13Sept2008: Day 111: Hampton Court Palace

Today we went to Hampton Court Palace in the South West of London. It is absolutely massive for one thing, but it isn't the same as the Louvre. The Louvre is much more polished and refined. This palace is beautiful, but it is made out of brick and just doesn't compare to the massive stone work of the Louvre. Apparently, the English Royalty were always trying to beat the French opulence of their Palaces in addition to trying to always beat the militarily. I'm not sure they ever succeeded in crushing the French in a war, thought they did have successes, but they certainly didn't beat them with their palaces. I'm probably insulting some of my British readers, if so, sorry, but, get over it already, the French crushed you with their wasteful spending of their royalty...boo hoo.

Really, I think a lot of the splendor and opulence was destroyed or sold off when the Royalists lost during the civil war. Oliver Cromwell actually was given the Hampton Court Palace to live in and his wife lived there and he spent every weekend there.

Hampton Court Palace was actually built by Wolsey the advisor to King Henry VIII. It was Wolsey's job to make sure that Henry won in his fight for Glory to rule over the whole of Europe, but after the Roman Emperor defeated the French and stole the opportunity from Henry, this basically broke trust in Wolsey as his advisor. Wolsey's final failure was with getting a divorce approved by the Pope for the King and as a result "forced" Henry VIII to break with the Roman Church. Wolsey was heading for the Tower to be beheaded when he died. Some people thought it was dysentery, but others thought he may have taken his own life. After this, King Henry VIII redesigned much of Hampton Court Palace and spent huge amounts of money on tapestries and furnishings and such. There is one hall where King Henry had tapestries of gold and silver thread made specifically to clothe the walls there and they cost as much as a warship to make. He was fabulously wealthy and had no problem showing it off.

Various other Kings and Queens have lived in the Palace over the years. Each King or Queen would build on or rebuild a wing of the place for their viewing rooms and private residences. It was especially interesting to hear how the kitchen worked. They would have to feed 600-1200 people at each meal. They could only stay for a few months at any one of the palaces or castles because it would so rob the surrounding area of resources that there would be no food left so they had to move around quite often. They did have to pay for the food though, just in case you thought they didn't. The treasury would have to pay for everything. It was a huge expense.

Makenna only had one fit today when she was tired in the afternoon. We just tied her down in the cart and put the seat all the way back and she eventually fell asleep. But, man did she make a lot of noise. Screaming at the top of her lungs. Everyone was commenting on how she has such a strong voice. I really have to get her singing lessons...maybe she can be the next Celine Dion.