From the Tudors to the Windsors, 500 Years of British History at Hampton Court
July 1, 2023
From the commissioning of King James's version of the Bible to the presentation of many Shakespeare plays to Queen Elizabeth II's lustrous coronation ball, plenty of significant events took place at Hampton Court, as historian/novelist Russell explains here. Illustrated throughout, with a 16-page four-color insert, so great for armchair travel. Prepub Alert.
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October 9, 2023
Historian Russell (The Ship of Dreams) offers an entertaining chronicle of England’s Hampton Court Palace, the only Tudor palace still intact and open to the public. Ranging from King Henry VII’s reign to Elizabeth II’s, Russell details how events at the palace, which was occupied periodically by most British monarchs until the mid-18th century, had a significant impact on England and Wales under the Tudors, on Scotland under the Stuarts, and on Ireland under Oliver Cromwell. Beyond the administration of nations, the palace was also the site of shenanigans, trysts, hauntings, and poxes. Russell reports not only on royals’ behavior upstairs but also on the activities of scullery maids and messenger boys downstairs, and he considers the inhabitants in “grace and favor apartments,” including the last Romanov tsar’s sister, Xenia, who was moved deep in the palace’s bowels to protect her from Russian assassins after the revolution. In an especially moving chapter, Russell follows one of the palace’s oak trees, felled by order of George V after WWI for the coffin of the Unknown Warrior, who is buried in Westminster Abbey. Throughout, Russell’s turns of phrase add levity, as when he describes a songbird killed by “a peckish feline who preferred a meal to a melody.” This is a delight.
October 15, 2023
A history of Hampton Court, which has been a site of drama, revelry, and scandals. Historian, novelist, and playwright Russell offers a lively, populous narrative centered on the British royals who inhabited Hampton Court from 1495, when the Tudors undertook costly renovations, to 2016. As a site of intrigue, pageantry, and diplomacy, the Palace reflects centuries of British monarchy, the "countries that they shaped, the glories they achieved, and the horrors that they inflicted." Hampton Court was a backwater until Henry VIII's chief minister, Thomas Wolsey, took it over and transformed it into a sumptuous palace, enough of a showcase that it was chosen to entertain the Hapsburg Emperor, Charles V, when he made a state visit to England in 1522. The unfortunate Anne Boleyn suffered two miscarriages there, and her reputation suffered from rumors of many affairs, which led to her execution. Russell traces the fate of the Palace as "a place to retreat, celebrate, or hunt," to gamble, hold multi-course feasts, and throw glamorous parties--until the reign of George III, who deigned to use it as a home. Nevertheless, he was committed to preserving its heritage and devoted considerable sums to remodel it into a kind of boardinghouse for dignitaries and royals. With the advent of rail travel, the Palace did not draw royals as a get-away for rest and recreation: They headed, instead, to Balmoral and Sandringham. Queen Victoria opened parts of the Palace to tourists and, inspired by Versailles, initiated renovations to convert the grand house into a museum. Fittingly, in 1953, the Palace hosted a pre-coronation ball in celebration of Elizabeth II. "The magnificent, the absurd, the tragic and the important have interacted there over the course of its existence," Russell aptly notes, "and their stories--perhaps more so than the architecture--continue to attract thousands of tourists every year." An entertaining journey into the past.
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November 1, 2023
Hampton Court Palace figures less in the contemporary imagination than Buckingham, Kensington, or even Saint James's Palace. Yet Hampton Court held many Tudor monarchs' official and personal affairs. First built in the early sixteenth century by Thomas Wolsey, who rose from humble beginnings to the pinnacle of ecclesiastical and political power, the property was turned over to King Henry VIII after Wolsey's fall from the young Tudor king's grace. Henry expanded the palace, transforming it into a major royal residence. The two Tudor queens made use of the palace, but the Stuarts largely abandoned the now vast--and vastly altered--palace. King George II was the last monarch to reside there. The parade of so many influential kings, queens, and courtiers makes for intriguing reading as Russell (Do Let's Have Another Drink, 2022) details palace life up to the reign of Elizabeth II, who partied in its precincts. Extensive family trees help sort through the welter of royals. Fans of historical British royalty will revel in all the personalities Russell brings to life.
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