Hampton Court was built by Thomas Wolsey, who was the Archbishop of York and a favorite adviser of Henry VIII. He fell out of favor though and to try to get back in favor he gave Henry Hampton Court. It didn’t help.

There are several tours that you can take of the interior of the palace. The audio guides are very good for each. We started with the kitchen tour. We learned about the supply chain and massive numbers of people required to feed everyone in the palace. We walked through the kitchens and saw the huge fireplaces (above) used to cook meat.

This is the wine cellar. There were cool houses to store supplies and rooms just for polishing all the tableware.

The next tour we did featured the life of Henry VII.

The Great Hall was the most important room. It is surrounded by tapestries and has a hammer beam ceiling. There are many small figures in the ceiling to remind people that someone was always watching them.

The whole palace is filled with art and extravagant decorations. This stained glass window is fairly plain compared to the rest of the palace.

William and Mary updated the castle to their liking when they were in power. There are audio tours through their wings.

This room was a guards’ room outside of the royal chambers. What do you do with all of your weapons when you aren’t using them? Decorate!

For a look at the grounds of Hampton Court visit last week’s post.