Chapter 20
In This Chapter
● Checking out buildings that were once royal homes and palaces
● Discovering sites that bring military history to life
● Locating great architectural monuments with royal associations
Many places in Britain have close and enduring links with the royal family and are interesting to visit. Quite a lot of these places are Historic Royal Palaces - in other words, buildings that were once royal homes but are now open to the public as visitor attractions. They vary immensely, from the vast complex of the Tower of London to smaller buildings like Kew Palace. Many other places have royal associations, from the sites of bloody battles to peaceful churches such as Westminster Abbey. This chapter contains ten of the best royal places. They all have fascinating stories to tell.
The Tower of London
The Tower of London, by the River Thames in the heart of the capital, is one of Britain’s largest medieval castles. It was first built in the late 11th century by King William I and was at the heart of royal life for hundreds of years afterwards. The Tower has played lots of roles in its time - royal home, fortress, prison, mint, jewel house, and place of execution. Today, it’s a fabulous tourist attraction with displays and exhibitions on all sorts of aspects of royal history. It’s also the place where the Crown Jewels - the royal collection of crowns, orbs, sceptres, and other priceless ceremonial rocks - is shown to the public.
Like lots of ancient buildings, the Tower of London has changed a lot over the years. It began as, surprise, surprise, a big tower. The large square structure, called the White Tower, is still at the heart of the building. Over the centuries, more and more bits were added until loads of extra buildings housed everything from servants to horses, two concentric sets of outer defensive walls, and a big moat around the whole lot.
During the Middle Ages, the Tower was a key asset for the royal family, especially in times of war. But it was perhaps most famous of all as a prison. During the Wars of the Roses (see Chapter 9), the civil wars between the rival royal families of York and Lancaster in the 15th century, the young King Edward V and his brother Richard were imprisoned in the Tower and mysteriously disappeared. They were probably murdered.
In Tudor times (see Chapter 13), the Tower’s history got even bloodier. It was home to political and religious prisoners, men such as Sir Thomas More, who refused to acknowledge Henry VIII as head of the English church after the king broke away from the Roman Catholic Church. Henry also had two of his wives, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, executed in the Tower. Henry’s children, Queens Mary and Elizabeth I, continued to use the fortress as a favourite place for having their opponents’ heads chopped off, and Elizabeth herself was held there when her half-sister Mary was on the throne.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Tower became the base of the Office of Ordnance, the people who supplied the Army and Navy with their equipment.
In other words it was a large arms dump. The big fortress also had room for the Royal Mint, the Records Office, and the Royal Menagerie (housed in the Lion Tower). In the Victorian period, most of these functions moved out to various buildings around London, and the menagerie became the core of London Zoo. The arms stores were knocked down, and the Tower took on much of the look it has today, a historic medieval castle on a truly awesome scale.
Today, you can find loads to see at the Tower. Here are some highlights:
● The White Tower houses arms and armour from the royal armouries, plus gruesome instruments of torture.
● The Jewel House shows the royal crowns and regalia, including some of the world’s biggest diamonds.
● Several towers, including the Bloody Tower, include displays about the building’s famous prisoners.
● The Tower Ravens wander around the site - according to legend, if the ravens leave, both the fortress and the kingdom will fall, so the ravens are very well looked after.
● The Yeoman Warders in their striking black and red uniforms were once the Tower’s guards; now they show visitors around on guided tours.
The Tower of London is also the home of one of the most famous royal rituals, the Ceremony of the Keys. This ritual, which consists of the ceremonial locking up of the Tower, has taken place every night for at least 700 years.
The Tower’s Chief Warder processes around the building, carrying the keys and locking important gates. He is accompanied by an escort made up of a group of soldiers because security is still vital at the Tower. The monarch no longer lives there, but the Tower’s contents, which include the Crown Jewels, are priceless.
Hampton Court Palace
The enormous palace at Hampton Court, in west London, started life as the home of Cardinal Wolsey, powerful churchman and minister to Henry VIII. But when Wolsey got too powerful, he handed the palace to Henry in an attempt to get back into favour. It’s been a royal property ever since and was a favourite royal home of many 16th-and 17th-century monarchs.
Hampton Court is mostly built of brick. Its buildings are arranged around several big courtyards. Some buildings date from the time of Henry VIII and Wolsey, while others were built in the time of William III and his queen, Mary, who employed the ace architect Christopher Wren to design enormous extensions.
A visit to Hampton Court is like a walk through Tudor and Stuart history (see Chapters 13 and 14), with evocative old bits like Henry VIII’s big banqueting hall and state rooms, and not-quite-so-old bits like the dozens of rooms that make up the royal apartments of William III and Mary, some of the best interiors of their period anywhere in the world. The Tudor kitchens are a big attraction, with 16th-century-style cooking smells and roaring roasting fires.
Hampton Court has 60 acres of lovely gardens, too, with loads of flowers, a famous grape vine, and a big hedge maze to get lost in. It’s no accident that one of Britain’s foremost garden festivals takes place here every year.
The Banqueting House
One of the most important British royal palaces has almost completely disappeared: Whitehall Palace, which was situated, as its name suggests, in Whitehall, the street in the middle of London that now connects Trafalgar Square with the Houses of Parliament and contains lots of government offices. Between 1530 and 1698, Whitehall Palace was the monarch’s main London residence, but in 1698, it was destroyed by fire.
All, that is, except for the Banqueting House, a lovely elegant building that faces on to Whitehall. The Banqueting House was built for James I. The king wanted a really big room, not just for banquets but for all kinds of state occasions and entertainment, such as plays and masques. The king brought in Inigo Jones, the most famous architect of the time. Inigo had been to Italy and was fired up by all the Roman ruins and Renaissance palaces he’d seen. So he designed a building for James in the Classical style, with lots of columns and other details he copied from the buildings of Italy.
When the Banqueting House was built, in 1619-22, most buildings in London were timber-framed and very higgeldy-piggeldy. The Banqueting House, with its straight lines and Classical columns, was something new - and the new fashion caught on. Soon everyone wanted Classical-style buildings, and British architecture was never the same again.
But it wasn’t just high fashion. The Banqueting House became a celebration of monarchy, too. When Charles I took over the throne from his father, James I, the new king commissioned the artist Rubens to paint a series of pictures for the Banqueting House ceiling. These pictures show James as a wise king, making the room into a kind of memorial of good Stuart government.
And that memorial was very ironic indeed. When Charles I lost the civil war and his enemies decided to execute him, where did they stage the beheading? Right outside the Banqueting House! ‘How are the mighty fallen,’ - that was the message the king’s opponents were putting across.
Today, the Banqueting House has been beautifully restored, and visitors can marvel at its gilded interior decoration and Rubens’s marvellous ceiling paintings, and reflect on one of the most dramatic stories in the history of the monarchy, when King Charles I lost his head and England lost its king.
Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey is a huge church in the middle of London, right next to the Houses of Parliament. The church has a very long history, and for most of this time, it has been linked in one way or another with members of the royal family. It has been the setting for every English coronation since 1066 and many other royal events, from weddings to funerals, have been held here, too.
King Edgar (see Chapter 4) founded the original monastery at Westminster around 960. A few decades later, another Saxon king, Edward the Confessor (see Chapter 5), decided to give the abbey a further endowment, and it was rebuilt. The new church was consecrated in 1065, and the saintly king Edward was buried there after he died shortly afterwards.
Since then, a number of rulers made gifts to improve and extend the magnificent abbey still further. Two of the main builders were Henry III, who rebuilt the church in the 13th century in the new Gothic style of architecture, and Henry VII, who added a lavish chapel to the building in the 16th century.
In 1540, the monks left Westminster when Henry VIII closed all the monasteries, but the magnificent church was allowed to remain. It contains the memorials of many of Britain’s kings and queens. Other highlights of the abbey include poets’ corner, with its memorials to many of Britain’s greatest writers; the shrine of the saintly king Edward the Confessor; the chapter house, a beautiful octagonal room of about 1250; and the museum, with its many royal statues and relics.
Kew Palace
This lovely little palace is in the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew - themselves one of the great attractions of Britain with their fabulous trees, flower beds, and vast greenhouses full of palms, tropical plants, and temperate specimens. The palace was originally built by a Flemish merchant and for years was known as the Dutch House. It became a royal home in 1728 when three of George II’s daughters came to live there.
For much of the 18th century, the palace was one of number of royal homes in Kew, including a couple of larger palaces that have since been demolished.
But what makes Kew Palace fascinating today is that it has recently undergone a ten-year restoration, so visitors can see the building in better condition than it has been for over 200 years. And they can also find out all kinds of fascinating facts about the building that have come to light as a result of the work.
Kew’s restorers made some amazing finds about the palace and its decoration. Here’s just a selection:
● A patch of red pigment on an outer wall showed that the walls were once colour-washed bright red. So the glowing colour has been put back, and the palace is now very red indeed!
● Research into 19th-century decorators’ bills enabled conservators to commission fabrics and carpets to reproduce the way some of the rooms looked in the time of George III.
● Analysis of layers of paintwork has allowed workers to restore early paint finishes.
● Some smaller upper rooms have been left as they were abandoned in the 18th century, so that the structure is revealed - in some places, you can even see the plasterers’ thumbprints.
Add to all this fascinating exhibits bringing to life George III’s many interests - including science, music, astronomy, and the arts - and Kew is one of the most fascinating, as well as one of the least known, of all the former royal homes.
Horse Guards Parade
Horse Guards Parade is a parade ground in central London, which is the site of one of the most vivid and spectacular royal ceremonies, Trooping the Colour. Trooping the Colour takes places in June to celebrate the monarch’s official birthday. The monarch’s official birthday is the day on which her birthday is celebrated publicly. British rulers developed the idea of a summer official birthday so that events, such as parades in honour of the monarch, could be held in good weather.
The ceremony of Trooping the Colour consists of a military parade and march-past involving some 1,400 troops, 200 horses, and about 10 military bands. The ‘Colour’ is the flag of one of the regiments that does the job of guarding the monarch, and the idea of parading the flag dates back to the time when it was essential for all soldiers to be able to recognise their own flag because it formed a vital rallying point in battle.
The ceremony of Trooping the Colour involves the monarch inspecting the troops. Then various elaborate displays of marching follow, during which the Colour is trooped, or marched, in front of the guards. The whole ceremony, featuring ranks of soldiers in bright red uniforms, is very colourful and is a highlight of the royal calendar.
Caernarfon Castle
Caernarfon Castle is one of the massive castles that Edward I built in North Wales as part of his campaign to take over Wales and rule it with a rod of iron. Actually there’s a whole group of castles built in Wales by Edward at the end of the 13th century (see Chapter 8). Harlech, Conwy, and Beaumaris are three outstanding ones. But Caernarfon is the best of them all. It’s known today not only as an awesome medieval fortress but as the backdrop to the ceremony in which Prince Charles was made Prince of Wales in 1969.
Caernarfon Castle is enormous - it’s well over 500 feet in length, and many of the walls are ten feet thick. The building was planned and supervised by Edward’s top master mason, a man called Master James of St George, who originally came from the Savoy area of France but worked on several of Edward’s castle-building projects in Wales.
The castle was a state-of-the art fortress, with nine big towers and two enormous gatehouses that both protected the inhabitants and gave them positions from which to fire arrows at attackers. But it also had a huge symbolic role. Master James designed the walls with polygonal towers and bands of coloured masonry. This design directly imitated the great city walls at Constantinople (modern Istanbul), the great eastern capital of the Roman empire. It was as if Edward was saying to the Welsh, ‘I have the might of a Roman emperor - challenge me at your peril.’
For much of the period, from its construction to the beginning of the Tudor dynasty in 1485, Caernarfon Castle played its role as the key base of the English kings in Wales. Caernarfon was virtually a second capital city from which English troops could march out if the Welsh showed signs of rebelling against their English kings.
But Henry VII, the first Tudor king, was a Welshman, and from his time on, the kingdoms of Wales and England were united fairly peacefully. So the old castle was neglected. In the 20th century, though, its historical interest was recognised, and it was preserved as a historic building.
Stirling Castle
Set on top of a tall cliff above an extinct volcano, Stirling has one of the most stunning locations of any British castle. The building was prominent in Scottish chronicles and played an important part in Scotland’s military history, especially in the wars of the 13th and 14th centuries. It was also the scene of the murder of the Earl of Douglas by James II in 1452 and, later still, was the childhood home of Mary, Queen of Scots, and the place where she was crowned.
Stirling Castle has stunning architectural remains from the time of three notable Scottish kings - James IV, James V, and James VI. Amongst the best bits are the enormous medieval Great Hall, James III’s massive gatehouse, the 16th-century kitchens, and the ornate 16th-century Renaissance royal palace.
One of the biggest and most stunning buildings in Scotland, Stirling Castle brings many episodes in Scottish history to life, both through its ancient stones and its modern interactive displays. It’s also the scene of many popular entertainments - the esplanade or parade ground has staged concerts by major stars such as Bob Dylan.
Osborne House
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert (see Chapter 15) took over Osborne, on the Isle of Wight, in 1845, because the queen wanted a quiet country house where she could spend time with her family away from the cares and duties of state. Albert worked closely with his architect and builder, Thomas Cubitt, to rebuild the existing house, producing an Italian-looking design with a pair of tall, flat-topped towers, rather like the bell towers of Mediterranean churches.
Inside, the royal couple packed the house with works of art, from marble sculptures to dozens of portraits of their relations from the various royal families of Europe. Prince and architect also worked together on the gardens, again designed along Italianate lines and now restored to their Victorian glory. After Albert died, Victoria continued to improve the house, adding the Durbar Room, a huge banqueting hall with an ornate plaster ceiling full of symbols of India, paying homage to Victoria’s rule as Empress of India over the subcontinent.
Visitors to Osborne today can really breathe in the atmosphere of Victorian England. From the grand drawing room, with its gilded furniture, to the more homely nursery, with its intricately patterned carpets, bed linen, and drapes, the house conjures up the kind of life the queen and her family led when they were out of the public eye.
Runnymede
Runnymede is in southern England, a few miles from the great royal castle at Windsor. It isn’t a royal home or a battle site - it’s just a field near the River Thames. But it’s one of the most important places in British history because it was here in 1215 that King John set his seal on Magna Carta, the document in which he gave up absolute royal power and promised to consult the barons about key aspects of government (see Chapter 7). In other words, Runnymede could be called the place where British democracy began to develop.
Today, the meadows at Runnymede, partly wooded with both broad-leaved and coniferous trees, are a pleasant place to walk, admire the scenery, and look across the river to parkland containing the remains of a medieval priory and a yew tree said to be 2,000 years old. Visitors can also see the Magna Carta memorial, built by the American Bar Association and paid for with donations from some 9,000 American lawyers. Nearby are two other memorials: one to the airmen and women who died during World War II and another, erected in 1965, to President John F Kennedy.
Bosworth Field
One of the most important royal battles was fought in a field in the parish of Sutton Cheney, in Leicestershire in the English Midlands. The Battle of Bosworth Field took place in 1485. The opponents were Richard III, England’s last king from the house of York, and Henry Tudor, the Welshman who won the battle and became Henry VII, the first Tudor ruler.
The battle was important for several reasons:
● It ended the years of strife known as the Wars of the Roses.
● It put on the English throne the Tudors, who produced influential rulers such as Henry VIII and Elizabeth I.
● It marked the end of the long period now known as the Middle Ages.
If you go to Bosworth Field today, you can walk across the terrain where the fighting took place. A visitor centre provides details of the battle and displays about the life of the period. Every year, on the weekend closest to the date of the battle (22 August), re-enactors wielding longbows, pikes, and swords recreate the battle.