Places predominantly associated with Henry VIII
It is a day of seismic importance, 21 June 1529. Many have gathered here alongside you in the Parliament Hall of the Dominican Friary of Blackfriars to witness the very public shaming of a great and dignified queen. It seems that all of London can speak of little else. An expectant murmur ripples through the … Read more
Wolfhall – now there’s a name that I am sure you will be familiar with! It is a place steeped in myth and legend; but what of the real Wolfhall? The grand Tudor mansion, built by Jane Seymour’s father, Sir John, is essentially lost, but now an intrepid team of local historians, researchers and archaeologists … Read more
Sadly, some of the most magnificent buildings and rooms of the Tudor age have been lost long since; The King’s Privy Gallery at Whitehall is one of those buildings. One of my not-so-guilty pleasures is recreating these lost chambers in my imagination. So, following on from last week’s introduction to Tudor galleries, this week I … Read more
Have you ever visited Hampton Court Palace, the Mecca for any Tudor time traveller? Maybe not yet, but you dream of it. Maybe you have; and if that is the case, I bet most of you will have walked straight past some of the most intriguing features of the original, Tudor palace without even being … Read more
An Interview with Henry VIII’s laundress Welcome to 1538! We so often read about the lives of the Tudor nobility, but what goes on below stairs? Who would we meet and what were their lives like? Are you as curious as I was to find out? By popular demand, I got myself an invitation to … Read more
Today we explore the strange story of the royal tomb of one of the most famous monarchs in Tudor history: King Henry VIII, whose body was laid to rest in St George’s Chapel at Windsor castle. It was meant to be a grand monument to the man with a gargantuan ego that nobody, it seems, … Read more