Divorced, Beheaded, Died, Divorced, Beheaded, Survived

Henry VIII in all of his glory!

Kathrine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Katherine Howard and Katherine Parr

That phrase is the way to remember Henry VIII’s wives. As I mentioned, they all lived at Hampton Court Palace. The evidence is all around if you know where and how to look. But I get ahead of myself.

Sunday morning did not start well. My Cochlear Implant batteries would not work. The old ones had died a natural death, but no new ones would work. Without the Implant Processor I am deaf. I can hear a few sounds, including the sound of someone nearby speaking, but it is just a faint mumble, nothing recognizable. Karen and my hostess made calls trying to find help while I ate my not-quite-Full English breakfast of lots of English bacon (more robust than American), a fried egg, toast lovingly cooled in the cooling rack, with creamy butter and wonderful coffee. A doctor from the National Health Service was to call Karen back, but all they could do with the maker of my implant was to leave urgent voice messages. It was Sunday morning after all. The company in Swiss, so it was not the middle of their night!

After huge hugs Karen and the deaf Marjorie left for Hampton Court Palace for the second and final day of our class. Whilst awaiting our escort I had to speak to one of our fellow students; she was wearing dark glasses (the sun was actually out!). I told her how happy it made me to see a Brit wearing dark glasses as when I live in London my British friends and colleagues teased me unmercifully for looking like I was trying to be a model. No one but me wore dark glasses at that time. All of the ladies in the class laughed, amazed at the very idea.

Oddly, I could suddenly hear, but my implant processor started beeping as if the batteries were on their last legs. Yet it continued - beep beep beep beep - every few seconds. That lasted until lunchtime when I could stand it no longer. This is very bizarre behaviour.

Class began at 10:00, and we started the next step on our metalwork snow bunting. We were learning new techniques every little while, and it was a bit challenging to keep up, especially with the beeping driving me spare (crazy). Little by little the snow bunting was taking shape, as we learned how to use the various metal threads.

Lunch was a delicious Steak and Ale Pie with a cup of tea (with milk, of course) and a piece of chocolate cake split with Karen. Mmmm. As I said I took my processor off and the cacophony in Queen Elizabeth’s Privy Kitchen became a faint roar. All of the sudden it was almost 2:00, so my processor went back on, and we hurried to our classroom. On the way I suddenly realised that it was no longer beeping! Who knows... So the afternoon was lovely! There was no time to complete our buntings; even our expert teachers had taken three full days to complete it. But we had learned all of the techniques, so I left with it looking like this:

In spite of the work left to finish, I am quite proud of the quality of my stitching. It has improved greatly since my first foray into goldwork embroidery. Our teacher, Becky Hogg, was absolutely wonderful, great at explaining and very patient. She had a delightful laugh as well! At 4:00 it

was unfortunately time to leave, but we were so grateful for Becky’s instruction, our new knowledge and the verification of the knowledge that Karen had taught herself and then me. Off to the School’s shop, I bought some hoops and a frame for larger work. Fingers crossed that it fits into my case!

We had a long drive ahead of us, but just had to go into Henry’s Great Hall to see its magnificence and feel his presence. The gorgeous hammerbeam roof overhead was intensely impressive. The tapestries covering the walls to keep out a bit of the cold were commissioned by Henry himself and hung in 1546. Conservation has helped them last all of these years!

Henry VIII’s Great Hall, Hampton Court Palace

The head table

Notice the table construction. Although probably a reconstruction, it is made of what we would call sawhorses with a large plank set on top. This would allow the tables to be easily taken down for Court or dancing. The rooms behind probably lead to his privy chambers, where he lived within the Palace. By the way, the rules of etiquette state that one should not wipe one’s mouth on one’s sleeve, but instead on the cloth we would call a napkin, or the table cloth.

I mentioned evidence being everywhere. All over you see heraldic signs of Henry especially, but also of his various wives. Anne Boleyn was almost entirely deleted, but others appear by intertwined initials, heraldic devices or animals, a variety of ways.

A and H intertwined for Anne Boleyn and Henry., This is apparently the one that was missed when Anne was deleted.

On the right of the entrance to the Chapel Royal was a coat of arms which obviously contained a part of Henry’s arms,. While looking into his third wife Jane Seymour what did I find but that coat of arms. You just have to be observant and inquisitive! And then there is Katherine Howard’s ghost...

On the left half of the shield you see Henry’s arms, and on the right half those of Jane Seymour.

After too brief a visit we were off to Beck Row, with a quick stop at Starbucks. Other than the accents of the baristas, one would think one was in the States!