August 01, Chertsey to Kingston/Hampton Wick

 The relationship of Kingston to Hampton Wick is like that of Windsor to Eton: one is on one side of a bridge and one is on the other.  Also, Kingston is to Hampton Wick as Windsor is to Eton: the former, in each case, being the dominant city.  I am staying at the White Hart in Hampton Wick, a peg up from the Crown Hotel in Chertsey. 

A Chertsey resident:

Unless he is lost in which case he is a resident of somewhere else.

This was the day there was a ferry crossing:

But I arrived an hour and a half too early:

I could have waited by working out:

But I took the long way around to the next bridge.

The locals hanging out:

Before I knew it, I had arrived at Hampton Court Palace, Henry the VIII's place:

Hampton Court Palace is huge, as in unimaginably huge.  The best exhibit was at the beginning, in the state dining hall.  The tables were spread with white cloths on which were sketches of plates accompanied by entertaining and sometimes informative vignettes. 

 A sampling:

In addition to looking at the ornate gold ceilings and the HUGE tapestries,  and the many many portraits, all of which become dizzying after a while, one can learn many things at Harcourt Palace.     

                                                                                GARDEROBE

Courtiers, guards and servants serving or waiting in the Great Watching Chamber used this room as a convenient toilet.

The Tudor toilet was replaced with a fireplace in the 18th Century. 

(I guess no one had to go any more)

The Orders devised by the King's Council for the Garderobe since to retain urine is hurtful to health:

ITEM no person shall make water or cast annoyance within the precinct of the court whereby corruption may breed.

ITEM being all alone to let it go, otherwise you must disguise the sound by coughing.

There were hunting trophies (this is a tiny sample):

And a kitchen display, great for children who get to turn the spit:

Dozens of meats can be roasted at the same time on these multi-grooved multi-layered spits.

Not only did Henry's wives suffer from his displeasure:

                                                   

THOMAS WOLSEY

Survival at Henry VIII's court depended on your ability to deliver what the King desired. For a long while, Wolsey was Henry's right-hand man, and built himself a palace here at Hampton Court on the back of his success. But Wolsey's failure to negotiate Henry's divorce from his first wife Katherine of Aragon led to his downfall, and Hampton Court became the King's.

Wolsey was accused of treason and died on the way to his trial.  And some earl was beheaded for I forget what. It took little to arouse the king's ire and meet a fate on the block or at the end of a rope.  But he left a legacy, did Henry.

                                                                  THE LEGACY of Henry VIII

HENRY VIII died on 28 January 1547. 

All three of Henry's children ruled England in turn as Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I. 

Altogether, the Tudor dynasty survived for over 100 years, until the death of Elizabeth in 1603.

The King's defining ambitions - to strengthen the Tudor dynasty and to pass his crown to a male heir resulted in six marriages and divided England from Catholic Europe. 

The magnificence and wealth of Henry VIII's court - his palaces and parks, tapestries and paintings - survive at Hampton Court after 500 years.

Now all that is really something to be proud of.

A field of wild flowers was a breath of fresh air:

In Kingston, I met Alex and Owen, male chimps aged 10 and 12.  They are fighting:

And that is all, folks!