Hampton Court Palace

Hampton Court Palace: Two Palaces in One Building

Hampton Court Palace was built in the 1510s by Cardinal Wolsey as his private residence, then acquired by Henry VIII after Wolsey’s fall from favour in 1529. Henry enlarged it extensively – a pattern you can trace room by room if you pay attention, the Tudor brick getting thicker and more assertive as the building grew. A century and a half later, William III commissioned Christopher Wren to rebuild substantial sections in a Baroque style, at which point the original Tudor fabric was partially demolished. The result is a building where two completely different architectural periods occupy the same site, separated by a courtyard: the red brick Tudor facade on the west side, and Wren’s classical south and east ranges facing the formal gardens.

This makes Hampton Court more interesting architecturally than most English palaces. You can stand in Base Court and see what Henry VIII’s builders laid down, walk through the archway into Clock Court, and find yourself looking at Wren’s 1690s stone facades on the opposite side. The astronomical clock on the Anne Boleyn Gateway, made in 1540, shows the time, the phase of the moon, and the hour of high tide at London Bridge. It is not merely decorative – it was functionally useful to a court that governed partly by water.

The Interior

Henry VIII’s Great Hall is the largest surviving Tudor great hall in England. The hammerbeam roof is original. The tapestries on the walls are Flemish, from the 1540s, depicting the story of Abraham – bought by Henry specifically for this room and still hanging in approximately the positions they were made for. The scale of the Great Hall is the thing: this was designed to express unambiguous power through space alone.

The Tudor Kitchens cover 3,000 square feet and were used to feed a court of around 600 people twice daily. The scale of the equipment – the roasting ranges, the fish larder, the pastry house – gives a clearer sense of Tudor household logistics than anything in the apartments upstairs. Most visitors rush past the kitchens for the state rooms; this is a mistake.

William III’s State Apartments, designed by Wren and decorated by Grinling Gibbons (the carved wooden frames in the King’s Presence Chamber), represent the most complete late 17th-century royal interior in England. The Mantegna cartoons – nine large paintings acquired by Charles I from the Gonzaga collection – are displayed in the Lower Orangery and are the most important artworks in the palace.

2026 Updates

Some rooms and routes have reduced access in 2026 as conservation work proceeds through the palace. Two significant exhibitions are running this season: one exploring the forgotten story of Indian Army soldiers who camped at Hampton Court in the early 20th century, featuring previously unseen photographs and personal objects, and another on Princess Sophia Duleep Singh, whose life connects the palace directly to the history of British India. Both are worth seeking out.

The Hampton Court Palace Festival runs in June with concerts in the Tudor courtyard; the 2026 lineup includes Nile Rodgers and CHIC and Sophie Ellis-Bextor. It is a good reason to visit specifically in June if outdoor concerts in a 500-year-old setting appeal.

The Gardens

The formal gardens on the south and east sides were laid out for William III and cover around 60 acres. The Privy Garden, restored to its 1702 configuration in the 1990s, is the most formal and worth walking slowly. The Wilderness – the northern section – is more informal and contains the famous hedge maze, planted around 1700 and still genuinely disorienting even when you know it is coming.

The Great Vine, planted in 1768 and still producing approximately 270kg of Black Hamburg grapes annually, grows in a glasshouse at the eastern end of the gardens. Entry is included in the palace ticket. It is a genuinely surprising object – a 250-year-old grapevine in a working glasshouse, still producing, inside a royal garden. You will not see this anywhere else.

Practicalities

Adult admission is around GBP 27-30 depending on the booking date (online prices are slightly cheaper than on the day). Trains from London Waterloo to Hampton Court station take 35-40 minutes and run frequently; the station is directly across the bridge from the palace entrance.

Allow a full day. The palace is large and attempting to rush the kitchens, the State Apartments, and the gardens in two hours means missing most of what makes the visit worthwhile. The Tiltyard Cafe, in the grounds, is decent for lunch.