and walking through rooms I had been to before. If the goal was to make it confusing for potential attackers, then it was quite effective. Additionally, since so much of it looked the same, it was often difficult for me to tell if I had been in a room or not already, and the guiding signs weren’t as helpful as they could have been. Despite this, I was able to somehow find my way around and visited the great hall.
The room was quite large, and its walls were covered with massive tapestries, just a few out of the thousands in Henry’s collection. The room was quite crowded with a group of schoolchildren, being guided by someone dressed up in a costume fitting the palace. By eavesdropping I was able to learn that apparently the room had been used as a theatre for William Shakespeare when he visited and put on a play, who seems to be truly inescapable over here. After giving the children enough time to get a good bit ahead of me, I continued my tour.
I made my way to the room where people would wait for the chance at an audience with the king. Fittingly enough there was a room that had once been a bathroom nearby, though at some point it had been taken out of service. People would be waiting for hours there and so they needed some ways to entertain themselves. One of which was apparently board games. There was a set for a game called Fox and Geese, which pits a single fox against a flock of geese. I played a game as the fox against another student and lost. I am glad I didn’t have to wait in the room playing that game all day, since it seemed like it would get old fast.
I continued my journey, and after seeing many bedrooms and hallways, I was ready to get out. I was greeted by the grounds outside the palace, with their fountains and trees. I enjoyed a nice calm walk there, finishing off my trip to Hampton court in a quite pleasant way.
-Jack Duncan
Theatre in London U of A 