HAMPTON COURT - London - page 309

STATE APARTMENTS
0844 482 7777, www.hrp.org.uk . April-Oct daily 10am-6pm; Nov-March closes 4.30pm.£16.50. MAP
The palace's Tudor west front may no longer be moated but it positively prickles with tur-
rets, castellations, chimneypots and pinnacles. Its impressive Great Gatehouse would have
been five storeys high in its day. King Henry lavished more money on Hampton Court than
any other palace, yet the only major survival from Tudor times in Henry VIII's Apart-
ments is his Great Hall, which features a glorious double hammerbeam ceiling. The
Haunted Gallery is home to the ghost of Henry's fifth wife, 19-year-old Catherine Howard,
who ran down the gallery to plead for the king's mercy - only to be dragged kicking and
screaming back to her chambers. Another highlight is the superbly ornate Chapel Royal ,
one of the most memorable sights in the whole palace, with its colourful plasterwork vault-
ing, heavy with pendants of gilded music-making cherubs.
The Queen's State Apartments boast wonderful trompe-l'oeil frescoes on the grandiose
Queen's Staircase and in the Queen's Drawing Room, where Anne's husband is depicted
riding naked and wigless on the back of a “dolphin”. The gem, though, is in fact the Wolsey
Closet, a tiny Tudor room that gives a tantalizing glimpse of the splendour of the original
palace. Next door is the Communication Gallery , linking William and Mary's apartments,
now lined with Lely's “Windsor Beauties”, flattering portraits of the best-looking women in
the court of Charles II. William III's Apartments , built at the same time as Mary II's, are
even more grand, particularly the militaristic trompe-l'oeil paintings on the King's Staircase
and the King's Great Bedchamber, which boasts a superb vertical Gibbons frieze and ceiling
paintings by Verrio.
Several early Tudor rooms, with striking linenfold panelling and gilded strapwork ceilings,
are now used to display Young Henry VIII's Story . This is a worthy attempt by the palace
to portray Henry in his virile youth, during his happy, twenty-year marriage to his first wife,
Catherine of Aragon. Last, but not least, are the earthy and evocative Henry VIII's
Kitchens , large sections of which have survived to this day and have been restored and em-
bellished with historical reconstructions. To make the most of this route, you really do need
to use the free audioguide , which helps to bring the scene to life with contemporary ac-
counts.