LIBRARY THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA BARBARA PRESENTED BY GERALD HOWLAND ^;:/Z^ i~-^ ^^.^-^ V/f ( ^-^e_ 9y7.cr~r ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND .»■•••,"- TiiK Tower op' London. hi oil! an illniiiinateii MS. about 150c A.u. ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND CONTRIBUTED BY MARJORY ROLLINGS, EDITH M. KEATE, CATHERINE JAMISON, GRACE A. ELLIS EDITED BY R. S. RAIT LONDON CONSTABLE & COMPANY LTD 1911 (BWomi Qto^e THIS book derives its inspiration from work done for the " Victoria County History," to the editor of which, Mr. Wilham Page, it owes much. The historical students who, for the last few years, have been making original investigations for the "County History," have, from time to time, found many intimate records of the life of the past for which the plan of this " History" allowed no place. A series of volumes, of which I undertook the general editorship, was, therefore, projected, in order to enable this interesting, and often picturesque, material to be used to good purpose. The series includes one volume on the Episcopal Palaces of the Province of Canterbury, one on the Episcopal Palaces of the Province of York, and one on the Royal Palaces of England, with an extra volume on the Royal Palaces of Scotland, suggested by, but unconnected with the work done for the "Victoria History." The present volume attempts to give some account of the life lived by sovereigns of England within their great houses, and to show with what periods and events of national history these are associated. For the selection of the palaces the general editor is responsible ; the opinions expressed are those of the contributors themselves. ROBERT S. RAIT. New College, Oxford. September, 1910. Conknh INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. Marjory Rollings WINDSOR CASTLE. Edith M. Keate HAMPTON COURT PALACE. Edith M. Keate WHITEHALL. Catherine Jamison ST. James's palace. Catherine Jamison KENSINGTON PALACE. Grace A. Ellis BUCKINGHAM PALACE. Gracc A. ElHs INDEX 78 i5g 205 247 287 344 369 ^xBi of Jffu0(ra^ion0 THE TOWER OF LONDON IN 1 50O Frontispiece BAMBURGH CASTLE IN 1 728 . Facing p 12 BAMBURGH CASTLE .... J) 16 WESTMINSTER HALL, 180I . )> 24 SOMERSET HOUSE IN I777 . )) 38 WESTMINSTER HALL, ABOUT 1660 )> 50 RICHMOND PALACE .... )i 60 WOODSTOCK CASTLE .... >) 68 ENFIELD PALACE »> 72 HATFIELD HOUSE ?> 76 WINDSOR CASTLE, ROUND TOWER . >! 82 DOVER CASTLE )J 86 CORFE CASTLE ') 90 THEOBALD'S M 92 HATFIELD HOUSE >) 120 BAYNARD's CASTLE .... . 140 WINDSOR CASTLE IN I733 . . 156 HAMPTON COURT PALACE . 170 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS HAMPTON COURT REMAINS OF KING JOHN'S PALACE AT ELTHAM, I787 HAMPTON COURT, 1 736 .... THE BANQUETING HALL, WHITEHALL . A VIEW OF THE ANCIENT ROYAL PALACE CALLED PLACENTIA AT EAST GREENWICH . WHITEHALL PALACE ST. JAMES' PALACE, PALL MALL, IN 184O ST. JAMES' PALACE IN 1660 .... VIEW OF THE SAVOY, SOMERSET HOUSE, AND THE WATER-ENTRANCE TO CUPER's GARDEN . KENSINGTON PALACE THE ROYAL PALACE OF KENSINGTON IN I75O BUCKINGHAM PALACE BUCKINGHAM PALACE IN I79O TOWER OF LONDON IN 1737 Facing p. 178 188 198 206 216 236 248 252 258 288 320 344 354 362 Jn^ro^uc^org CJap^er IN early times and later during the reigns of unsettled or warlike kings the royal palace was usually one which could be strongly fortified at short notice. In this way most of the chief castles in England became royal residences at some period. Dover and Portchester were as good starting-points for a French invasion as York and Tynemouth for expeditions against the Scots ; Edward IV. spent some time at Fotheringhay, as did his rival at Hertford ; and the connection of the princes with the Tower, and of the Empress Maud with Oxford, has been known to us all from nursery days. In quieter times, and especially after the Parliament was established at Westminster, the kings were content to go less far afield, and by far the greater number of palaces in use were situated in London and its neighbourhood. There were, however, some in more outlying districts which were not altogether neglected, for good hunting still had power to draw the royal family from London. As the country became less turbulent the number of royal hunting-boxes increased, and Henry VIII., who seems always to have desired variety in the home, added several new country-houses to the stock which he had inherited : sometimes, as at Oatlands, in order to enlarge an estate which he already possessed ; sometimes, as in the well-known case of Chelsea, for the sake of being R.P. B ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND near a particular friend. The greater number of these were either sold or granted away by his children, and it has there- fore not been thought worth while to include them in this history. Winchester Castle The Castle at Winchester was built, according to tradition, by King Arthur : however this may be, there was certainly a royal residence at Winchester in very early times. The records, including Domesday Book, and the treasure, seem to have been kept there until the last quarter of the twelfth century. A new castle was built after the destruction of the Norman building. It is said to have had round towers with walls from eight to ten feet thick. Beyond the hall was a " pleasance " with four towers, one at each corner. Henry II. bought a place in Winchester to keep his falcons in, and in 1203 John gave the custody of the house, castle gates, and gaol to Matthew Wallop "for service of keeping at his cost the birds put in the castle to be mewed, and find- ing one servant to mew them, and keep them through mewing time." King John added a dovecot to the castle. Henry III. was born at Winchester, but he does not seem to have come often to the castle in later life, though he spent a good deal on repairs in the early part of his reign. The stone for this building was brought from Carisbrooke, and the verderers of the forest of Bere were commanded to sell the underwood to get money for building a great hall and to cut oaks for the roof. King Henry also had the queen's chamber panelled with Irish oak, and his own birth-room painted his favourite " fresh green " : statues were placed in INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER the porch, and a " Mappa Mundi " and Wheel of Fortune were hung in the painted chamber. There were three chapels in the palace. The Parliament was occasionally summoned to Winchester till the fifteenth century. It was during the sitting of one of these Parliaments, which had been called by Isabella and Mortimer, that Edmund of Woodstock was brought out in front of the main entrance to the castle to be executed, and, according to tradition, was kept waiting there all day before any man could be found willing to be his executioner. Henry IV. paid at least one visit to Winchester, for it was there that he married Joan of Brittany ; and Henry V. had an interview with the French ambassadors there shortly before he declared war against France, but after this date the castle seems to have been little used as a royal residence. In 1570 the ditch and rampart on the west side of Winchester Castle were overgrown with moss and small bushes. The Castle Green " together with the old walls and ruinous void rooms there " was at this time let on condition that the lessee kept it clean for sessions and assizes. The roof of the hall had been lately repaired by the mayor, and the queen had ** spent much money on the south aisle, but the north was so greatly decayed that the whole was in danger of falling." It was probably repaired soon afterwards, for although Queen Elizabeth does not seem to have come often to Winchester, James I. was there shortly after his accession, and seems to have been holding his Court at the castle when the Main and Bye Plots were discovered. King James gave the castle to Sir Benjamin Tichborne, but it was afterwards bestowed by the Parliament on Sir William W^aller, who sold it to the Corporation of Winchester. The hall, in which county business had been transacted B 2 4 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND since the time of Henry VIH., was sold by Waller at the same time to the county. Charles 11. began to build in Winchester a red-brick palace after designs by Wren : the main entrance had six pillars with acanthus-leaved capitals, and the cost of the whole building was estimated at :;^35,ooo. The surveyor was ordered to buy land to make a park ten miles in circum- ference, and the king laid the first stone of the new palace in 1683. During the next two years ;^20,ooo was spent on the building, but after Charles's death the work slackened : Evelyn, who was there shortly after the accession of James II., remarks that His Majesty did *' not seem to encourage " it. Queen Anne, however, came to Winchester, and surveyed the new palace herself : she intended to finish it for her husband. But the Prince of Denmark died before it was ready for him, and the building was not used until 1756, when it was turned into a lodging for the French prisoners of war. Odiham Castle Odiham Manor belonged to Harold before the Conquest, and it is possible that William I. occasionally stayed there after he had become king. Henry I. certainly had a house there, but the castle of which the ruins now remain was built by King John, who came often to the place. His last visit was in April, 12 16, at which time he gave the custody of the castle to Engelard de Cigoinny. Engelard seems to have been a negligent if not treacherous warden, for when the Dauphin and his supporters attacked the castle in the following July it was garrisoned only by three knights and ten sergeants. After a three days' siege they sallied forth and engaged an INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER equal number of the enemy with great success: the chivalrous Frenchmen then allowed them to return unhurt into their stronghold. When the castle was surrendered, after a defence of fifteen days, the garrison were allowed to keep their arms and horses, and marched out with all honour. In 1236 Henry III. granted the castle to his sister Eleanor, Countess of Pembroke, who afterwards married Simon de Montfort. She held it till 1258, when, under the Provisions of Oxford, all royal wardens were obliged to resign. The Countess, however, seems to have lived at Odiham after this date, and is said to have been visited there by her brother and nephew in 1265. In 1275 the castle was assigned to Queen Eleanor, and in 1299 to Queen Margaret. In 1303 a Parliament was held at Odiham, at which a statute was passed in favour of foreign merchants. In December, 1307, the Keeper of Odiham received orders to fortify it for the greater security of the realm during the king's absence on his journey to France for his marriage with Isabella. Four years later the castle was again fortified and provisioned against the barons, on behalf of the king and Gaveston. Robert Lewer, who was made warden at this time, was superseded in 1317 by Hugh Despenser, but regained his office in 1321. He was commanded to strengthen the garrison for the king's service ; but he joined the Lancas- trian party, and John St. John of Basing was therefore instructed to take the castle from him by force. St. John seems to have been successful, for Lewer afterwards tried to take it by storm : the building sustained a good deal of damage, and much repairing was done in 1324 and 1325. In 1327 Odiham Castle was granted by Parliament to Queen Isabella "in recognition of her services in suppressing 6 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND the rebellion of the Despensers," but in 1330, on the fall of Mortimer, her estates were seized by the king. Odiham was subsequently granted to Queen Philippa. David II. was a prisoner here for some time before his release in 1357. The castle was given to Anne of Bohemia by Richard II. in 1382, and was fortified in 1386 in expectation of an attack by the Duke of Gloucester. Odiham does not seem to have been occupied by any one of royal blood after this date, though it was assigned in dower to Margaret of Anjou in 1454. Constables of the castle were appointed until the end of the fifteenth century, but it was probably allowed to fall into disrepair about this time. The castle stood to the north-west of Odiham town, and its ruins may still be seen on the banks of the Basingstoke Canal. In the thirteenth century it was often called the Tower of Odiham, and may have been originally only a great tower : the " houses in the castle " are, however, mentioned as early as 1278. In the accounts of the fourteenth century mention is made of three gates, and of a bridge with palisades on the west side : there are still the remains of a gateway on the east side, and a larger opening on the west. The keep is octagonal, about 36 feet across inside, with flint walls about 10 feet thick pierced by round-arched windows. The park at Odiham is first mentioned in 1216 : it was afterwards well stocked with deer, and remained in the possession of the king till 1299, when it was granted to Margaret, queen of Edward I. PORTCHESTER CaSTLE The ** hall " at Portchester is mentioned in Domesday Book, but it is uncertain whether any king before Henry II. INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER often stayed there. The king's treasure was moved from Winchester to Portchester in 1163, and he was there again in the following year when the Bishop of Evreux came to try to mediate between him and Becket. Henry also paid a flying visit to the place on his way to France in 1172, and stayed there on his return. King John also came frequently to Portchester : he stayed there at the end of April, 1200, when he was on his way to marry Isabel of Angouleme, and again in the spring of 1204. He was probably there when the news of the loss of Chateau Gaillard reached him, and he summoned his forces to meet him there for an expedition to France, which he was after- wards obliged to abandon on account of the opposition of Hubert Walter and the Earl Marshal. In 1213 he again made plans for an invasion of France, but the barons refused to follow him, and he seems to have consoled himself at Portchester with the hunting, for he subsequently gave orders that his hounds should be sent to him. Henry III. visited Portchester in July, 1224, but during the following reign the castle seems to have been used chiefly as a State prison : Robert Wyshart, Bishop of Glasgow, and other Scotsmen were kept there in chains. During the French wars Portchester was a good deal used as a royal residence. Edward II. spent many weeks there in the summer and autumn of 1324 and again in the two following summers. In August, 1326, he issued writs of array. He seems to have expected an invasion of the south coast, but in September information reached him that the queen was likely to land on the east, and he gave orders that his forces should march to the Orwell. Edward III. spent some time at Portchester in 1346 while making ready for the Crecy campaign, and the castle was frequently used 8 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND as a convenient starting-place for France, but after his death it seems to have been scarcely visited by any king, until it was again filled with soldiers for the invasion of France by Henry V. It was then that Mortimer discovered and revealed the plot which Cambridge, Scrope and Grey had made in his favour : the conspirators were immediately sent to Southampton and there beheaded. After this date Portchester apparently received little royal notice until the reign of Henry VHI., who stayed at the castle with Anne Boleyn in October, 1535. The last royal visitor was Queen Elizabeth, who paid a visit in 1601 : the castle was granted to Sir William Uvedale by Charles I. York Castle York was often used by the Plantagenet kings as their headquarters when they had business in the north. It was there that the council was called at which Henry II. took the fealty of the Scottish king in 1173 ; on which occasion William the Lion is said to have offered his armour on the altar of St. Peter in token of subjection. This pledge was mentioned to the Pope in a statement of the claims of Edward I. to the overlordship, though Richard I. had acknowledged Scottish independence. King John had a meeting with the King of Scots at York in 1199, but it seems to have been his only important visit; perhaps because the citizens did not show a proper appreciation of its importance : they were subsequently fined £100 because they did not meet the Lord King with due respect when he came to the city. Apparently they learnt wisdom from this misfortune, for Henry III. complained of nothing in his reception, though he paid several visits to York. INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER His sister's marriage to Alexander of Scotland took place there in 1220, and Henry's subsequent visits were chiefly for the purpose of friendly meetings with his brother- in-law. In 1230 they kept a three days' festival together at Christmastide. After Alexander's death Henry made another alliance with Scotland, and in 1251 he came to York for the marriage of his daughter to the little King of Scots. On this occasion the King of England was the guest of the Archbishop of York, who showed the greatest hospitality to all, " exhibiting in great abundance whatever this transitory world could afford . . . insomuch that this meeting for his master's honour cost him 4,000 marks, which," as the chronicler sadly remarks, " was all sown on a barren soil and never sprang up to his profit." Edward I. came to York several times during his wars with Scotland, and the Courts of King's Bench and Exchequer were established there for seven years. They were again held in the city for six months in 1319, when Edward II. was there : twenty-one carts filled with the records are said to have come from Westminster on this occasion. The king visited York again in 1322 and called a Parlia- ment when the Despensers were recalled. At Ascensiontide he made his eldest son Edward Prince of Wales and Duke of Aquitaine. He also spent the following Christmas in the city, but this seems to have been his last visit. Edward III. kept his Court at York "in the house of the Friars Minors " at the time of his marriage. The festivities were disturbed by " a strange and hideous noise which arose " on account of a quarrel between the Hainaulters and some archers of Lincoln and Northants : the king was obliged to interfere to protect the foreigners. Eighty men of Lincoln were said to have been slain in this fray : they were buried lo ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND under a stone in St. Clement Church in Fossgate. The king called a ParHament at York in 1334 : he seems to have spent a good deal of time there in the early part of his reign, but after he turned his attention to France rather than to Scotland the city saw him no more, though it was honoured by visits from Queen Philippa, who came to raise troops when a Scottish invasion was expected. Richard II. came to York occasionally, and the Courts of King's Bench and Exchequer were there from Midsummer till Christmas in 1392, but after the war with Scotland had begun to dwindle into border raiding royal visits became less frequent. King Richard was in the city for the more amiable purpose of settling a quarrel between the mayor and the archbishop ; and neither Henry IV. nor Henry V. seems to have paid more than one visit. Henry V. came to show his bride, who had just been crowned at Westminster, and to make a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. John of Beverley. During the Wars of the Roses both kings were at York at different times : the only member of the royal family whom the city seems to have regarded with anything more than indifference was Richard, Duke of Gloucester. Apparently he succeeded in winning there the popularity which he sought vainly in the rest of the kingdom, and it is said that he was received with great splendour there after his coronation, which was repeated at York and followed by tournaments, revels, and triumphant sports. The citizens' affection seems to have lasted after his death, for all the country round was much disturbed at the time of Simnel's rebellion, in which John de la Pole, whom Richard had named his successor, took part. Henry VII. subsequently paid an ingratiating visit to the city, and disaffection gradually died out. Probably York Castle did not afford enough accommodation INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER ii for Henry VIII. Even earlier and less splendour-loving kings had been obliged sometimes to borrow the convent of the Friars Minors or St. Mary's Abbey; and after the Dissolution the king ordered the abbey buildings to be converted into a palace. He stayed there in 1541, but the house subsequently became the residence of the Lords Presi- dent of the Council of the North : James I. and Charles I. paid occasional visits, but after 1642 the palace was not used by any king, though James II. was there twice when he was Duke of York. Bamburgh Castle Bamburgh is first mentioned in connection with Ida, King of Northumbria, who according to tradition "timbered Bebbanburgh that was first fortified with a hedge and there- after with a wall," in 547. The castle or fort then existing was called Dinquaroy, but Ida's grandson Ethelfrith the Destroyer gave it to his wife Bebba. Bamburgh was twice besieged by Penda : it is said to have been saved finally by St. Aidan, who saw from Fame Island the flames and smoke rising above the walls and cried " See, Lord, what great evil Penda doeth ! " whereupon the wind shifted right round, and drove the fire back on the Mercians, who were forced to break up their camp. Alcred, King of Northumbria, stayed at Bamburgh for a short time in 774 : the castle is then said to have been " most strongly fortified, not very large . . . having one entrance hollowed out of the rock and raised in steps after a marvellous fashion." When the Earldom of Northumberland was granted by Stephen to Henry, Earl of Huntingdon, Bamburgh Castle was excepted from the grant, but it was afterwards given up, 12 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND and remained in the possession of the Scottish kings until 1157, when Henry II. recovered it from Malcolm IV. Henry made several additions to his newly recovered possession and probably built the castle as we now know it : the " great tower " was built in 1164, and the work of building seems to have been carried on for the next five years. In 1 197 further improvements were made, and in the following year the castle gates were repaired. King John stayed at Bamburgh in February, 1201, and spent more than £87 on building and repairs there during the next three years. Henry III. visited the castle in March, 1221, and gaveorders for the building of a good granary 150 feet long and 34 feet broad. This was finished in the summer of the following year, and in June instructions were sent to have it ready for corn at harvest. In 1237 ^ i^^w granary and a bakehouse were built. Edward I. summoned John Balliol to meet him at Bam- burgh in 1296, and stayed there himself on his return from Scotland in the following September : he was there again in 1299. Edward II. spent less time in the north, and does not seem to have visited Bamburgh. The custody of the castle was given to John de Eslington, who was captured by the Scots at Bannockburn. The king appointed Roger de Horsley in his place, but Bamburgh seems to have been much neglected at this time, for it was almost in ruins at the beginning of the reign of Edward III. The stone roof of Davy's Tower had been blown off in a storm, and the roof of the Bell Tower was gone, so that the great beams were rotten with rain ; and the great hall and kitchen were equally need of repair. Iri 1333 Queen Philippa stayed at Bamburgh while Edward III. was making his attack on Berwick in support >5 a — -J 5 C; INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 13 of Edward Balliol. During her visit Archibald Dou^^las marched on Bamburgh, hoping thereby to force the Enghsh to raise their siege, but he was defeated at Hahdon Hill. In 1346 David II. was brought to Bamburgh after the battle of Neville's Cross. William of Bolton and Hugh Kilvington came from York to take the arrow out of the king's wound and '* heal him with all speed " : they received a fee of £b for their services. Edward Balliol subsequently surrendered to the English king all his interest in the kingdom of Scot- land, and the final agreement for this surrender took place at Bamburgh in January, 1356. Edward III. visited the castle again on his return from East Lothian after the Burnt Candlemas, but after this date Bamburgh does not seem to have had any royal visitors for more than a hundred years. In 1462 Margaret of Anjou landed near Bamburgh and stayed at the castle, which was afterwards besieged by the Yorkists. After a long siege, the queen having escaped, the garrison surrendered, on condition that Percy should have the custody of the castle. The reason for this request was made plain in the Lent following, when he let the Lancastrians take Bamburgh from him ; and about two months later Henry V'l. came thither from Scotland with Queen Margaret. The Lancastrians did not, however, make much progress. After an unsuccessful attempt on Norham, Margaret returned to Bamburgh, and, leaving the king in the castle, set sail for France with her son. Henry remained at Bamburgh for the next nine months, and after Warwick's withdrawal seems to have ruled almost undisturbed over the neighbourhood. In January, 1464, he conferred a charter on the burgesses of Edinburgh, granting them special privileges in trading with the land in his possession. 14 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND After the Lancastrian defeat at Hexham, Henry put Sir Ralph Grey in command at Bamburgh and left the castle. Warwick, who had returned to the north, thereupon laid siege to Bamburgh, and summoned Sir Ralph "and other that kept his rebellious opinion " to deliver it up. Grey replied that he found the castle so fair a place that he had clearly determined within himself to live and die there. The heralds then delivered their final message : " If ye deliver not this jewel, — the which the king our most dread sovereign lord hath so greatly in favour (seeing it marcheth so nigh his ancient enemy of Scotland) that he specially desireth to have it whole, unbroken with ordinance, — if ye suffer one great gun to be laid unto the wall, and be shot, and prejudice the wall, it shall cost you the chieftain's head, and so pro- ceeding for every gun shot to the last head of any person in the place." Notwithstanding this threat Sir Ralph Grey refused to surrender the castle, and at Warwick's orders " Newcastle," the largest gun, and " London," the second, "so betyde the place that the stones of the walls flew into the sea . . . and Dysyon a brazen gun of the king oftentimes smote through Sir Rafe Grey's chamber." After a brave defence the castle was taken, and Grey was brought to Edward IV. at Doncaster and there executed : one is sorry that he did not manage to die in Bamburgh as he had determined. After this date Bamburgh does not seem to have received any further royal notice until 1537, when the king's grace " having journeyed in the morning a ten mile dined at the castle." The place was described at that time as "so naturally strong that hardly can anywhere (in my opinion) be found the like : inaccessible on all sides, as well for the great height of the crag on which it standeth as also for the INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 15 outward form of the stone whereof the crag is ; which . . . I may liken to the shape of long havens (faggots) standing on end. . . . Thus is it fenced about and hath hereto on the east side the sea, at flood coming up to the hard walls. This castle is very ancient, and called in Arthur's days, as I have heard, Joyous Garde." In the reign of Elizabeth the custody of the castle was given to Sir John Forster, who allowed the place to fall into utter ruin. In June, 1575, it was said that " the Drawbridge and gates ys so broken that there is no usuall entry on the fore part save at a breach in the wall." The jury declared that they did not know by whom the damage had been done, but though Sir John escaped censure, his neglect ultimately turned to the disadvantage of his grandson Claudius, to whom the castle and lordship were given by James I. FOTHERINGHAY CaSTLE The manor of Fotheringhay was held at the end of the thirteenth century " of the King of Scots by service of one hawk yearly " by Christian, sister of the Earl of Huntingdon, and Devorguilla, wife of John Balliol, but it afterwards came to the English crown and was eventually given by Edward III. to Edmund of Langley, Duke of York. Edmund repaired the castle, which was ruinous, and is said to have rebuilt the keep "in the form of a fetter lock, a device of the House of York." Richard, Duke of York, lived at Fotheringhay after his marriage with Cecily Neville, and their third son, afterwards King Richard III., was born there. Elizabeth Woodville seems to have stayed there with her mother-in-law in 1469 : they were joined, on the news of the northern insurrection, i6 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND by Edward IV., who came in great haste from Croyland by water. In the same year Cecily gave up her right in the manor to the king, but she seems to have continued to live in the castle ; and she desired that when she died her body might be buried beside that of her " most entirely best beloved lord and husband . . . within the church at Fotheringhay." The castle afterwards belonged to Elizabeth of York, and was given by Henry VIII. in dower to his queen Katherine of Aragon, who, it is said, " did great costs of refreschinge it." The building is described about this time as " fair, and metely strong, Vv^ith double ditches and a kepe very auncient : there be very fair lodgyns." The double moat and goodly lodgings are mentioned again in the reign of James I., at which time the great dining-room was ** well garnished with pictures." Fotheringhay is, however, best known as the prison of Mary Queen of Scots, who was executed on a scaffold raised at the upper end of the hall in 1586. She was the last queen who lived at the castle, for James I. gave it to Charles, Lord Montjoy, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. The Tower of London The Tower of London was always at least as much a fortress as a palace, and it was probably for this reason that it was most used by the kings in troubled reigns. The first to keep his Court there seems to have been Stephen, who held the feast of Whitsuntide at the Tower in 1140, when Geoffrey de Mandeville was keeper of the fortress; but when the civil war had ended there was less need for the king to live behind such strong fortifications, and it is doubtful whether Henry II. ever resided there. INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 17 The palace was strongly rcfortified and repaired by King John, and was besieged by the citizens of London and the barons in May, 1215. It held out till news came of the granting of the Charter, and was then delivered to the Arch- bishop of Canterbury in accordance with the king's agreement. In the following year it was surrendered to Louis of France. The building seems to have been a good deal battered in this war, for extensive repairs were carried out during the first ten years of the reign of Henry III. : it was, however, possible to live there as early as 1220, for in that year the king kept his Court at the Tower during Lent. Lenten fare at Court does not seem to have been economical, for although the bailiffs of Gloucester sent three hundred lampreys, the king was obliged to borrow two hundred marks from Pandulf and one hundred from Henry of St. Albans for the expenses of the household. In 1232 the custody of the Tower was given to Hubert de Burgh, and in the following year the king gave orders that the palace should be the residence of his sister Isabel, who accordingly lived there till her marriage with the Emperor in 1235. In 1239 Henry III. began to rebuild the fortifications and make additions to them, which, however, were twice destroyed as if by earthquake. If the king did not know the cause of this downfall, it was at least plain to all London : the spirit of St. Thomas of Canterbury had returned to protect his birth-place from the aggressions intended by the Court party and had actually been seen, by a most trustworthy man, at his work of destruction. Notwithstanding this warning, Edward I. continued the fortifications when he became king, and he succeeded in making them firm and strong. In his reign the Tower was R.P. C i8 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND much used as a State prison, and the king himself does not seem to have kept his Court there for any length of time. Edward II. added more fortifications and continued to use the Tower as a State prison : Roger Mortimer of Wigmore was sent there towards the end of the reign, but he escaped and joined the queen in France. Then, when danger was upon him, the king again made the Tower his dwelling-place, and in June the mayor, sheriffs, and aldermen of London came before him there and took his commands for keeping the city quiet. There he received the news of the queen's landing, and issued a proclamation offering a reward for Mortimer's head. Shortly afterwards the Tower itself surrendered to the enemy. Edward III. spent much of the first two years of his reign at the Tower, but after he had entered upon his foreign wars the place came to be regarded more and more as a strong fortress to be used as a protection for the city. Great preparations for its defence were made in 1337, when Edward seems to have been expecting a French invasion. He hastened on the works at the Tower, sent an order to the sheriffs of London to cause all manner of supplies to be carried there without delay, and wrote a sharp letter to the sheriff of Essex, complaining that the timber which he had ordered from Havering-atte- Bower had not yet arrived, and bidding him see to it " that the works which the king ordered to be done by a certain day be not retarded by his negligence, whereby the King maybe obliged to punish him." Nor was it only the sheriff whose slackness aroused the king's wrath, for a short time afterwards he found it necessary to send an indignant message to Nicholas de la Beche, Constable of the Tower : had he not ** ordered Nicholas, because of certain news whicji came to his ears, to cause the Tower to be safely INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 19 guarded, and to take cath from the officers and others who dwell there not to leave the Tower at night without leave ? And now he was informed that notwithstanding that order divers officers went to the city of London and to other places after sunset." This rebuke seems to have had the desired effect, for the king had no further complaints to make that year. When the cat went away, however, the mice began to play again ; and when Edward, who was probably not without suspicions, suddenly returned to England in November, 1341, and landed at midnight for a surprise visit to the Tower, he found that place insufficiently guarded. The governor was imprisoned, and the king gave orders that in his place Edward the Black Prince should live in the Tower and see that it was provided with all things necessary for safety and defence. Richard II. came to the Tower for safety at the time ot Wat Tyler's rebellion, and again in 1387. In 1390 he held a great feast there, followed by a tournament at Smithfield. " The first day was called the feast of challenge, and about three o'clock in the afternoon there issued out of the Tower of London, first threescore coursers apparelled for the jousts and on every one an esquire of honour, riding a soft pace ; and then threescore ladies of honour mounted on fair palfreys . . . richly apparelled ; and every lady led a knight with a chain of silver, which knights were apparelled to joust ; and thus they came riding along the streets of London with great number of trumpets and other minstrels and so came to Smithfield, where the king and queen with many ladies and damsels were ready in chambers richly adorned to see the jousts. . . . And many commendable courses were run to the great pleasure, recreation and comfort of the king and queen and all other beholders." c 2 20 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND Richard came to the Tower for the last time in 1399 ; and it was at a council held there in September of that year that he was obliged to abdicate. The first two Lancastrians do not seem to have kept Court for any length of time at the Tower, though both stayed there for a few days before their coronations, and proceeded thence through the City to Westminster according to custom. This custom was observed even at the hurried coronation of Edward IV., who came from Shene to the Tower in 1461, and there entertained the most powerful of the Yorkists. Before his coronation he made thirty-two of his supporters Knights of the Bath, " who, being arrayed in blue gowns with hoods and tokens of white silk upon their shoulders, rode before him to Westminster." In 1464 Henry VI. was brought as a prisoner to the Tower, where he remained for five years. Visitors were admitted to see him, but they do not seem to have been always friendly, for during his short restoration in 1471 Henry pardoned a man who had struck him with a dagger when he was a prisoner. At the same time Edward IV. kept his Court frequently at the Tower, and it was thence that he fled to Holland and his queen to sanctuary at Westminster when " the Duke of Clarence, companied by the Earls of Warwick and Shrewsbury, Lord Stanley and other lords and gentlemen . . . brought King Henry VI. apparelled in a long gown of blue velvet through the streets of London to the cathedral church of St. Paul : the people on the right hand and on the left rejoicing and crying * God save the King ! ' " as they showed themselves ready to do, no matter which king entered the City. Edward V. came to the Tower shortly after his uncle Richard was made Protector, and was afterwards joined by INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 21 his brother. The queen had fled to Westminster with her younger son, but the sanctuary was surrounded by armed men, and she was induced to give him up. The affair was thus described in a letter of the time : — " For tidings I hold you happy that ye arc out of the press, for with us is much trouble and every man doubts the other, as on Friday last the Lord Chamberlain (Hastings) was headed soon upon noon. On Monday last was at West- minster great plenty of harnessed (i.e. armed) men. There was the deliverance of the Duke of York to my Lord Cardinal, my Lord Chancellor and many other lords tem- poral : and with him met my Lord of Buckingham in the midst of the Hall of Westminster, my Lord Protector receiving him at the Star Chamber door with many loving words, and so departed with my Lord Cardinal to the Tower, where he is, blessed be Jesu, merry." Before two months had passed both the children were dead. Their sister Elizabeth of York returned in happier times to the Tower, where she was received by King Henry VIL, and their Majesties kept open household, until the queen ** in white cloth of gold, her fair yellow hair flowing loose, and adorned with a circlet of gold and jewels," proceeded to Westminster for her coronation. In 1501 Henry VII. held a splendid tournament at the Tower, but after this date the building seems hardly ever to have been used as a palace, except during the three days before a coronation. Edward VI. came there after his father's death, "and after the Earl of Hertford the Lord Admiral and others had brought his Highness from the privy chamber to the chair of estate, all the lords proceeded one after the other, according to their degrees, and kneeling down before him, kissed his hand saying * God save your Grace.' 22 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND Then Sir Thomas Wriothesley the Lord Chancellor declared to them the late king's will and the names of his executors. . . This ended, they cried all together with a loud voice * God save King Edward ! ' and his Grace, putting off his cap, answered ' We heartily thank you, my lords all.' " On July 10, 1553, Lady Jane Grey made her public entry into the Tower as Queen of England, but before she could pro- ceed thence in the approved manner to Westminster for her coronation she had been replaced by Queen Mary, who remained at the palace until her brother's funeral. Mary came again to the Tower, according to custom, on " Thurs- day before the coronation " (October i), and subsequently made her procession through the City, where she was greeted by " goodly pageants, and devices therein, with music and eloquent speeches. The queen was carried in a litter, and the Lady Elizabeth and the Lady Anne (of Cleves) followed in a chariot." In November, 1558, Elizabeth established her Court at the Tower, but she moved to Somerset House early in December, and did not return until the traditional date, when she came by water. She was ** attended by the Mayor and Aldermen in their barges, and all the crafts in their barges, decked and trimmed with the banners of their misteries : and thus with great and pleasant melody of instruments — which played in most sweet and heavenly manner — her Grace passed the Bridge about two of the clock and came to the Tower." At the coronation of James I. the customary procession from the Tower to Westminster did not take place, by reason of the plague. But so great was the disappointment of the citizens, who had made preparations, that James afterwards " passed triumphantly from the Tower to Westminster together with the queen and Prince Henry his son to the INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 23 opening of Parliament : he rode on a white gennet under a rich canopy borne by six privy councillors," and the Londoners were appeased. The old custom, however, once broken, soon died. Charles II. made a magnificent effort to revive it, but the very magnificence of its revival hastened its decay. " For it is incredible to think what costly clothes were worn that day : the cloaks could hardly be seen what silk or satin they were of, for the gold and silver lace and embroidery that were laid upon them ; besides the value of diamonds, pearls, and other jewels worn ... so that all the world that saw it could not but confess that all they had seen before was but solemn mummery to the most august, noble, and true glories of this great day. Even the vaunting French," writes the proud chronicler of English extravagance, " confessed their pomps of the marriage with the Infanta of Spain to be inferior in state gallantry and riches to this most glorious cavalcade from the Tower." The result of all this splendour was that at the coronation of James II. the ceremony of Court-keeping at the Tower and the procession thence to Westminster were abandoned '* because of the great expense as well to the government as the city." In the following reign the remainder of the domestic apartments of the ancient palace were pulled down, and the Tower of London has never since that date been used as a royal dwelling-place. Westminster Palace According to tradition there was a royal palace at West- minter at least as early as the reign of Canute, but this building was burnt to the ground in the time of Edward the Confessor, who afterwards rebuilt it in more splendid fashion. 24 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND Canute is said to have come frequently to the place to be near Wulfnoth, the Abbot of Westminster, whom he had made his friend. From one of the windows here Eadric the traitor was supposed to have been flung into the Thames ; but the Tower of London has also been claimed as the place of his death, and the existence of a palace at Westminster at that time has been denied. The connection of the Confessor with Westminster Palace is, however, less doubtful. The chroniclers are agreed that it was here that he spent his last days, and saw those wonderful visions concerning his descendants which he was afterwards said to have revealed on his death-bed. William I. kept the feast of Whitsuntide at Westminster in 1086, and there made Henry, his youngest son, a knight. The great Hall was built by William Rufus, whose con- temporaries, we are told, considered it far too large. But to these objectors the king is said to have replied that it was not nearly large enough, and would appear but an alcove in the hall which he intended to build. As the expenses of the work had been paid out of the revenues of vacant bishoprics, the great Hall ought certainly to have fallen down as soon as it was finished, like the fortifications at the Tower in later times, yet it proved to be the most lasting part of the palace. This was perhaps owing to the fact that there was then no Thomas Becket to pull down the walls with ghostly hands ; but the work of destruction might have been carried out by some other saintly spirit. The Hall may, however, have been spared because it was to be the place where Henry L held the Court at which he " filled up so many bishoprics that there was no man who remembered so many together were ever given away before." Stephen is said to have been the founder of St. Stephen's \Vl>TMINsrKK I I ALL. From 11)1 fngra^ing by C. Hniikins. i8ot. ■\ i -I ' a ii INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 2 ^D Chapel ; but the rest of the palace seems to have been ruined at this time, for extensive repairs were carried out in the early part of the reign of Henry II. The new king paid sixty- seven shillings for a new roof for the palace, which must have been ready for him before 1162, for in that year " the king's house at Westminster was cleansed against his coming " and ten shillings was spent on " fresh rushes to strew the floor." The coronation feast of the young King Henry was held at Westminster in 1170, and it was upon this occasion, accord- ing to Holinshed, that he first showed himself "of an evill and perverse nature, puffed up in pride." Richard I. also held his coronation feast here ; and King John seems to have come here to spend the Christmas of 1213, for Roger Waterman was instructed to have a new bath ready for the king's use by Christmas Eve. The Palace of Westminster, like many other royal houses, underwent considerable repairs at the beginning of the reign of Henry III., whose chief idea of decoration seems to have been to have everything painted " green like a curtain." The '* chamber behind the queen's chapel " was, however, to be " wainscotted, and a frieze made and well painted with the images of our Lord, and of angels with censers." The four Evangelists were also to be represented, one in each corner. These decorations seem to have been the work of Odo the Goldsmith of Westminster and Edward his son, whose name afterwards appears in connection with the mural paintings in St. Stephen's Chapel. Apparently Edward's work did not always satisfy the king, for in 1260, when the painter had half finished " a certain picture in the wardrobe where the king was accustomed to wash his face, representing the king who was rescued by his dog from the seditious barons who plotted against him," Henry suddenly ordered that the room 26 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND should instead be painted plain green. There is no record of Edward's feelings about this matter ; possibly they were of a kind that could not easily be expressed, even in that out- spoken age. In 1236 Henry III. summoned a council at Westminster to consider the proposed marriage between the king's sister Isabel and the Emperor. The imperial ambassadors before the final decision besought that they might see the lady. The king sent to the Tower, where she lived, and had her brought to Westminster, when the ambassadors, " after they had for some time delighted themselves with beholding the maiden, judged her in all things worthy to be the Emperor's wife, and presented to her on the part of their master a wedding-ring." At the feast which followed " there assembled such a multitude of barons, such numbers of clergy, such crowds of people, so many players that the city of London itself could scarcely hold them . . . and how shall the dainties of the table be described ? Whatever the world pours forth of pleasure and splendour was there displayed." The pleasure and splendour must, however, have been some- what damped by the torrents of rain which, together with an unusually high tide, so swelled the river that "the fords became impassable, the bridges covered with water, and Thames, breaking his accustomed bounds, flowed into West- minster Palace, so that the Great Hall must be crossed in boats, and those who went up to their rooms rode on horse- back." Probably the younger members of the royal house- hold quite enjoyed the excitement of the flood, but among the elders it can scarcely have been welcomed, except per- haps by Edward the Goldsmith, who profited by it. New pictures had to be made in the queen's chamber, and in other rooms, and the painter received in payment for his INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 27 work ;^5 17s. lod., though he had to find his own oil, varnish, and colours. In 1238 Eleanor, Henry III.'s sister, was privately married to Simon de Montfort in the king's little chapel at West- minster by Walter, the chaplain of St. Stephen's. In the following year, according to tradition, there appeared over Westminster " a star of large compasse, the which with swift course was carried thro' a long circuit of the air, sometime shewing as itt had borne fire with it, so that it was judged that great deeds, which were to be achieved by Edward the king's son (who was born at this time), were by this wonderful constellation foreshewed and signified." In 1263 "the king's Little Hall with manie other houses thereto adioyninge was consumed with fire," and the king accordingly wrote to the Bishop of London to ask for timber for the repairs. The bishop, however, though he was "much grieved to hear of the fire," made answer that " as to the timber ... we are informed that your keepers have so destroyed our woods that we believe there would be found little or no supply for the repair of our own house. Where- fore until we shall have ascertained whether your said keepers have left us that wherewith we may help you, we dare not promise aught." Probably Henry did not repeat his request : he was already on the brink of war, and can scarcely have finished the repairs in the palace before it was attacked by " a furious mob of Londoners who . . . made havocke there, drynking up and destroying the king's wine. They brake the glasse windows, and defaced the building most disorderly uneth (scarcely) forbearing to set the house on fire." The Londoners were afterwards heavily fined, and their ma3or was imprisoned, for the support they had given to Simon de Montfort. 28 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND King Henry kept Christmas at Westminster after the war was ended ; but though the country was tranquil, the Court was filled with disturbance by that determined wrangler John of Warenne. His first quarrel was with Henryde Lacy, and it grew so hot that both began to make preparations for private war : they were, however, at last induced to refer their dispute to the king's justices, who decided in favour of Lacy. Warenne's next brawling-match was with Alan la Zouche, a worthy foe, whose voice, raised in anger, could be heard " almost as far as Charing," when his cause was being tried in Westminster Hall. The decision seemed likely to be given in favour of la Zouche, but Warenne, unable to bear the loss of two law- suits in succession, suddenly, " in defiance of the reverence due as well to the king and queen as to the justices, even in their verie presence and before the officers of the Chancery," attacked his opponent and murdered him. By a marvellous stroke of luck the murderer found a boat ready to cross the river, and a horse upon the other side : he escaped in safety to his castle at Reigate. He afterwards made oath that he had not acted from malice, but from sudden uncontrollable anger, and thereupon received a pardon on condition that he paid a fine of 10,000 marks : the greater part of this sum was, however, still unpaid at the time of his death in 1304. Those who acted in defiance of the reverence due to the king's justices did not escape so lightly in the following reign, as William de Braose found when, judgement having been given against him, he " contemptuously approached the bar and asked Roger de Hengham the king's justice in gross and upbraiding words if he would defend that judgement. The said William was therefore arraigned . . . andcondenmed to proceed as a penitent, bareheaded and liolding a torch in his hand, from the King's Bench in Westminster Hall, during full INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 29 court, to the Exchequer and there ask pardon of the said Roger. And afterwards, for his contempt of the king's court, he was committed to the Tower during pleasure." The King of Scots was a guest at the coronation festivities of Edward I : *' he came with one hundred knights mounted on splendid horses." Knighton tells us of the glories of that day : how " the aqueduct in Chepe poured forth white wine and red like rain-water, for those who would to drink as they pleased," and how the Scottish knights belied the national reputation for economy, by "turning loose their horses for those who would to catch and keep." Afterwards came Edmund, Earl of Cornwall, the King's brother, and the Earls of Gloucester, Pembroke, and Warenne, each with a body of knights wearing their lord's armour : not to be outdone by the Scots, " they also set free their palfreys that whosoever w^ould might take them unquestioned." It is clear that Westminster Palace was repaired and partly redecorated at the beginning of the reign of Edward I., and there was painting in the king's chapel in 1294, but, busy as he was in other places, Edward can hardly have had time to enjoy his new pictures at Westminster before they were destroyed, for in March, 1298, a vehement fire was kindled in the Little Hall : the flames reached the roof, and fanned by the wind devoured the palace. Edward, on his return to Westminster, was obliged to live at York Place ; and he found the Archbishop's palace so pleasant that he added two rooms to it and used it as his own for the rest of his life. Edward II. probably wanted more sumptuous lodgings, for as soon as he came to the throne the rebuilding of West- minster Palace was begun, and the Courts of King's Bench and Exchequer were " ordained to be held within the Abbey, because of the hindrances and disturbances made by the 30 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND works." All the herbaries, vineries, and gardens were turfed, cleansed, and repaired, numerous chambers and halls altogether newly built, and " the aqueducts from the Thames to the kitchens and wardrobes of the palace,^ which were choked up, entirely laid open and amended." The work of rebuilding went on steadily for the first four years, and seems to have been continued at intervals throughout the whole of the reign. St. Stephen's Chapel was apparently still unfinished in 1363, for Edward III. appointed " our beloved William de Walsingham to take so many painters in our city of London as may be sufficient for our works in St. Stephen's Chapel within our Palace, and to bring them ... for our works and at our wages, there to remain as long as may be necessary : and he hath authority to arrest all who shall prove rebellious or unsatisfactory in this matter, and commit them to prison until we shall otherwise have ordered their punishment." It is possible that such orders as these partially explain that love of work and exquisite care in finishing for which the mediaeval workman is famous to-day. In 1317 Edward II. "kept his feast of Whitsuntide in the Great Hall at Westminster, when . . . there rode into the Hall, upon a horse strangely caparisoned, a woman in a fantastic dress, who, after the custom of masqueraders, made a circuit about the tables, and at length came up the steps to the king's table and laid before him a letter : then reining back her horse, she saluted the guests and departed as she had come. The king wanted to know what was in the letter, so he had it opened, and these were its words : — "'The Lord King shows small consideration for those knights who in his father's time and his own have spent their ^ Henry III. had ordered that water should be brought in pipes to every one of the kitchens and wardrobes at Westminster. INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 31 substance for his honour : yet others, who have not borne the burden of service, are abundantly enriched.' When this was heard, the guests wondered much at the boldness of the woman, and the door-keepers were blamed for having suffered her to enter : but they excused themselves saying ' it is not the custom here to forbid in any way the entrance of mas- queraders.' Men were sent after the woman, who being easily found was taken and cast into prison. . . . Afterwards a certain knight came and avowed himself the author of the letter, declaring that he had consulted naught therein save the king's honour. Therefore the woman was released." During the reign of Edward III. the lists at Westminster were more than once the scene of a trial by battle. Of these duels the most famous was that between "John de Visconti and Thomas de la Marche, two foreign knights of great distinction, who entreated the king as the most worthy and honourable prince in all Christendom to grant them the Trial by Battle in his presence : therefore he set them a day wherein to decide their quarrel at his Palace of Westminster." The French knight was the victor. Another trial by battle took place here in the reign of Richard II., and was watched by the English with less pride but quite as much excitement. Sir John Annesley had accused Thomas Katrington of delivering to the French for money the castle of St. Sauveur le Vicomte, of which he was governor, and the crowds of people that came to see the trial were thought to exceed those at the king's coronation. " The king, his nobles and all the people being come together, the knight . . . entered first as appellant. . . . And shortly after was the esquire called to defend his cause : * Thomas Katrington, defendant, come and appear to save the action for which Sir John Anneslie knight and appellant 32 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND hath pubhcly and by writing appealed thee.' He being thrice called by an herald-at-arms, at the third call did come. ... At his approaching to the lists he alighted from his horse, lest according to the law of arms the Constable should have challenged the horse if he had entered within the lists. But his shifting nothing availed him, for the horse . . . ran up and down by the rails, now thrusting his head over, and now both head and breast, so that the Earl of Buckingham, because he was High Constable of England, claimed the horse afterwards, swearing that he would have as much of him as had appeared over the rails, and so the horse was adjudged unto him. Before they entered battle they took an oath . . . that the cause in which they were to fight was true, and that they dealt with no witchcraft nor art magic, . . . nor had about them any herb or stone or other kind of experiment with which magicians use to triumph over their enemies. . . . They fought long, till at length the esquire was manfully overthrown by the knight ... to the great rejoicing of the common people and discouragement of traitors." Katrington died next day, of shame, it was said. In 1382 Anne of Bohemia came to England, and was married to Richard H. in the chapel ot the Palace at West- minster. She was shortly afterwards crowned queen by the Archbishop of Canterbury "with all the glory and honour that might be devised. Then were holden for the more honour of the marriage jousts ... in which as well the Englishmen as the new queen's countrymen shewed proof of their manhood and valiancy, whereby praise and com- mendation of knightly prowess was achieved, not without damage of both parties." The shows, dances, and minstrelsy at this coronation were almost as magnificent as those of Richard's own, which had INTRODUCTORY CHAPTlvR 33 taken place four years earlier, and which would have passed off as smoothly as it did sumptuously save for a small dispute as to the right of the king's champion to ride in the corona- tion procession. Sir John Dymock attempted to make good his claim to this right by "proceeding on horseback to the Abbey gates. But the Lord Marshal, the Lord Seneschal and the Lord Constable, with Sir Thomas Percy, all mounted on their great horses, went to the knight and told him that he should not have come so soon, for that he should come when dinner was served : wherefore he had better retire, and rest himself until the proper time." Sir John submitted to their decision. In 1389, on May 3, a council was held at Westminster, at which Richard II. suddenly announced to his uncle Gloucester his intention of managing his own affairs. At Westminster the king began his rule by ordering the palace to be repaired, and on July 13 he appointed Geoffrey Chaucer clerk of the works there and at several other palaces at the wages of 2s. a day. But it is probable that Westminster had already seen its best days as a palace. No king, except perhaps Edward II., had loved it as much as Henry III., and no king had stayed there so often : Edward I. had managed to do without it entirely for the greater part of his reign ; Edward III., when he was in England, liked to be at Wood- stock; Richard II. preferred Eltham, and Henry IV. Havering. Yet the Palace of Westminster still blazed out in all its glory on special occasions, to welcome some foreign visitor, or to celebrate a coronation or royal wedding. Such a foreign visitor was the Emperor Sigismund, who came to Westminster in May, 1416, and was received with all the usual ceremonies and festivities. His object was to arbitrate between England and France, but in this he was R.P. D 34 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND unsuccessful, and the war did not come to an end even when " Queue Kateryne was with great pompe conveighed into Westminsier and there set in the throne" in 1421. Henry and Katherine had already been married in France, but the Londoners were not to be done out of the splendours of a royal wedding even in Lent, and the marriage feast was accordingly held at Westminster. It consisted almost entirely of different kinds of fish, but the " sotylties," wonderful creations in pastry which presumably took the place of the modern wedding cake, were many and ingeniously designed : they included " an image of seynt Kateryn with a whele in her hande, and a roll in that other hand sayinge : — La royne ma file In ceste ile Par bonne resoun Aves renouD." There was also " a marchpayne, garnysshed with divers figures of aungellys : among ye which was set an image of Sent Katheryne holding this reson : — II est escrit Pour voir, et dit, Par mariage pur Cest guerre ne dure." Westminster was not again the scene of such splendid festivities until 1487, when Elizabeth of York was crowned. *' The queen came from Greenwich by water to the Tower, the barges of the City companies accompanying her : there was in especial a barge called the Bachelors Barge, garnished and apparelled passing all other: wherein was ordained a great red dragon spouting flames of fire into the Thames, and many gentlemanlike pageants well and curiously devised to do her Highness sport and pleasure. She proceeded through INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 35 the city to Westminster, and in divers places were ordained singing children, some arrayed like angels and others like virgins to sing sweet songs as her Grace passed by. On the morrow the queen came forth of Westminster Hall, from the which place to the pulpit in Westminster Church she went upon new bay cloth : but, more pity, there was so much people inordinately pressing to cut the bay cloth the queen went upon, that certain persons in the press were slain, and the order of ladies following the queen was broken and dis- troubled." On Shrove Sunday, 1510, the young King Henry VHI. " prepared a goodly banket in the Parliament Chambre at Westminster for all the Ambassadors which were then here out of diverse countries and relmes," and there was after- wards much of the dressing-up in which the king always took a childish delight. He himself came in with the Earl of Essex *' appareled after Turkey fasshion in long robes of bawdkin powdered with gold " : they were followed by the Earl of Wiltshire and Lord FitzWalter in two long gowns made after the fashion of Russia, and by Admiral Howard and Sir Thomas Parr dressed " after the fashion of Prussia or Spruce." The torchbearers on this occasion were robed '* in crymosyn satine and grene, lyke Moreskoes, their faces blacke." But more than mere "disguising" was needed to express the king's pleasure at the beginning of the following year, when a prince was born. To celebrate this great event part of the palace was turned into a theatre, and a pageant of forest scenery was brought in " drawn as it were by two great beasts, a lion and an antelope : the lion flourished all over with damask gold, the antelope wrought all over with silver damask, his horn and tushes of gold." When the beasts D 2 36 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND. stood still, horns sounded, the scenery opened, and four knights on horseback rode forth. They were met by the Earl of Essex and many others ready armed, " and so the jousts began and endured all that day." The child in whose honour all these festivities were held died a few weeks afterwards. Early in the next year the Palace of Westminster was again attacked by its old and constant enemy, fire : " since which time," the Elizabethan chronicler tells us, " it hath not been re-edified ; only the Great Hall with the offices near adjoining are kept in good repair, and it serveth, as before it did, for feasts at coronations, arraignments of great persons, and keeping of the courts of justice. But the princes have been lodged in other places, as at Whitehall and St. James's," and with the fire of 1512 the history of Westminster Palace as " the king's house " came to an end. Savoy Palace The land upon which the Savoy Palace was afterwards built came into the king's hands in 1233, when the property of Brian de Lisle, which lay " without London wall in the way called the Strand," reverted to the Crown. Henry HL granted it in 1245 to Queen Eleanor's uncle, Peter of Savoy, who lived there while he was in England and finally bequeathed it in 1268 to the Hospital of Mont Joux. It was afterwards bought by Queen Eleanor, who gave it to Edmund, Earl of Lancaster. Edmund obtained leave to "embattle with a wall his manor of the Savoy" from his brother Edward L Tradi- tion says that it was in his time that the Savoy gardens first became famous; and that there was grown the first INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 37 of the deep red roses which Edmund introduced from Provence and which afterwards became the emblem of his house. Certainly the Savoy was regarded at that time as ** the fairest place in all England, unto which there is none in the realm to be compared for beauty." Henry, Duke of Lancaster, rebuilt the house at a cost of 3^34,666 ^s. 4^. : most of the money he had obtained for his services in the French wars, especially at Bergerac. The Savoy was subsequently used byKing John of France, who lived there in captivity from 1357 till his death in 1363. On his coming to the palace he rode through London, mounted on a white charger with very rich trappings, and the Prince of Wales on "a little black hobby" was beside him. The streets were suitably decorated with bows and arrows and all kinds of armour. Henry's daughter and heir Blanche married John of Gaunt, who lived at the palace during the end of the reign of Edward HL The house was sacked and burnt by the mob in 1381 ; and though it was restored there is no evidence that any of the English kings lived there between the accession of Henry IV. and the end of the reign of Henry VII. Henry VII. "began to build an hospital in his palace beside Charing Cross according to a plan which was devised and signed with his own hand." The hospital was dissolved in 1547, and re-established for a short time in 1557, but after the final dissolution the building does not seem to have been much used. The old chapel was, however, regularly used by the people of the neighbourhood after the destruc- tion of their parish church of St. Mary le Strand by the Protector Somerset, and Queen Elizabeth finally sanctioned the creation of a new parish with the chapel as its church. 38 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND The living was in the gift of the Crown in right of the Duchy of Lancaster, and before the householders were admitted to the chapel as their parish church they signed a deed renouncing any claim to property therein. According to tradition, it was in this chapel that the English Prayer Book was first used after its restoration. In 1661 the palace was used for a conference between some bishops and some Presbyterian clergy, which has therefore been known as the Savoy Conference, but the differences between the two parties were too acute to admit a com- promise, and the settlement of the ecclesiastical question was left to Parliament. Somerset House Somerset House is traditionally the first building in the Italian style in England, for the Protector is said to have had it built after designs by John of Padua. He seems to have begun to build early in 1549, but the building was probably not sufficiently advanced for occupation at the time of his execution in 1552. To obtain a site for the palace the old church of St. Mary le Strand and the Strand Bridge were pulled down, together with the houses of three bishops and an Inn of Chancery. Several other old buildings, including three chapels belonging to St. Paul's and part of the Church of the Priory of St. John of Jerusalem, were sacrificed to provide materials : Somerset even threatened to pull down the church of St. Margaret, Westminster, but " the standing thereof was preserved by his fall." On the attainder of the Protector the palace came to the Crown, and Edward VI., after spending £goo on the building, gave it to his sister Elizabeth. She lived there when she ■4ti^^ 1^ •^ - ^ ■y. S -.1 c J'. 5 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 39 came to Court during Mary's reign, but she does not seem to have used it much, for she did not even finish it. In 1558 she gave the house to Edward Seymour, Somerset's son, on condition that she might use it at pleasure as a supplemental house for the accommodation of visitors. The Protector's widow died there in 1587, and the queen then seems to have resumed occupation of the palace : she was certainly there in the summer of 1588, and went thence to St. Paul's to give thanks for the defeat of the Spanish Armada. James I. gave Somerset House to his queen, Anne of Denmark, who repaired it at her own charges for the recep- tion of Christian IV. on his visit to England in 1606. The queen had water brought from Hyde Park to the house in pipes and did much to improve the house. The rooms towards the river were built in her time, and also those at the western end of the palace, which were designed by Inigo Jones and carried out under his supervision. The house, at that time known as Denmark House, was afterwards given to Henrietta Maria. Nothing was done to deface or alter Somerset House during the Commonwealth, and it is supposed to have been retained as a house for Cromwell. An old print represents his body lying in state there in 1659, as the bodies of James I. and Anne of Denmark had done. After the Restoration the house was again occupied by Henrietta Maria, who made considerable alterations and improvements. She lived there for about four years and then retired to France, where she died in 1669. A few months later General Monk died : his body was placed in royal state in Somerset House, and his funeral solemnised with great pomp. In 1671 Katherine of Braganza came hither from 40 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND Windsor, and subsequently kept her Court here until 1692,^ when she returned to Portugal, where she died in 1705. Apparently Somerset House was not afterwards occupied by any members of the royal family, but the state rooms were reserved to serve for occasional ceremonies, and several people who held official positions at Court or had sufficient interest to obtain the privilege had lodgings there. The house was accounted a royal residence, and had two sentinels, a chaplain, housekeeper, and other officers of the household. In April, 1775, Parliament, at the request of George IIL, passed a resolution settling Buckingham Palace on the queen, in case she should survive the king, in lieu of Somerset House, and vesting the latter palace "in His Majesty, his heirs and successors for the purpose of erecting and establishing certain public offices." Soon afterwards the demolition of the old building was begun, and in 1779 the fagade of the present building in the Strand was finished : the whole was completed about 1786. Several members of the household of Katherine of Braganza, including her doctor, had been buried in the chapel of the old house : five of the tombstones, which were moved when the house was destroyed, are built into the walls of a passage under the quadrangle of the present building. It is also stated that the columns in the entrance hall which now occupies the Strand front originally formed part of the screen in the chapel. Baynard's Castle Baynard's Castle came into the hands of Henry VI. by the death and attainder of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, ' In 1677, when William of Orange came over to marry Mary, Somerset House seems to have been assigned to him as a temporary residence. INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 41 and was subsequently granted to Richard, Duke of York. It is said to have been " in this Baynardes Castle " that " Richard, Duke of Gloucester, being elected by the Nobles and Comons in the Guildhall of London, tooke on him the tytle of the Relme and Kingdom" in 1483. Henry VII. rebuilt the house in 1501, " not imbatoled, or so strongly fortified castle-like, but farre more beautiful! and commodious for the entertainment of any prince." He came there several times during his reign, and is said to have appointed the place as a lodging for Philip, Duke of Burgundy, during his involuntary visit to England in 1506. Baynard's Castle does not seem to have been much used as a royal residence, but it witnessed at least one memorable scene. For it was there that in July, 1553, " the Counsell, . . . considering that most of the realme was wholy bent on the Lady Mary's side, changing their mind from Lady Jane lately proclaimed queene, assembled themselves . . . sent for the Lord Mayor, and then rode into Chepe to the Cross there, where Garter King at Armes, trumpet being sounded, pro- claimed the Lady Mary . . . Queen of England." The castle was given by Queen Mary to the Earl of Pembroke. Havering-atte-Bower Palace It was said that Havering-atte-Bower had been a royal palace in the reign of Edward the Confessor, who greatly enjoyed the quiet of this country house, disturbed only in the early summer by the nightingale's song. Even this inter- ruption of his pious meditations was, however, silenced in answer to his prayer, and from that time forth the nightingales never sang within earshot of the palace. It was in the time of Edward the Confessor that the place 42 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND was supposed to have received its name. At the time of the dedication of the church to St. John the Evangehst, the king had given a ring to a poor pilgrim ; and this ring was subsequently returned to him with a message " from St. John " concerning the time of his death at Westminster. In commemoration of this circumstance the place where the ring had been given was ever afterwards called " Have ring"! But notwithstanding these legends Havering does not seem to have been a royal palace until after the death of the Confessor, in whose lifetime it belonged to Harold. There was much woodland on the manor at this time, and probably, if the hunting was good, the early Norman kings spent some of their time there. But the first royal visitor of whom record has been found was Joan, Queen of Scots, sister of Henry HL, who died at Havering early in March, 1237. In May, 1257, Henry III. lent to William de St. Ermin " his houses at Havering to lodge in during the king's plea- sure," at the same time granting to Richard de Montfichet, the hereditary keeper, that if they were damaged by fire while William had them, neither Richard nor his heirs should be bound to make restitution. It is possible that these " houses " already included " Pirgo," a smaller palace at a little distance, which was generally used by the queens as a dower-house. A survey of Havering Manor was made at the beginning of the reign of Edward I. : the park was then said to contain in circuit scarcely one league, and to afford pasture for one hundred deer. At this time the Master of Hornchurch monastery held lands of Eleanor, the king's mother, in the neighbourhood, and in 1274 she granted that, instead of pay- ing rent, he should find a chaplain to celebrate daily mass in INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 43 the chapel at Havering, "making mention in every mass of the soul of Henry HI." The queen-dowager seems to have felt much less anxiety about her son's soul, for she only stipulated that there should be prayers for Edward on Mondays. After the death of Eleanor, Edward I. gave Havering to his wife, and during the first part of the reign of Edward II. it was held by Margaret, the queen-dowager. The place does not seem to have been entirely free from the disorders of the time, for in 1314 Margaret complained that certain persons had entered her closes, broken her houses and walls, felled the trees growing in her woods and gardens, and stolen the deer from the park and the fish from the ponds. When Margaret died, the manor was given to Queen Isabella, and the king seems to have paid a visit there in 1323. Edward III. gave the manor to Queen Philippa, but at any rate during the first part of the reign both seem to have pre- ferred Woodstock as a country house. They did, however, spend at least one Easter (1343) together at Havering, and the king was frequently there for a short time. The palace was probably not so carefully kept then as afterwards, and in 1351 the palings round the park were said to have become quite rotten, and to be in instant need of repair, which looks as if the place had not been much used by royalty for some time. But if Havering was neglected by Edward III., it probably reached the height of its splendour in the following reign. Richard II. was often there, and his little queen Isabel showed so much affection for the place that when Henry IV. came to the throne he allowed her to remain in possession of it, saying that " she ought neither to know nor to feel the changes that have taken place." It is hard to see how he can have hoped to keep the knowledge of Richard's 44 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND imprisonment and death even from a child of ten years old, considering how much she had been with the king ; but probably his chief aim was to reassure the King of France, who had sent " certain notable and prudent nobles, Sir Charles de Labrech and Sir Charles de Hangiers, to inquire into the position of the queen his daughter." To these ambassadors Henry gave leave to see the little queen privately on condition that they told her nothing of King Richard's fate. " The young queen received them graciously and sweetly, and asked about her Lord Father and Lady Mother, how they were. The knights answered that they were very well ; and they discoursed together very much at their leisure, but they kept well to what they had promised, for they never opened their lips to speak of King Richard, and when they had done what they came for, they took their leave of the queen and . . . came to Eltham, where they dined with the king, who caused fine jewels to be given them, and then they took their leave, quite friendly." After Isabel's return to France King Henry gave Havering to his second wife, Joan, who remained in possession of it till 1419. But in that year, " upon information given by con- fession of Friar John Randolf that Johanne queen of England had compassed the death of the king in the most high and horrible manner that could be devised, it was ordered that all goods and chattels of the said queen, and also all rents of castles and manors which the queen held in dower or otherwise, should be received and kept by the Treasurer of England." The cause of Henry V.'s quarrel with Joan is not very clear, for she seems to have been a kind stepmother. Yet she was condemned to forfeiture and imprisonment upon very scanty evidence, and apparently without a formal trial. But it was not until he was dying INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 45 that Henry seems to have felt any misgivings about his con- duct : he then determined, " lest it should be a charge upon our conscience to occupy longer the said dower in this wise . . . to make deliverance to our said mother the queen wholly of her dower, and suffer her to receive it as she did before." He also gave orders that her beds and other furniture should be restored to her, and that she should have five or six new gowns " of such cloth and colour as she may herself devise." The restoration of Joan's lands was not, however, an easy matter, as they had mostly been sold ; a circumstance which suggests that Henry the Fifth's need for money may have been the cause of the accusation of witchcraft. In 1424 Parliament agreed that all grants made by the late king out of Joan's dower should be quashed " provided that those who had laid out money upon the queen's lands might have the choice of taking the same under her," and she came into her own again. She died at Havering in June, 1437, but the suspicion of witchcraft still stained her memory, and many years afterwards it was whispered that her uneasy ghost might be seen at nightfall gliding along the passages of her favourite palace or wandering about the park. Possibly it was for this reason that Havering was so little used after her death. At one time Henr^' VIII. may have thought of living in the palace, for he took a lease of the estate and the rights of herbage and pannage belonging to the hereditary keepership, which was then in the possession of the Earl of Oxford. But upon the whole Havering was neglected by the royal family, and in the reign of James I. it was let upon long lease to Edward, Earl of Oxford. In 1649 the Countess of Oxford still held Havering Park, " reserving to the king the right to have sufficient pasture 46 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND for 1,200 deer and hay for wintering them," but the houses and lodges at that time were described as ruinous and were valued only at the worth of the materials. The land was divided, Pirgo being separated from the larger estate, and the palace was never rebuilt. Kempton Park Kempton belonged to Robert, Earl of Mortain, at the time of the Domesday Survey : there were then " eight acres of vineyard planted with the usual number of vines " attached to the manor. In 1104 the estate escheated to the Crown, and the manor-house became a royal palace. In 1231 King Henry III. kept his Christmas at Kempton at the charges of Hubert de Burgh, and he held the Parlia- ments of 1232 and 1234 there. The place seems to have suffered a good deal during the civil wars, for it was exten- sively repaired in the early part of 'Edward I.'s reign. In 1276 the king ordered Luke his merchant to cause Geoffrey Pykeford to have ;^ioo for the completion of the works. Luke, however, " lost the writ, and did nothing therein," and the unfortunate clerk of the works seems to have been in an awkward position until the merchant "came before the Chancellor and made his confession." The works were probably finished in the same year, and the park was stocked with one hundred live does which had been brought from Odiham. The palace at Kempton suffered a good deal during the reign of Edward II. : a survey of the manor was taken in 1332, when it was found that almost every part of the building was faUing into ruin. The chimney of the chamber at the west end of the hall was likely to fall down unless it INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 47 could soon be repaired ; the dresser in the great kitchen was broken, and the larder door needed bolts and staples. The building could not be repaired without great expense, but the jurors declared that they were wholly ignorant by whose neglect the dilapidations had occurred. Both Edward III. and Richard II. visited Kempton fre- quently, but Henry IV. seems to have come there only once, in the third year of his reign, and though Henry VI. stayed there in June, 1437, and again in May, 1439, the palace was apparently little used after this time by the kings of England. Edward IV. annexed it to the Duchy of Cornwall in 1472, and it remained in the possession of the Crown till the reign of Henry VIII., when it is said to have been pulled down to supply material for the completion of Whitehall after Wolsey's disgrace. The manor was subsequcntl)' given by Queen Mary to Anne, widow of the Protector Somerset, for her life. In 1594 it was demised to William Killigrew and his heirs for eighty years, and Sir Robert Killigrew finally obtained a grant in fee of the estate in 1631. In 1800 there were traces of ancient buildings to be found in Kempton Park : these were supposed to be the remains of a religious house, and the very existence of a palace at Kempton had been so far forgotten that it was popularly thought that the king's house mentioned in old docu- ments had been situated at Kennington, near Lambeth, a manor which also formed part of the Duchy of Cornwall. This manor of Kennington belonged in the early part of the fourteenth century to Elizabeth, widow of Roger dAmorie : in 1337 she gave it in exchange for other land to King Edward III., who granted it to the Black Prince. It has ever since then been the property of the Prince of Wales. 48 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND Eltham Palace Eltham is first mentioned in connection with royalty in 1269, when Henry III. is said to have kept his Christmas there. He must, however, have been staying there as a visitor only, for the place did not belong to the Crown till many years later. Anthony Bek, Bishop of Durham, was the owner in the reign of Edward I., who stayed frequently at Eltham after 1297, and probably prevailed on the bishop to leave it to the Crown. At any rate in 1305 Bek granted the manor to the Prince of Wales : he received in return a grant of his capital messuage with the garden for life, and died at Eltham in 1311. The garden was then said to be worth nothing except for supplying the house, but the adjoining park was probably a great attraction, and after the accession of Edward II. Eltham was constantly used as a residence by the kings of England. The king's second son, John, was born there in 1316. In October, 1347, Edward III. came to Eltham on his return from France, with the Black Prince, and a splendid tournament was held there to celebrate their victories. It was at this time, and according to tradition at Eltham, that the Order of the Garter was established. In 1363 " tidings came to the King of England and to the queen, who were then at Eltham, seven leagues from London, that the French king was come aland at Dover in the stead of the Duke of Anjou (a hostage who had returned to France). Then he sent thither divers knights of his house who made great cheer and honour to the French king till he came to Eltham where the King of England was with a great number of lords ready to receive him. His coming thither was on a Sunday after dinner, and between that and supper time there was great dancing and caroling." INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 49 Another foreign prince who visited Eltham was Leo, King of Armenia. " He was, as he affirmed, chased out of his kingdom by the Tartarians, and came hither while the king kept Christmas at Eltham in 1386 under pretence to reform peace betwixt the Kings of England and France," but, as the chronicler resentfully points out, " what his coming profited he only understood." The same remark might have been made with reference to the next distinguished foreigner who came to Eltham. This was the Emperor Sigismund, who was lodged at the palace during his visit to Henry V. in 1416, on which occasion ;^200 was allowed to Sir John Rothernale for the expenses of the Emperor's household. During the later part of the fourteenth century Parliament was occasionally held at Eltham. In 1376 Edward III., being then ill and unable to travel, summoned the members to meet him at Eltham, and there Richard II. held the Parliament in which the question of his marriage to Isabel de Valois was considered. Richard seems to have been very fond of the place, and spent much time there, especially during the lifetime of his first queen, Anne of Bohemia. Henry IV. made arrangements to keep Christmas at the palace in 1403, but he is said to have left the place suddenly in consequence of his discovery that a plot had been formed to break into the house by night and murder him. Henry V. stayed one night at Eltham on his way to London just after his triumphant return from Agincourt. It seems to have been in his time, or in that of his father, that a library was added to Eltham, for at his death John Burnham, his librarian, " delivered all the books in his custody into the hands of John Depedene by the king's command." These books appear to have been mostly works of devotion or R.P. E 50 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND history : chief among them were the Bible, the " Holy Trinity," *' Froissart," " La Forteresse de Foy," and the writings of Josephus and Livy. Edward IV. built the great hall : the work, which was **in the charge of James Hatefelde," seems to have been begun in 1479, and was certainly finished by 1482, for in that year the king kept his Christmas there with great magnificence, and is said to have entertained as many as two thousand people. Henry VH., we are told, " set up the fair front over the moat," and Henry VHI. spent a good deal on building and alterations in the early part of his reign. The brick wall round the orchard was finished by his orders in 1517, and at the same time ** a new tilt " was made. The king kept his Christmas at Eltham that year, and on Christmas Eve after vespers Cardinal Wolsey took the oath and office of Lord Chancellor in place of Archbishop Warham, who had resigned. When Twelfth Night came, a great entertainment was given in the hall. A wooden castle having been wondrously set out, Master William Cornish and the children of the chapel performed ** the story of Troilus and Pandor richly apparelled, also . . . Cressid apparelled like a widow of honour in black sarsenet, . . . and Diomed and the Greeks apparelled like men of war." Henry VHL has been accused of neglecting Eltham, the home of his carefully-educated childhood, where he had been visited in 1500 by the great scholar Erasmus and his friend More ; but during the first half of his reign there were certainly no grounds for this accusation. As late as 1532 he had a new bowling alley made in the garden, and there he spent the greater part of June in the same year. He kept Christmas at Eltham again in 1535, but after that date his visits became less frequent, and in 155 1 the 'house was so ^ i INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 51 much ruined that it was necessary to spend ;r400 on repairs. Queen Mary visited Eltham once only, in 1555, and Queen Elizabeth came there in August, 1559, to meet the Earl of Arran, who had been proposed as a suitable consort. By 1594 the place was again in ruins, and could not, it was said, be repaired for less than £1,1^3 14s. The rebuilding seems to have been carried out, for James I. stayed there during May and June, 1612. When the King of Denmark came to England, he was taken to Eltham for the hunting in the park, but he seems to have been lodged at Greenwich, and from this time the older palace seems, except for a short visit of Charles I. in 1629, to have been abandoned by royalty. In 1649 it was much out of repair and quite untenantable, and Evelyn, who visited it in 1656, declared that it was in miserable ruins, and that even the wood and park had been destroyed. Sir John Shaw, to whom it was given by Charles II., when he demolished the buildings, spared the great hall to be used as a barn, and this, the last relic of the ancient palace, was saved and repaired by order of the Government in 1828. Greenwich Palace Greenwich first came to the Crown in the reign of Henry IV., who was the owner of the manor, and apparently had a house there, for his will is dated "at my Manour of Grenewich the 22nd day of the month of Januery the yeare of ovr Lord 1408." The estate afterwards belonged to Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, who lent his house to his nephew Henry VI. and Margaret of Anjou for their honey- moon. This house is said to have had long narrow windows with trefoil heads, but all trace of the walls of that date has long disappeared. E 2 52 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND In 1433 Humphrey had leave from the king to enclose two hundred acres of land, part of which had belonged to Shene Priory, and to rebuild a certain tower which stood where the Observatory now stands. This tower was supposed to mark the site of the earliest royal palace at Greenwich — a palace purely romantic, for it was the Castle of Miraflores, where Oriane, daughter of the English king and beloved of Amadis of Gaul, took refuge when the Emperor sent ambassadors to ask her hand in marriage." In 1455 an assembly of notables met at Greenwich, before whom the Duke of Somerset declared that his imprisonment in the Tower, during the time of York's protectorate, was unjust ; and the king stated in reply that the duke had done him right true, good and pleasant service, and was his true and faithful liegeman. In 1480 Margaret, Duchess of Burgundy, then on a visit to England, seems to have spent part of her time at Greenwich : it is at any rate certain that rooms in the palace were fitted up for her use. The walls were hung with tapestry worked with the story of Helen of Troy, and curtains striped red and blue with counterpanes of wool worked with "ymagery" were made for the beds, which must have been enormous, for one of the counterpanes contained thirty yards of material. But it was with the coming of the Tudors that Greenwich became the most favoured palace. From the very beginning of his reign Henry VII. showed his preference for the place, for he kept both the feasts of All Hallows and Christmas there in i486. Elizabeth of York journeyed thence to the Tower a few days before her coronation, but she returned the day after the ceremony. The king kept Christmas at Greenwich the same year, and held the usual feast in the great hall, but the queen dined with her mother. They INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 53 remained there during the week after Christmas : on New Year's Day the king gave largesse, and at night " there was goodly disguising." On June 28, 1491, Henry VIII. was born at Greenwich, and elaborate preparations were made for his christening, which took place in the Observants' Church. A silver font, " the bottom well padded with soft linen," was brought from Canterbury ; the church was hung with rich arras and cloth of gold, and the chancel well carpeted. The little prince was wrapped in " a mantle of cloth of gold, furred with ermine," and escorted to church by two hundred men with torches. Eighteen years later the young King Henry married his brother's widow, Katherine of Aragon, in Greenwich Chapel, and in February, 1516, their daughter Mary was born in the palace. On May 3, 1516, Margaret Queen of Scots came to Greenwich, where "she was received with great joy by the king her brother, the queen, and the French queen her sister. On the nineteenth and twentieth were jousts in which the king, the Duke of Suffolk, the Earl of Essex and Nicholas Carew took on them to answer all comers. They and their horses were apparelled in black velvet, covered with branches of honeysuckle of fine fiat gold of damask, very cunning and sumptuous embroidery of loose work, every leaf on the branch moving." The knights who came to oppose them were dressed in blue velvet and cloth of gold ; which scarcely seems suitable clothing for combatants at that time of year, for it must have been both heavy and hot. In 1518 Cardinal Campeggio came to Greenwich by water in great state, and he was followed, not long afterwards, by two more distinguished foreigners, the Admiral of France 54 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND and the Bishop of Paris, who came to make proposals for the marriage to the Lady Mary to the Dauphin. Possibly it was in preparation for the festivities of their visit that so many repairs and alterations were carried out in the palace at this time, for ;^200 was spent on the house itself, and ^^300 on the tilt yard and bridge. In 1520 the chapel was finished, and forty-one books were specially bound for it. There was great disguising at Greenwich in honour of the French visitors, and a play of Plautus was per- formed. All this gaiety seems to have turned the heads of some of the younger courtiers, for several of the king's minions were turned away for excessive levity, and their places were taken by staid knights. In 1522 the Emperor Charles V. came over to England. King Henry met him on Dover sands and brought him to Greenwich by water from Gravesend, past a long line of English ships, which fired salutes as the king passed. Katherine and her daughter, whom it was then proposed that Charles should marry, met the Emperor at the door of the palace. The marriage did not, however, take place ; and in 1527 the Lady Mary, then aged eleven, received a second proposal of marriage from France. She was brought in to see the ambassadors and spoke with them in French, Latin, and Italian ; afterwards she delighted them with her playing on the spinet. Such an accomplished princess could not be had for nothing, and Henry demanded in exchange for her 50,000 crowns down and 15,000 a year. The King of France seemed inclined to think the price exorbitant, and it was thought necessary to give the ambassadors a hint that Henry would not take less, in the pageant that was prepared for their entertainment. Two men, very richly apparelled. INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 55 disputed whether love or money is better : knights came in and fought about the matter ; yet still it remained undecided, until an old man with a long white beard entered and settled the question by declaring that both were necessary for princes. This pageant was introducedjby Mercury, who made a Latin speech expressing the joy of all the people in the realm at the alliance with France. In spite of his warm welcome, however, the French ambassadors seem to have felt by no means certain of a friendly reception, for Dodieu says he was afraid to go out on May Day, because the Londoners who went to seek the may bore arms, and might have attacked a foreigner. The Christmas of 1530 was kept by the king and queen at Greenwich with much outward splendour and cordiality, though both must have found it difficult to preserve the smiling and contented demeanour suitable at that season. The expenses of the Court seem to have been greater than ever, for both cloth of gold and velvet were used lavishly, though one cost forty shillings a yard and the other thirteen shillings ; while the velvet, at any rate, could not have lasted long if it was often worn " when the king and his lords threw snowballs." It was not, however, only on such costly folly that Henry VIII. spent his private money, for like his father he loved music and would give much to procure good minstrels. He kept a band of seven musicians, the best that could be found, to play to him after dinner, which usually began about ten o'clock in the morning, and again in the evening. He seems, moreover, to have played well himself, and had even tried his skill at composing. On January 3, 1540, Anne of Cleves came to Greenwich, riding down Shooter's Hill along a broad way which had just been made by cutting down the bushes and fir trees ; the 56 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND king went to meet her, and they rode side by side to the palace. Anne wore a cap adorned with pearls and a neck- lace that " glystered all the felde," but her future husband, whose purple velvet doublet was embroidered with gold and fastened with diamonds, rubies, and pearls, outshone her in jewelled splendour. Three days later they were married : the wedding-ring was engraved with the posy " God send me wel to kepe " — a very natural prayer for one who was entering into matrimony with Henry VIII. A council met at Greenwich at the end of May, 1545, to consider seriously the most effectual way of destroying the power of David Beaton, Cardinal Archbishop of St. Andrews, the leader of those who opposed the Anglo-Scottish alliance which Henry was trying to bind round the edge of the sword." Sir Ralph Sadler, ambassador to the Court of James V., had brought an offer from the Earl of Cassilis to murder Beaton, and it was for the consideration of this offer that ** the king's most honourable Privy Council " had been summoned. It was finally agreed that the best course was for Sadler to say that he had not thought proper to communicate the offer to the king, but that if " this good service " was done, it would be " acceptable to England and beneficial to Scotland." In May, 1551, Edward VI. held " a great triumph at Green- wich, when he and sixteen gentlemen of his chamber were matched against seventeen others at tilting at the ring and other sports " : the triumph was not, however, for the king's side, which suffered a great defeat. Edward came to the palace again in the winter, and kept his Christmas there with open house ; on which occasion the Lord of Misrule, George Ferrers, gave great satisfaction to all by the endless variety of the shows and interludes which he invented. In May, 1553, news came to Greenwich that Sir Hugh INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 57 Willoughby and Richard Chancellor were ready to put to sea for their expedition in search of the North-East Passage, and had departed from Ratchffe upon the ebb. " And presently upon the news thereof the courtiers came running out, and the common people flocked together, standing very thick upon the shore ; the Privy Council, they looked out at the windows of the court, and the rest ran by to the tops of the towers ; the ships hereupon discharged their ordnance and shot off their pieces after the manner of war and of the sea, insomuch that the tops of the hills sounded therewith, the valleys and the waters gave an echo, and the mariners, they shouted in such sort that the sky rang again ... It was a very triumph to the beholders." Chancellor returned in 1554 and gave an account of the state of Muscovy to Queen Mary, together with letters from the Czar Ivan IV., offering to English merchants " their free mart with all liberties through my whole dominions to come and go at their pleasure." On June 11, 1553, a council, to which Chief Justice Montague and the Solicitor-General were called, was sum- moned to meet at Greenwich to confer about the succession. They declared that the will of Henry VIII. must not be set aside, but the king answered that Parliament should ratify the articles he had prepared, and at last the unwilling consent of the judges and the council to the succession of Lady Jane Grey was obtained. Mary spent part of her short reign at Greenwich. The palace at that time was a long two-storeyed building with square mullioned windows and little towers. A square tower in the centre of the house jutted out across the terrace and reached the river. The palace grounds were not so large as those of the hospital later, for part of the 58 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND land was taken up by the chapel and garden of the Friars Observants. Elizabeth came to Greenwich in the first year of her reign, and on July lo, 1559, a sort of flower show was held in Greenwich Park in her honour. For this purpose a large banqueting house was built, and decorated with birch branches and flowers, " roses, julyflowers, lavender, marigolds and all manner of strewing herbs and rushes "; the walls were hung with garlands, and fine plants in pots were set in the windows. In the evening a tournament was held, and at five o'clock " the queen came and stood over the park-gate " to see it : afterwards she rode to the banqueting house, and when she had had supper a masque was performed, and there were fireworks. The queen was again at Greenwich in February, 1568, and there presided over a council which she had summoned to consider the serious question of the prevalent extrava- gance in dress, with particular reference to gentlemen's trunk-hose. It was accordingly determined that no one under the rank of a baron should be allowed to stiffen his breeches with " more than two linings ... or adorn them with any embroidery or fringe . . . neither should the upper stocks of his hose exceed one yard and one eighth." Elizabeth's anxiety to prevent her subjects from falling into her own besetting sin was perhaps inherited from her father, who had made decrees against gaming, though, as he care- fully pointed out to the French ambassadors in 1527, he had often lost 15,000 crowns at play. On his return from his voyage round the world in 1585, Drake, going to his anchorage at Deptford, fired a salute to the queen as he passed Greenwich. When Elizabeth afterwards went on board the Golden Hind, a plank INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 59 bridge was built from the shore to reach the ship, and so great was the crowd eager to see the new-made knight that the bridge gave way. It is said that more than a hundred people fell into the water, but none were drowned. King James I. stayed at Greenwich for the greater part of the first year of his reign in England, and he was there again in 1606 to hold a great joust ; on which occasion it was ordered that his effects should be conveyed to Greenwich by road in two hundred carts and by water in the Lord Mayor's barge. The City authorities, however, respectfully submitted that the Lord Mayor's barge was not intended for baggage. The queen, Anne of Denmark, was very fond of Greenwich, and often went there, even when the king could not go with her: the palace and park were ultimately settled on her " for one hundred yeares, if she live so long," and in her time was begun the building of the Queen's House, which was after- wards finished by Inigo Jones for Henrietta Maria. Charles I. was often at Greenwich during the early part of his reign, but the palace was afterwards allowed to fall into decay. In 1651 it was hastily fitted up for the reception of the Dutch ambassadors, who came to complain of the Navigation Act ; and during the war which followed it was used as a lodging for prisoners. In 1662 the old house at Greenwich was pulled down, but the Queen's House, through v/hich the high road passed from east to west, was left standing. The grounds were then laid out by Sir William Boreman in accordance with the designs of the famous French gardener Le Notre. James II. spent a great deal of his time at Greenwich while he was Duke of York, but this was probably owing to the fact that the Navy Office was established there, and not to any feeling of affection for the place itself, for he does not 6o ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND seem to have visited it at all after he became king, except when he passed the palace in his flight from England. During the war which followed, and especially after the battle of La Hogue, so many wounded men were brought home that attention was called to the small amount of hospital accommodation, and Queen Mary announced that the palace at Greenwich, which had already been partially rebuilt, should be completed and given to disabled seamen. The first order for proceeding with the building was given on June 4, i6g6, and on June 30 Evelyn went with Sir Christopher Wren to Greenwich, where " at five o'clock in the evening, precisely, . . . the king's astronomer observing the punctual time by instruments," they " laid the first stone of the foundation " of Greenwich Hospital. Richmond Palace There is nothing to show when a palace was first built at Shene, but a capital messuage belonged to the manor as early as 1292 : here Edward I. received the Scots commissioners who had come to ask for his arbitration in the question of the succession. Probably Edward III. enlarged the manor-house : he often stayed at Shene, and died there in 1377. His grandson Richard IL seems to have been with him at the time. With this king the palace appears to have been a favourite at first, but after the queen died there in 1394 he ordered the house to be destroyed, and it remained in partial ruin until Henry V. began to rebuild it. Most of the rebuilding, however, was probably done by Henry VI., in order to have the palace beautiful for his beautiful queen. It was after- wards granted by Edward IV. to his queen for life. RlCH.MOMi I'AI.ACK. F>o»i an old f» hit tn the British M itscuiti. INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 6i Henry VII. liked Shene, and frequently stayed there. He is supposed to have formed tlie library, which still existed in 1607, but is not mentioned in the survey of 1649 : it may have been added to the library at Whitehall. In December, 1497, while the royal family were staying at Shene, a fire broke out " about nine of the clocke at night . . . and continued till midnight, by violence whereof much and a great part of the old buildings of that place was brent." It was, however, rebuilt with great splendour by Henry VII. : this work was finished in 1501, when the name of the palace was changed to Richmond, after the king's Yorkshire earldom. There was another fire in 1506, but the building was completely repaired in the same year : the damage, indeed, cannot have been very great, for Philip, Duke of Burgundy, was received there by King Henry shortly afterwards. The duke had been "weather-driven, through great tempest of winde at the south-west which began 15 January and continued till the 26th, so that he came ashore at Falmouth in England as he was passing out of Flanders toward Spaine." He was " honourably received by the Earl of Arundel at the king's appointment, with 300 horses, all by torchlight," and brought to Richmond, whence he departed not until he had made promise to deliver to Henry the Earl of Suffolk, who had taken refuge at the Burgundian Court. Henry VII. died at Richmond, and Henry VIII. came there with Queen Katherine to spend the first Christmas after his accession. Their first son, Henry, was born at this palace on January i, 151 1, but he died in the following February. In 1515 the treaty between England and France was completed at Richmond, and in 1522 the Emperor Charles V. stayed there for a short time. 62 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND When Henry VIH. had obtained Hampton Court from Wolsey, he gave the Cardinal leave to live at the manor of Richmond, and in 1540 the palace was given to Anne of Cleves. She lived there until the accession of Edward VI., when she gave it up to the king, who seems to have been very fond of the place, though the warmth there was said to be bad for his health. Queen Mary spent part of her honeymoon at Richmond in 1554, and occasionally kept Court there afterwards. Elizabeth came there as a prisoner on her way to Woodstock, and frequently stayed at the palace after she became queen : there she received Eric, King of Sweden, when he came to make her a proposal of marriage; and another suitor, the Duke of Alen9on, was also a guest there. The palace at that time stood facing the river. To the north of it stretched the park, now known as the Old Deer Park, which probably included the rabbit warren mentioned in the survey of 1292 : the new park is first mentioned in 1455. It has been thought that the two were laid together between 1617 and 1649. The park then contained 349 acres, and was called the Little, or Old, Park, to distinguish it from the larger park now called Richmond Park, which was enclosed by Charles I. This park was stocked with red and fallow deer in 1637 ; but there was so much indignation at the enclosure, owing to the fact that the king had begun to build the enclosing wall before he had completed the purchase of the necessary property, that gates had to be placed in the wall, and permission given to the pubhc to use the roads, and to the poor to take away firewood, according to custom. The preservation of game and private shooting in the park were abolished in 1904, after the death of the last ranger, George, Duke of Cambridge. INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 63 At the end of the seventeenth century the royal palace fell into decay, and the lodge in the Little Park, cast of the present Kew Observatory, became the chief residence. This had originally been the keeper's lodge, and was the house occupied by Wolscy in the time of Henry VIII. It was given by George I. to the Prince of Wales, who there made his summer residence, which is described as " very neat and pretty" ; there was a fine avenue of trees running from the palace to the town on one side and to the river on the other. There was a terrace looking towards the river, and the gardens were spacious and well kept, " but above all the wood cut out into walks, with the plenty of birds singing in it, made it a most delicious habitation." George II. settled the lodge on Queen Caroline, who made a dairy there : she seems also to have taken some interest in the garden, to which she made several additions, including a grotto called Merlin's Cave, and a hermitage. George III. often came to Richmond early in his reign. In 1761 he settled the estate on his queen, who pulled down the lodge about 1770, intending to build a new palace on its site ; but though the foundations were laid, the design was never completed. The White, or Stone, Lodge was originally built by George II., but two wings were added to it later by Princess Amelia. Queen Victoria spent a short time there after her mother's death, and King Edward VII. stayed there when Prince of Wales. It afterwards became the house of the Duke and Duchess of Teck, and Edward Prince of Wales was born there in 1894. The gardens at Richmond were united to those at Kew by Act of Parliament in 1785, by closing a footpath over a mile long called Love Lane. 64 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND Kew Palace In 1552 the manor of Kew included a mansion and a dairy house, with two gardens and orchards ; but it was afterwards divided, and the site of each of these buildings was occupied by a royal palace. There was a third Palace of Kew, a huge battlemented building designed by Wyatt, which was begun in the time of George III., but never completed. Mary Tudor had a house at Kew in the reign of her father : the cost of the drive from Kew to Richmond is entered among her household expenses in 1522, and she was still living there in 1537. Her aunt Mary, the widow of Louis XII. and wife of Charles Brandon, is also said to have lived there for a time after her return to England, and Eliza- beth the daughter of James I. had a household there during the early years of her father's reign. After the division of the estate the house at Kew became the property of Sir Henry Capel, the founder of Kew Gardens. His great-niece, Lady Elizabeth Capel, married Samuel Molyneux, secretary to the Prince of Wales, after- wards George II. Molyneux was much interested in astronomy, and used a large room at the top of the house as an observatory, " keeping all his mathematical and mechani- cal instruments at one end of it, and a planetarium at the other." Frederick, Prince of Wales, took much interest in this observatory, and after Lady Elizabeth's death in 1730 he took a lease of the house, and arranged for daily lectures on astronomy to be read to the household during the winter of 1737. The palace was probably rebuilt for the prince by William Kent, who certainly designed the ceiling in the state INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER drawing-room and was responsible for many of the other decorations. The gallery was at this time adorned with paintings of children, and the spaces between the windows were filled by large painted looking-glasses. About 1770 George III., finding that it was necessary for him to have a larger country-house than Richmond Lodge, bought the freehold of Kew House. The life of the royal household there seems to have been very simple and quiet. The king and queen rose at six and were joined at eight o'clock breakfast by their elder children ; the younger ones came in at nine. In the afternoon the queen did needle- work, while the king read to her ; and about once a week the whole family made a tour of the gardens. The house itself at this time was large and rambling and contained so many small, dark rooms, " with staircases to every passage, and passages to every closet," that Miss Burney declared she lost her way continually only in passing from her room to the queen's. Such a house was not well adapted for a palace : it was soon discovered to be inconvenient and old-fashioned, and was pulled down in 1802. When Kew House was bought by George III. the Princess of Wales moved to the Dutch House, which had been built, probably on the site of the old dairy house, by Samuel Forthey, a London merchant of Flemish extraction. This house stood opposite Kew House and came into the possession of the Crown early in the eighteenth century. It seems to have been used by the daughters of George II. in 1728, and subsequently became " the nursery " where the children of Frederick, Prince of Wales, were brought up. The Princess of Wales died there in 1772. George III. and Queen Charlotte lived there after the old R.P. F 66 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND palace was pulled down, and the queen died there a little more than a year before her husband's death. The Queen's Cottage, which is thatched and contains three rooms only, was used by Queen Charlotte and the princess as a sort of summer-house. Part of the land round it is covered with thick wood : the rest used to be laid out, but has lately been allowed to grow wild. At the beginning of the reign of Queen Victoria, when Kew Gardens were thrown open to the public, the cottage, with about forty acres of the land round it, was reserved ; but this also was given up, in 1897, and on May i, 1899, both the palace and the grounds were thrown open. Dartford Priory After the dissolution of the Priory of Dartford in 153 1, King Henry VIII. used the buildings as a house for him- self. He held a meeting of the Privy Council there in 1541. Anne of Cleves was received at Dartford Priory on her way to Greenwich after her first interview with Henry at Rochester, and the house and manor were afterwards granted to her by Edward VI. in exchange for certain other manors. She died at Dartford in 1556, and the priory was then used by Queen Mary until its restoration, in 1558, to the nuns, who were, however, expelled again in the follow- ing year. The building was then used as a palace by Queen Elizabeth, who stayed there after her progresses into Kent in 1559 and 1573. It seems to have fallen into disuse towards the end of this reign : in 1598 the officer of works was ordered to take down a square stone building at Dartford House and use the stones for some alterations at Whitehall, and about INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 67 three years later a special commission declared that the priory could not be made fit for the queen's use for less than about ;^i,200. After this date the house does not seem to have been used by royalty, and in 1607 it was granted to Robert, Earl of Salisbury. Woodstock Among the royal manors visited for the sake of the hunting Woodstock was early one of the rriost favoured : the estate was part of the ancient demesne of the Crown at the time of the Domesday Survey, and the manor-house is said to have been a royal residence at the end of the tenth century. Wych- wood Forest stretched east and west from Woodstock to the borders of Gloucestershire, and Henry I. enclosed a part of it to form a deer park, which he surrounded with a wall of stone from the neighbouring quarries. The extent of this wall is not known, but it probably enclosed the oldest part of the present park, which lies to the south of the site of the manor-house and contains some magnificent oaks, said to be at least seven hundred years old. After the making of this park King Henry came very often to Woodstock, and it was there that he rode "on a Wednesday, the fourth before the Ides of January, with Roger, Bishop of Salisbury, on one side of him, and Robert, Bishop of Lincoln, on the other. And as they rode there talking, the Bishop of Lincoln sank down, and said to the king, * My Lord King, I am dying ' ; and the king dis- mounted, and took him in his arms, and bade them bear him to his house, and he soon lay there dead." The mention of this Bishop of Lincoln recalls the story of one of his successors in the see — St. Hugh, whose condemna- tion of " fair Rosamund, whom King Henry so dearly loved,' F 2 68 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND has been preserved by Roger of Hoveden. It is, of course, with Henry II. that the old palace of Woodstock is usually associated, though he does not seem to have come there oftener than his grandfather ; but then there was no scandalous romance connected with the visits of the earlier king for the ballad-mongers to seize. The story of the wondrous maze, only penetrated with the aid of a silken clue, in the centre of which Rosamund had her bower, is too well known to need repetition. A few yards from the bridge, facing the site of the old palace, is a spring which is still called Rosamund's Well. In the seventeenth century it was surrounded by the remains of buildings which Aubrey confidently described to his friend Anthony Wood as " Rosamund's Bower at Wood- stock Park." There seems to have been a house there at least as early as the beginning of the fourteenth century, which contained a " room called Rosamund's," ^ and possibly also a small chapel. The house was apparently adjoined by a garden, which may very likely have been the original of the famous maze. Woodstock was no less favoured by Edward III., especially during the early part of his reign. The Black Prince was born there on the 15th of June, 1330, according to local tradition not at the palace, but at a house outside the park, which still bears his name : part of this house is certainly as old as the fourteenth century, but the story has been discredited on the ground that the queen was more likely to have been at the palace. Queen Philippa spent the first years of her married life at Woodstock, before her husband's foreign policy took him to * It was repaired in 1334 : Close Roll. "The chaplain and the gardener " are mentioned in the same document, but it is possible that they were attached to the palace and not to the house opposite. T WoousTOCK Castle. From an old f>rint in the British Museuiii. INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 69 France and her to the north. They met again at Woodstock in 1345 and celebrated the king's birthday there with much splendour ; but towards the end of the reign Edward seems to have transferred his affections to Eltham, and for nearly two hundred years after this date the old palace was very little used. The Princess Elizabeth came to Woodstock after Wyatt's rebellion, and remained there a prisoner for a year in charge of Sir Henry Bedingfield. She does not appear to have come there often after she became queen, but during the early part of the seventeenth century Woodstock enjoyed a brief return of royal favour. Charles I. paid frequent visits to the place, and an oratory was made there for the queen : according to tradition, one of the houses near the town hall was at first used for this purpose. The palace was in good repair in 1649, but, unlike Nonesuch, it found no one to plead for its preservation. The parliamentary commissioners decided that the estate " might very commodiously be divided into three parts," and it was accordingly let to Fleetwood, Rooke, and Butler. During the next few years much of the palace was pulled down, but the " fair large Gate House " was still capable of being used as a lodge in the time of Charles H. It seems to have been allowed to fall into disrepair before 1695, for William III., the last of its royal owners to visit Woodstock, " lay at Mr. Cary's, an old gentleman of near an hundred years of age, who had been servant to James I., Charles I., Oliver Cromwell, Charles II., and James II., and was then servant to King William." On this occasion Cary showed portraits of all his former masters to the king, point- ing out that there was still room for His Majesty's picture. Whether the king acted on the hint is not recorded, but he is said to have been " pleased at the old gentleman's simplicity 70 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND in setting out his pictures, which, it seems, had all been given him."i The estate remained in the possession of the Crown until 1706, when it was given to the Duke of Marlborough. Sir John Vanbrugh, the Blenheim architect, was anxious to preserve the ruins of the manor-house, but ruins had not yet come with landscape gardening into fashion : the Lord Treasurer Godolphin declared that they were " an unsightly object in front of the palace," and the last remains of the old building were ruthlessly destroyed. The place where it stood is a little to the right of the bridge on the side of the valley opposite to the present house. The site is overgrown with grass and nettles, and planted with chestnut trees: two sycamores, planted in 1723, mark the place where the Gate House stood. A causeway led across the marshy ground of the valley, now filled by the pool, to the old palace, and of this causeway the small island known as Queen Elizabeth's Island formed a part. Enfield Enfield Manor became the property of the Duke of Lan- caster, afterwards Henry IV., on his marriage with one of the Bohun heiresses ; but the house does not seem to have been used by any king before Henry VIII. Richard III., indeed, gave the estate to the Duke of Buckingham, but it reverted to the Crown on his attainder in 1485. At the time of the death of Henry VIII. Elizabeth was staying at Enfield. She was joined shortly afterwards by her brother, on his way to London. After his coronation he gave Enfield Manor to Elizabeth, together with Elsynge * Tindal, Continuation of Rapin. INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 71 Hall, which had been given to Henry VHI. by the Earl of Rutland and was also sometimes called " the King's House at Enfield." It seems to have been at Elsyngc Hall that Margaret Tudor stayed in 1516 when she " came to Enfield on Ascen- sion Day and there tarryd till Friday." Elizabeth visited the place frequently during the first ten years of her reign, and was there again in 1596, on which occasion she "had toils set up by the parke to shoot at bucks after dinner." The estate remained in the possession of the Crown until 1641, when Charles I. sold it to Philip, Earl of Pembroke, for The site of Elsynge Hall was unknown in 1800, but it was suggested that it might have stood about a quarter of a mile from Forty Hill, near the stream which runs to Enfield Wash : the remains of artificial ponds, possibly belonging to the garden, might at that time still be traced at this spot. Enfield House, which is said to have been fully a mile distant from the parish church, has also disappeared. According to tradition, Queen Mary used it as a palace ; but it was leased in the reign of Elizabeth to Henry Middle- more. It is said to have been afterwards granted to the Cecils, but appears to have been considered Crown property in 1649, at which date the property was divided into lots and sold. It was subsequently enclosed, with the result that a body of men claiming rights of common threatened to pull down the houses unless the enclosures were destroyed ; and four files of soldiers had to be sent against them in July, 1659. After the Restoration Enfield was held on lease by various people, and the house was not again occupied by any one of royal blood, though King Charles seems to have used the East Bailey Lodge occasionally as a hunting-box. 72 ROYAL' PALACES OF ENGLAND Nonesuch Nonesuch, which had formerly belonged to the Codingtons, was one of the numerous estates acquired by Henry VIIL in exchange for other land. The king made two parks and began to build the palace which was afterwards given, unfinished, to the Earl of Arundel by Queen Mary. Arundel finished the building with so much splendour that it was said to stand " a monument of art, with so many wonders of workmanship that it may justly lay claim to its title and is well able to support it." The house was " so surrounded with parks full of deer, delicate orchards, garden groves adorned with arbours, and walks shaded with trees, that pleasure and health may seem to have made choice of the place to live together." Queen Elizabeth visited Arundel at Nonesuch in August, 1559, and had great entertainment with masques and music. On the last night was performed a "play of the children of Paul's. . . . The entertainment lasted till three in the morning and the earl presented Her Majesty with a cupboard of plate." The queen visited Nonesuch again in 1567, 1579, and 1580 : she subsequently bought it from Lord Lumley, and there spent some part of each summer towards the close of her reign. It was there that she had the famous interview with her favourite Essex on his return from Ireland. James I. settled Nonesuch House together with the Little Park on Queen Anne. The Great Park was leased to Lord Lumley, but it was soon found that "the fayr house at Nonesuch would be nothing pleasing to the queene without she could procure the Great Park and some of his lordship's adjoining lands." This sale was afterwards arranged, and King James came to stay at Nonesuch in the summer of 1624. ■;ti ^( — ^ INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 73 Charles I. gave the place to Henrietta Maria. The house at this time is described as a " faycr strong and large structure of freestone of two large stories high well wrought and battled with stone and covered with blue slate, standing round a court . . . paved with stone, commonly called the Outward Court . . . and one other faire and very curious structure of two stories high, the lower story whereof is of good and well-wrought freestone, and the higher of wood, richly adorned, set forth and garnished with variety of statues pictures and other antick forms of excellent art and workmanship of no small cost : all which building ... is covered with blue slate and incloscth one faire and large court . . . paved with freestone commonly called the Inner Court." There was also a gatehouse which contained a large room " very delectable for prospect," and " a clock and bell ... of most excellent workmanship, a verie speciall ornament to Nonesuch House." There was a large garden at Nonesuch, set about with thorn hedges, which in 1649 was pronounced to be "in a condition of some neglect, yet with a little labour may answer the expectation of a very handsome garden." There was also an orchard, but this was evidently not considered the only place for fruit-growing, for the garden contained one hundred and forty fruit trees as well as the less useful " ewe " trees and lilacs. The " lelacks, which trees beare no fruit, but only a verie pleasant flower," seem to have been great favourites, for there were six of them in the garden besides those which were set round the fountain of white marble. Among the "speciall ornaments" to Nonesuch were the trees which grew " in such a decent order " near the house. Two hundred of these were marked, together with 2,605 others in the parks, for the use of the Navy ; but the 74 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND parliamentary surveyors made " bould to certifie that the cutting down would not only very much impayre the mag- nificence of the structure, but would also exceedingly detract from the pleasantness of the seate." The estate was sub- sequently leased by the Crown Lands Commissioners to Algernon Sidney. Charles II. visited Nonesuch soon after the Restoration, and in July, 1665, he ordered that the Exchequer should be removed thither from Westminster on account of the plague. In January, 1671, the king granted Nonesuch with the Little and Great Parks and the great meadow to George, Lord Grandison, and Henry Brouncker in trust for Barbara Palmer, Duchess of Cleveland. Oatlands Henry VIII. obtained Oatlands in exchange for the manor of Tandridge : the arrangement was made with Thomas Cromwell, whom the king had appointed guardian of John Rede, the heir to the estate. Henry was making a chase at Hampton Court, and probably wanted the land for that purpose, for he does not seem to have made much use of the house. Queen Elizabeth, however, spent some time there in August, 1590, and again in 1602, on which occasion she is said to have practised shooting with a cross-bow in the paddock. The palace was in greater favour with the first two Stuarts. James I. gave it to his queen, Anne of Denmark, who visited it on several occasions and built a room afterwards known as the silkworm room. In the reign of Charles I. the place belonged to Queen Henrietta Maria, whose son Henry, Duke of Gloucester, was born there in 1640. During the Civil War, INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 75 however, it was neglected, and in the time of the Common- wealth the whole of the royal house was destroyed except " Dorset's Lodgings " and the silkworm room, then used as "the gardener's chamber." After the Restoration the queen was put in possession of the palace, but in 1661 a lease was granted to the Earl of St. Albans, and after this date Oatlands does not seem to have been occupied by any royal person until it was bought at the end of the eighteenth cen- tury by the Duke of York. William III. granted it in fee simple to the Earl of Torrington. Grafton The manor of Grafton in Northamptonshire was given to King Henry VIII. in exchange for certain lands in Leicester- shire by Thomas Grey, Marquis of Dorset. It remained in the possession of the Crown until Charles II. gave it to Henry Fitzroy, afterwards Duke of Grafton, but it does not seem to have been much used as a royal residence, though Queen Elizabeth stayed there on her progress through Northamptonshire in 1568, and possibly also in 1575. King's Langley King's Langley in Hertfordshire was a royal manor as early as the fourteenth centur>', and Edmund, the fifth son of Edward III., was born there in 1341. The palace with its demesne lands remained to the Crown till James I. gave it to Henry, Prince of Wales ; but this building was probably a new one, as the old palace seems to have been destroyed before 1558. In that year a survey was made of "the land whereon the manor-houses stood," but the only buildings 76 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND mentioned were the gatehouse, which stood at the edge of a piece of " land called the Court-Wick antiently being a court to the king's house," and the " old buildings known as the Eight Bayes." The manor was given to Prince Charles after his brother's death, and he granted the reversion of it to Sir Charles Morrison in 1626. Hatfield Hatfield House was one of the many houses which King Henry VHI. obtained in exchange for other property from a subject : it had formerly belonged to the Bishop of Ely. Edward VI. stayed there when he was Prince of Wales, but after his accession he conveyed it to his sister Elizabeth, who lived there for some time in her sister's reign. Queen Mary came to visit her there in 1558. James I., shortly after he came to the throne, exchanged Hatfield House for Sir Robert Cecil's house at Theobalds, the nearness of which to the city of London, the forest of Waltham Chase and the park at Enfield, made it " a place convenient for His Majesty's princely sports and recreations, and commodious for the entertainment of foreign princes and their ambassadors upon all occasions." The first Earl of Salisbury built the present house in the reign of James I. Theobalds The building of Theobalds had been begun in the previous reign by Sir Robert Cecil " with a mean measure, but encreased on occasion of Her Majesty's often comyng." King James, having obtained it, enlarged the park and sur- rounded it with a brick wall ten miles in circumference. He _ v; — ^» > a « INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 77 often came to the place for hunting, and died there in March, 1625. Charles I. came to Theobalds several times in the early part of his reign : his later visits were less frequent, but he was there in February, 1642, when the petition from both Houses was presented to him. The estate was granted by Charles II. to George Monk, Duke of Albemarle, in 1661. Win^0or Castk. THE history of Windsor Castle may be well described as an epitome of the history of England. The castle has been, and still is, the scene of historical events of far-reaching importance, and therefore a sense of the unbroken chain of cause and effect that makes the continuity of history becomes very real at Windsor. The building thus appears as something more than a mere picturesque background for the gorgeous pageantry and the romantic incidents that fill the lives of kings and queens, especially during the Middle Ages ; although, as Pepys said, when he went there for the first time in 1665, " It is the most romantique castle in the world." In its time it has " played many parts " ; like the Tower of London it has been alternately a fortress, a prison, a palace, and a royal tomb. For nearly nine hundred years a castle has stood at Windsor, silently witnessing the turn of Fortune's wheel, the continual recurrence of birth, marriage, and death, those three great realities that form the cycle of life for kings as well as commoners. The more ancient the house the greater is the human interest attached to it, and when that house has grown with the growth of the nation, and has seen the making of English history since the Conquest, it is not strange that EngHsh people should be conscious of a WINDSOR CASTLE 79 wonderful charm and absorbing interest in tracing its record from century to century.^ The Manor of Windsor (Windelsore) belonged to the Saxon kings, who had a fortress, probably at Old Windsor, where Edward the Confessor occasionally held his Court. The first authenticated mention of the place is in the charter dated May 20, 1065, by which Edward granted the manor to the Abbey of Westminster " as an endowment and perpetual inheritance," but it did not long remain the " perpetual inheritance" of Westminster. One of the first acts of William the Conqueror was to re-annex the manor to the Crown, in exchange for other lands. It is generally agreed that the "keep and tower" of William's castle stood on the site of the present building, possibly a very grey and grim fortress,^ like its master, who, as the chronicler said, " was so stark and fierce that none dared resist his will." Several entries in Domesday Book show Windsor as one of the Conqueror's residences. The first Constable of the Tower and Warden of the Forest was Walter Fitz Other, appointed by William I., and the grant was afterwards confirmed to his son by the Empress Maud. The office has existed to the present day, but is not heredi- tary. The Wardenship of the Forest can have been no sinecure under the Conqueror, " who loved the wild deer as if he had been their father." In 1072 the Court was at Windsor for Whitsuntide, and a controversy arose between the Archbishops of Canterbury 1 No attempt can be made here to deal, except incidentally, with the architecture of the castle, or with those treasures of art that belong to the Crown and are kept at Windsor. '^ It is possible that the Conqueror's castle was only a wooden structure surrounded by earthworks. 8o ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND and York as to the prior right of the Archbishop of Canter- bury to perform the ceremon}^ of crowning the king. The question was decided, and the Archbishop of York professed canonical obedience. This is perhaps the first memorable historical scene recorded at Windsor. In 1095 a great council was held in the castle in the presence of William IL, for the trial of Robert de Mowbray, Earl of Northumberland, who had organised a formidable conspiracy against the king, and was certainly implicated in the murder of Malcolm, King of Scotland. De Mowbray was imprisoned in the castle, and twenty-five years later was reported to be still alive in the dungeon ; the first of a long series of royal and other famous prisoners. There are few records of this reign at Windsor. No doubt the " Red King " improved and extended the forest, for he was almost as mighty a hunter as his father. His subjects spoke of him scornfully as " ranger of the forests and keeper of the deer." Henry L built or rebuilt the castle, and it is conjectured that some Norman remains found during the excavations made about 1841 are possibly of his building.^ He also erected a chapel dedicated to Edward the Confessor, and endowed a foundation of eight secular priests to serve it. Henry, who was born in England, and was therefore regarded by his Saxon subjects as 3.nAtheling, is generally considered the first English king, neither Saxon nor Norman. It was perhaps in recognition of this fact, to which he owed, partly, his somewhat uncertain tenure of the crown, that he married an ^ Poynter : Introduction to Sir J. Wyatville's Illustrations of Windsor Castle. Miss Strickland has a charming legend to the effect that the queen Matilda supervised the new buildings during the king's absences in Normandy, and that Gundulph, Bishop of Rochester, was the architect. WINDSOR CASTLE 8i English wife,^ and dedicated his chapel at Windsor to the last of the Saxon kings. He held his Court in the new building for the first time at Whitsuntide, mo, and was often there for Christmas and other feasts. The king's second marriage to Alice, or Adelicia, of Louvaine took place in the chapel in January, 1121, in the presence of " the whole council of Windsor." A dispute arose between the Archbishop of Canterbury and Roger le Poer, Bishop of Salisbur}-, who claimed the right to perform the ceremony because Windsor was then in his diocese, but the Primate eventually officiated. A strange marriage it must have been, for Henry was said " never to have smiled again " after the loss of his son William in the White Ship, and Alice of Louvaine was only eighteen years old. Five years after his second marriage, when no male heir to the throne had been born, the king entertained Malcolm H. of Scotland at Windsor for Christmas (1127), and in his presence caused all the great religious and military vassals of the Crown to swear fealty to his daughter Maud, whose first husband, the Emperor of Germany, had lately died. The ceremony of crowning the king, which was repeated on the occasion of nominating his heir, caused further strife between the archbishops. Some turmoil apparently took place in the chapel itself, for the Archbishop of York was " prevented by unanimous consent " from performing the ceremony, and his cross- bearer was turned out of the chapel. In 1132-33 at Christmas the king "lay sick at Windsor," and this was his last visit to the castle. He died in Normandy in 1135. From that moment Windsor, with the rest of the ' Edith or Matilda, daughter of Malcolm, King of Scotland, and Margaret, the sister of Edgar Atheling. She was always considered English for her mother's sake. R.P. G 82 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND kingdom, was exposed to all the horrors of civil war, though no mention of the castle is made in any of the records before the treaty of Wallingford in 1153. It may therefore be inferred that no siege took place. The castle walls, which had been left to fall to pieces during the reign of Stephen, were rebuilt by Henry II., and the castle itself, which seems to have been almost in ruins, was put in repair. It was typical of the state in which Henry found the country, and of the reign that " initiated the rule of law." But the king who showed no mercy, to himself or to others, was to receive none. Few but his own children had the power to wound him, and that power they did not fail to use. There is a tradition that in one of the rooms at Windsor the king caused to be painted on the wall the picture of an eagle with four young eaglets tearing at their father's breast, the smallest attacking his eyes. Henry is reported to have said that it was an emblem of his own children : " If John has not yet acted like his brethren, it is only because he is not yet old enough." He knighted John at Windsor in 1185, but even then he doubted the loyalty of his youngest and best-beloved son. The dying words of the first and mightiest of the Plantagenets were : " Shame, shame on a conquered king ! " His own children had conquered him. It may have been a real sense of remorse for his share in the rebellion that caused his father's death which hurried Richard to join his first Crusade. He left Windsor for the Holy Land in February, iigo. William Longchamp, Bishop of Ely and Chancellor of England, was left as Protector ot the realm, but at the same time the king granted the custody of Windsor Castle, with the rangership of the forest and the shrievalty of Berkshire, to Hugh Fudsey, Bishop of Durham, then Lord Chief Justice. Richard meant to maintain a 3S o O o WINDSOR CASTLE 83 balance between the powers of the two bishops, but the effect was to cause a species of civil war between them. The Chancellor's arbitrary conduct eventually incensed the barons and most of the clergy. He was invited to meet the dis- contented nobles, headed by John, Earl of Moreton, the king's brother, " at a safe place near Windsor," the spot selected being Loddon Bridge, between Reading and Wind- sor. Longchamp did not appear, but the Archbishop of Rouen, who had been sent by Richard to assist in the settle- ment of affairs, was made Chancellor, and Longchamp was forced to give up the Tower and Windsor, which he had seized, and to retire to Normandy. It was then arranged that Windsor should be held by the Earl of Arundel, in trust for Richard. In 1193, during the captivity of Richard, John, who never kept faith with anyone, assembled an army and attacked several of the king's castles. Windsor was among the first to fall into his hands. The barons of England, destined from the beginning to oppose the treacheries of John, once more rose and besieged Windsor, which was held successfully against them for some time. After considerable delay, the Bishop of Salisbury, who had been sent by the king to collect his ransom, arrived in England, and a larger force assembled at Windsor. John and his followers, fearing the speedy return and vengeance of Richard, yielded and fled, but it is said that most of his people were " apprehended and put to worthy execution." On this occasion Windsor, with other castles, was left in the charge of the dowager-queen Eleanor. During the turbulent reign of John he was constantly at Windsor, which he looked upon as the strongest of his fortresses. Warrants and orders still exist for wine and other provisions to be transmitted to him in the usual way G 2 84 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND by the river. He spent Christmas, 1207, at the castle, and distributed " dresses " among his knights, the sheriff of Wiltshire being commanded to send a thousand ells of woven cloth to Windsor by Christmas Day. In 1209 he w^as again there for Christmas, and it is recorded that " all the nobles of England were present and conversing with him, notwithstanding the sentence of excommunication under which he was bound, a rumour of the same, although it had not been published, had spread through all parts of England and come to the ears of everybody; for the king endeavoured to work evil to all who absented themselves from him." In February, 1210, John was at Windsor, and to this period belongs one of the worst crimes of which he was guilty. At the beginning of his reign the de Braose family stood high in the king's favour, but a dispute arose concern- ing lands in Ireland, and William de Braose, Maud his wife, their daughter, their son and his wife and children, were made prisoners, sent to Bristol, and afterwards to Windsor, William de Braose being allowed to proceed to Normandy to collect their ransom. The Annals of Mar gam, a Welsh chronicle, is said to give the most authentic account of the king's inhuman vengeance on Maud and her son, who were shut up together in a room at Windsor, with a sheaf of wheat and a piece of raw bacon for their sole provision. On the eleventh day the room was opened and they were found dead, with horrible evidences of the tortures they had undergone.^ ' In his dying moments of remorse John granted a sum of money for perpetual masses to be said for the souls of his victims. William de Braose died very shortly after receiving news of the terrible death of his wife and son. Vide Anna/s of Margam ; Annals of Waverley ; Thos. Wright, Hist, of Ludlow, p. 63. This tragedy is sometimes said to have taken place at Corfe Castle. I WINDSOR CASTLE 85 The year 1215 is one of the most memorable in the history of England, and, incidentally, of Windsor. The barons were actually at war with the king, who had fortified all his castles and garrisoned them with Free Companions from the Conti- nent, but an armistice was agreed upon in May, and on June 15 the famous council met at Runnimede, a field between Staines and Windsor. The council continued till June 23, and John attended the meeting every day. The "Great Charter" is dated June 15, 1215. It can still be seen at the British Museum, burnt and defaced, but with John's Great Seal yet hanging from it. It is said that John behaved with his customary levity and granted the Charter with little heed to its contents, so that few of the barons believed that he intended to be bound by its conditions, but the old chroniclers record that when he was once more within the walls of the castle he indulged in one of the fierce fits of rage that recalled his father's tempera- ment, and rolled on the ground, gnawing sticks and straws, uttering curses against the barons, and vowing vengeance on the nation that had endeavoured to give him " five and twenty over-kings." One of the terms of the Charter was that he should with- draw his foreign levies from Windsor and his other castles, but in a very short time he had again raised an army of mercenary troops. Windsor soon fell into his hands, and the whole country was devastated and laid waste by his marauders. The barons, in despair, offered the crown to Louis, son of Philippe Auguste, King of France, who actually received homage at St. Paul's, and in a few weeks the only great strongholds that remained in John's possession were Windsor, Corfe Castle and Dover. Louis laid siege to Dover, and the barons' army attacked 86 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND Windsor, which was defended by sixty knights and their retainers. The king did not attempt to raise the siege of either place, but pillaged and laid waste the estates of the barons, sometimes approaching Windsor, but never joining in a battle. The siege lasted for a considerable time, and the barons were said to have been in " great jeopardy," but they may have lost heart, for Louis was not treating them honestly. Eventually the besiegers marched away, and Windsor remained in the king's possession. His death took place in October, 1216, leaving his son Henry, then only nine years old, as his successor. Although John had frequently made Windsor his head- quarters, he added nothing to the building, and the walls that had been broken down during the last siege so remained till five years after the accession of Henry HL The young king and his advisers remained at Windsor until peace had been concluded with Louis. The queen Isabella, the Papal Legate, the Earl Marshal, the barons and a "great host" assembled at Windsor to discuss the terms of peace. They met " on an island in the Thames, beyond Kingston and towards Windsor." Louis crossed from one side of the river, the queen and the legate from the other. The terms of peace were eventually signed at Lambeth, September 11, 1217. Few English kings have been as thoroughly imbued with artistic tastes as Henry HI, He was pre-eminently the patron and friend of learning and art. All the royal houses, as well as numerous ecclesiastical edifices, bear witness to his love of building. The walls of Windsor were recon- structed, and necessary works undertaken in the castle as early as 1220-21. In 1225-26 the " great hall " was erected and the keep repaired. In 1239-40 various apartments WINDSOR CASTLE 87 were built on to the castle, for the private use of the royal family, apparently the first departure from the stern fortress the castle had been hitherto considered. Henry also built a chapel, on the site of the present " Albert Memorial Chapel," but of all his building nothing now remains. It was one of Henry's misfortunes that his marriage with Eleanor of Provence brought her relations over from Savoy, and numerous Poitevins and Bretons were allowed to occupy the royal castles and fill many important posts about the Court. The expulsion of foreigners from the king's council was constantly demanded and as constantly refused. In 1242 Bernard de Savoy, one of the queen's uncles, was appointed Constable of Windsor. The military defence of the castle at the time was provided by " four knights, eleven soldiers, seven watchers and certain cross-bow men, besides other servants." The king's eldest son, afterwards Edward I., was born at Windsor, and was chiefly brought up there. Numerous grants exist for " the support of Edward our son, and his attendants residing with him in our castle of Windsor," and in 1240 Thomas, Count of Flanders, visited England, and, after being entertained by the king in London, went to Windsor to see the young prince. Almost all the early history of Henry III. at Windsor is concerned with ** building, repairing, painting, paving and wainscoting" the castle, but the king and queen were often in great straits for money to meet their expenses. In 1242-43 an order was issued to the keeper of the king's apartments, directing him to pawn " the most valuable image " of the Virgin Mary, for a sum required to pay the officers of the Chapel Royal at Windsor, under special condition that it should be "deposited in a decent place." It was one of 88 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND four " gilt images " that had lately been placed in the chapel. In 1251 a great storm is said to have done "much damage" to the castle. During the absence of Henry in Germany in 1256, the queen entertained at Windsor her daughter Margaret with her husband, Alexander III. of Scotland, and a daughter was born to them in the castle. Matthew Paris, or Matthew of Westminster, as he is generally called, the last and greatest of the monastic historians, has given a vivid picture of the misrule and anarchy that prevailed during the greater part of the reign of Henry III. It is impossible here to enter into the details of the " Barons' War," but the great castles, including Windsor, changed hands frequently. In 1263 Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, who had been in exile, returned, put himself at the head of the barons' party, and declared open war on the king, who still held the Tower and Windsor. Prince Edward removed a large sum of money (1,000 marks) and the queen's jewels from the Tower to Windsor, which he garrisoned with a strong body of mercenary troops, a hundred knights and their retainers. Matthew of Westminster describes Windsor at this period as being "the most magnificent palace then existing in Europe," and says that the "foreigners" fortified and strengthened it, but that they devastated the surrounding country in all directions. Edward was obliged to surrender in July, 1263, and all foreigners who guarded the castle were ordered to depart. Before the battle of Lewes in May, 1264, Edward had again obtained possession of Windsor, and the king's forces assembled there ; the army of the barons, commanded by WINDSOR CASTLE 89 Simon de Montfort, was assembled in London. The king marched from Windsor, meaning to attack the Cinque Ports, but at Lewes he was defeated, and he and Prince Edward were made prisoners. This victory left de Montford virtually at the head of the State; Hugh de Barenten, Constable of Windsor, was ordered to release his two sons, " detained by Prince Edward's orders," at Windsor, as well as all other prisoners. Edward's wife Eleanor was also commanded, under the king's seal, to leave the castle with her children and servants; all those who had "fortified the castle against the king " were granted a free pardon. The " reign " of Simon de Montfort lasted but one year ; he and one of his sons were killed at the battle of Evesham, and the chroniclers record that in September, 1265, " the king came to Wyndesore with a great power, intending, as the fame then went, to destroy the city of London for the great ire and displeasure he had unto it." A deputation was sent from the City to ask the king's clemency, and eventually forty citizens, including the mayor, arrived at the castle, where they were practically imprisoned for some days, " notwith- standing the king's safe-conduct to them." Thirty-one of them were released and the rest kept as hostages till the fine imposed on the City was paid in 1269. For the rest of his reign Henry enjoyed a little troubled peace, and the kingdom was sufficiently quiet for Edward to join the Crusade of 1267. He is said to have taken the Cross in gratitude for an escape which he regarded as miraculous. He was playing chess with one of his knights in the hall at Windsor when a sudden impulse made him rise from his seat. He had scarcely done so when part of the groined stone roof over his head fell on the very spot where he had been sitting. He attributed his escape to "Our Lady of go ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND Walsingham," and built a beautiful church in her honour to show his thankfulness. Henry IIL died at Westminster in 1272. For the last ten years of his life little or nothing had been done to the castle at Windsor, though works were still being carried on in other royal palaces. Edward L had learnt the stern lesson that the kingdom might only be ruled by law, and " the passion of good government " had possessed him from his youth. Even in his connection with Windsor the change from the weak and inefficient rule that had marked the two preceding reigns becomes apparent. Instead of sieges and battles the records of the castle show accounts of improvements of the royal property, enclosures in the forest cultivated and sown, waste places reclaimed, the first recorded charter granted to the town of Windsor, and a wonderful display of power and wealth manifested in the great tournament held in the park in July, 1279. Accoutrements were provided for thirty-eight knights, many of whom had been with Edward on his Crusades. An account has been preserved of all the articles purchased in France and England for this tournament, on the king's behalf, by Adinett the tailor. The armour for the knights was of leather gilt, and consisted of a tunic and surcoat, a pair of ailettes (epaulettes), a crest, a shield, a helmet of leather, and a sword of "balon," supposed to be a sword wrapped in list or cloth to blunt its edge. The swords were silvered, with the pommels and hilts gilt, and the shields were of wood. The twelve knights of highest rank had gilded helmets, the rest had silver. The saddles were richly embroidered with gold and silver, and among the items is one for eight hundred little bells, another for silken cords to tie on the " ailettes," besides accounts for i V WINDSOR CASTLE 91 leather gilt for the horses' harness. From Paris came furs of different kinds for the royal family ; the saddles also came from there, besides gloves, carpets, dyed cloths, and other requisites. The sum expended was ^^1,429 5s. in Paris money, about double the amount in English gold. The scene under the great oaks in the park must have been magnificent, as the knights in their gilded armour, mounted on horses as resplendent as themselves, charged one another in mimic warfare. No doubt many of them had met in real warfare not very long before. Few events of importance occurred at the castle till 1283, when Alphonso, the eldest son of Edward, a boy of much promise, died there when only ten years old. The first election of members of Parliament for the borough of Windsor took place during this reign. ^ No additions to the structure of the castle were made by either Edward I. or Edward II. One of the first acts of Edward II. was to cause Langton, Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, then Treasurer, to be seized and thrown into prison, first at Windsor and after- wards in the Tower. Piers Gaveston, lately recalled from exile and created Earl of Cornwall, the "evil genius of a weak prince,"^ was doubtless the instigator of this arbitrary act ; but Langton and the Bishop of St. Andrews, who had also been imprisoned, were released at Christmas, 1309, when Edward kept the feast "with great solemnity" at Windsor. The prince who was destined to be Edward III. was born in the castle, November 23, 1312, and was christened four days later with due ceremony in the chapel. His godfathers were * The burgesses and " knights of the shire " were first admitted to th« " Great Council " in 1295. - Robert Bruce declared that he was " more afraid of the bones of the father dead than of the living son." Matthew of Westminster : Chronicle. 92 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND Richard, Bishop of Poictiers ; John, Bishop of Bath and Wells ; William, Bishop of Worcester ; Louis, Count d'Evreux; the queen's brother John, Duke of Brittany and Earl of Richmond ; Aymer de Valence,Earl of Pembroke; and Hugh le Despenser. The queen Isabella was then only eighteen years old, though she had been married for five years. The Count d'Evreux and other French nobles at the Court were anxious that the child should receive the name of Louis, but the English godfathers prevailed, and he was called Edward. It was said that the queen's influence at about this time effected a passing reconciliation between the king and his barons, but his constant struggles with them are reminiscent of the unrest of his grandfather's reign. It is recorded that in 1312 he was at Windsor for Christmas " with many prelates of the land," but the peace was evanescent. In 1327 Edward was a prisoner, and the peers deposed the king who had " violated his coronation oath and oppressed the Church and the baronage." It was resolved that " the reign of Edward of Carnarvon had ceased and that the crown had passed to his son Edward of Windsor." In the following September the king was murdered in Berkeley Castle. The reign of Edward III. is one of the most important in the annals of Windsor. Adam Murimuth, a contemporary chronicler, writes of this king that " he was of infinite goodness, and glorious among all the great ones of the world." The king " who in war would freely hazard his own person, raging like a wild boar and crying * Ha St. Edward ! Ha St. George ! ' in peace would lead the revels at Windsor, clad in white and silver, embroidered with the motto he adopted in honour of his wife : Hay, hay, the White Swan I By Goddes soul I am thy man ! " 5- '-0 j WINDSOR CASTLE 93 It is not possible here to enter into the history of the war with Scotland, and the commencement of the devastating war with France which lasted for over a hundred years, though it was perhaps to these prolonged hostilities that England owed the chivalry and prowess of her knights, the splendid valour of her archers, and some of the inspiration that filled Chaucer and made him " the Father of English Song." So much must be said in endeavouring to show the state of Court and society that led to the institution of the most famous and honourable of English Orders, " the Society of St. George," as the Order of the Garter was first called. The visit of Robert, Count d'Artois, to Windsor in 1336, when he was exiled from France and considered himself unjustly deprived of the Duchy of Burgundy, was the signal for the beginning of hostilities with France. Some years later, after the victories of Vannes and Crecy, Edward returned to Windsor, and devoted himself to the rebuilding of the castle and to the splendid festivities and magnificent pageantry that distinguished his Court. In 1343, in imita- tion of King Arthur, he desired to hold a " Round Table." Knights and esquires, both English and foreign, were invited to assemble at Windsor Castle on January ig, 1344, when the king would hold " hastiludes and general jousts." Froissart has confused this revival of the " Round Table " with the institution of the Garter, but there is no doubt that the " Round Table " and a " Knightly Society of Lincoln," established by the king in the same year, were quite distinct and separate from the Order of the Garter, which was not instituted till June or July, 1348.^ Letters patent granting the foundation of the Collegiate * There is no further mention of the '' Round Table "' or the Lincoln Association after the institution of the " Garter." 94 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND Chapel of St. George were issued in August, 1348, and though the first statutes of the Order had " long since wholly perished " even in 1670, there can be little doubt that the chapel and the Order were founded at the same time. Many writers have treated with contempt the romantic incident to which the Order has always been said to owe its familiar symbol. The popular account is that during one of the Court festivities at Windsor a lady happened to drop her garter, a blue ribbon, which was picked up by the king, who, to save the blushes of the owner, exclaimed, with ready gallantry, " Honi soit qui mal y pense ! " and, as a further sign of thinking no evil himself, bound it round his own knee. Such a story necessarily met with exaggerated treatment at the hands of the ballad-mongers and romantic chroniclers of the time, who endeavoured to assign a name to the lady, and sentiments not altogether honourable to the king. The earlier writers said that the owner of the memorable ribbon was the queen ; others invented or listened to Court gossip and said that it was the Countess of Kent or the Countess of Salisbury; while Ashmole and later authors attempted to divest the Order altogether of a " feminine institution." But the legend is quite probable and charac- teristic of the period. The lady's name is immaterial. The chivalrous spirit of the age and his own knightly character were enough to inspire the king's gallant speech. The queen and her ladies were originally members of the society ; the wives of the early Companions and some other noble women were termed " Dames de la Fraternite de St. George," and were even said to have been " received into the Order." They wore robes like the knights, "powdered with blue garters," bound the symbol itself on their arms, and were always present at the great festivals. The queen, at all I WINDSOR CASTLE 95 events, " thought no evil," and Phihppa of Hainault was one of the noblest of English queens. It is curious that neither the annals of the Order, the contemporary chroniclers, nor the pubhc records give any authentic information on this point. The Order was divided, like the tilters at a tournament, into two *' bands," or companies, each originally consisting of twelve knights, with the Sovereign at the head of one band and the Prince of Wales at the head of the other. To each of the Companions a stall was allotted in St. George's Chapel, the knights belonging to the Sovereign's company on one side, and those of the Prince of Wales on the other. Over each stall a canopy of carved oak supports the sword, helmet, and crest of the knight, under a banner showing his armorial bearings ; a brass plate richly enamelled, at the back of the stall, records his name, style, and titles. These plates remain always, but the other insignia are, naturally, changed for each knight in succession. The plates in themselves ought to contain a perfect record of the Knights of the Garter, but unfortunately many of them have been stolen or lost.^ Those that remain bear a series of the most famous and distinguished names in history. With changed times a change has inevitably taken place in the qualifications necessary for a Knight of the Garter, and Sir Robert Walpole was the last commoner admitted to the Order. The original foundation of the chapel consisted of one "Custos " (called a "Dean" from 1413 onwards), twenty-four Canons, divided into twelve secular canons and twelve » Vide W. H. St. John Hope : Stall Plates of the Order of the Garter. One of the plates lost since 1749, that for Sir Charles Somerset, Earl of Worcester (1514-26), was lately recovered from a marine store dealer in New Zealand and replaced in 1898 in the stall from which it had been stolen. 96 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND priests or vicars, four clerks, six choristers, twenty-four " Poor Knights," and other officers.^ The number of Canons and of Poor Knights was shortly afterwards increased to twenty-six each, to agree with the also increased number of Companions of the Garter. The first Canons and Poor Knights were presented by the first Knights of the Order, but subsequent presentations were reserved to the royal founder and his successors. In 1352 the Pope's delegate granted a constitution to the chapel, making it free of episcopal jurisdiction. A special prayer on behalf of the "Most Noble Order of the Garter" is daily chanted in the chapel. All the chroniclers vie with one another in describing the splendour of the " feasts of St. George." Stowe cites Thomasin la More, a contemporary writer, and thus describes what he calls " the first Feast of St. George," in 1350^ : — " All these (Companions of the Order), together with the king, were clothed in gowns of russet powdered with garters blue, wearing the like garters also on their right legs, and mantles of blue with scutcheons of St. George. In this sort of apparel, they being bare-headed, they heard mass, which was celebrated by Simon Islip, Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Bishops of Winchester and Exeter ; and afterwards they went to the Feast, setting themselves orderly at the table, for the honour of the Feast, which they named to be of St. George the Martyr, and the choosing of the Knights of the Garter." The garter itself was, of course, always blue, 1 The " Poor Knights " (now called the " Military Knights" of Windsor) were to be lodged and fed within the castle walls, and " constantly to serve God in prayer " for their militant brethren. '^ From the " Letters Patent " it appears probable that the first feast took place a year earlier. WINDSOR CASTLE 97 but the first ribbon of the Order is said to have been blacic ; Queen Elizabeth changed it to light blue, and George I. to a darker blue.^ It was again changed by Queen Victoria to its present shade of so-called " royal blue." The collar and jewel were designed in the reign of Henry VII., and the star was a device of Charles I. The Statutes of the Order are kept in the Chapter House at the Deanery, but in the library of the castle^ some interesting relics have been collected, among which may be mentioned a manuscript volume written by Sir Thomas Wriothesley, temp. Henry VIII., on " Matters relating to the Garter," and two manuscript volumes of Statutes of the Garter (in Latin) as altered in the time of Edward VI., with corrections in his handwriting and in that of the Protector Somerset. An attempt seems to have been made to change the motto of the Order to Verbum domini manet in aternum, and this is corrected and the original motto written in the margin in Edward's own hand. There are also, among others, a contemporary sketch of a knight in his Garter robes, temp. Elizabeth ; a seal of the Chapter and some of the Heralds' Registers of the seventeenth century ; the small garter worn by George IV. as a boy ; and the collar and garter belonging to the late King of Portugal. After the first occasion recorded by Stowe the feast was duly celebrated every year with increasing splendour. In 1358 the captive kings, David of Scotland and John of France, with his son Philip, were present, and Edward gave the queen ;^5oo (equal to nearly £3,000 in modern money) for her apparel at the feast. The Court had the reputation of ' Charles II. also changed the colour to what was called " mazarin blue " in honour of the Duchesse de Mazarin. ' The writer wishes to express her indebtedness to the courtesy of Mr. F"ortescue, the librarian of the castle, for showing her the library, which is not open to the public. R.P. H 98 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND being the gayest in Europe at the time, and was full of French prisoners and hostages of noble birth, who were treated as guests rather than captives, and joined in all knightly sports and amusements. The king and his knights spent freely the money gained by the war, and the whole scene was one of much splendour and picturesque pageantry. A new chapel of St. George, with houses for the Gustos and Canons, was begun shortly after the foundation'of the college. In 1356 William of Wykeham was appointed surveyor of the works. Much of the original building of Henry III. was pulled down, and a new domus regis was built to the south of the keep. Down to this period the castle had occupied the site of the present lower and middle wards, there being little or no building east of the keep or Round Tower. It is difficult now to trace the foundations of Edward's castle, though the building has kept the character then intro- duced, and his works remain as the nucleus of the present edifice. There is a tradition that the captive kings of France and Scotland were shown the proposed site of Edward's alterations and John suggested that the castle ought to be on the higher ground, a proposal carried out by Edward,^ who enlarged it from the lower set of buildings. " King John's Tower" is said to preserve the memory of the French king at Windsor. Wykeham was thirty-two years old and still at the beginning of his career when he was appointed surveyor of the castle. The works at Windsor were executed chiefly between 1359 and 1374, but Wykeham resigned his appoint- ment in 1362, when he became Bishop of Winchester. The story goes that he inscribed the sentence Hoc fecit Wykeham ^ He is also said to have made the remark that his captives should pay for it. WINDSOR CASTLE 99 on one of the castle walls, and that the king was offended, thinking he meant to claim credit for the whole building. Wykeham gave him the courtierlike explanation that the sentence should be read as " this made Wykeham," meaning that his appointment as surveyor had led to his subsequent promotion. The answer is said to have satisfied Edward. There are no traces of the inscription now, but Sir Jeffrey Wyatville afterwards caused the words Hoc fecit Wykeham to be affixed to the Winchester Tower, popularly supposed to be called after him, though more probably it derived the name from being assigned to the Bishop of Winchester, as prelate of the Order of the Garter, during his residences at Windsor for the festivals of the Order. Notwithstanding the continual building operations, Edward was constantly at Windsor. He refused to be present at the marriage of his son, Edward "the Black Prince," with Joan, Countess of Kent, popularly known as the " Fair Maid of Kent," in St. George's Chapel, October, 1361, but the queen and the princesses attended the ceremony, and it is said that the rite "was solemnised with pomp and noise," despite the absence of the king. Queen Philippa died at Windsor on August 15, 1369, and the scene of her death is recorded in moving detail by Froissart : " the good queen of England, that so many good deeds had done in her time, and so many knights succoured and ladies and damsels comforted . . . she fell sick in the castle of Wyndesore, . . . and therewas no remedy but death." She asked the king, who was " right sorrowfully weeping," to grant her three desires, namely, that he should pay her debts, that he should fulfil all the charities she " had promised and made to the Churches," and that " it might please the king to take none other sepulture whensoever it shall please H 2 loo ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND God to call you out of this transitory life, but beside me in Westminster." After the king had assured her of his willing consent to these requests, she " yielded up the spirit, the which," says Froissart faithfully, ** I believe surely the holy angels received with great joy up to heaven, for in all her life she did neither in thought, word nor deed, thing whereby to lose her soul, as far as any creature could know." In 1370 the Black Prince returned from the last of his many campaigns ; his health had given way, and he had to be carried on a litter across the country from Southampton to Windsor. He remained there for some time, but eventually removed to Berkhampstead, where he died about six years later, never having recovered his strength. The second Richard's reign began among wars and rumours of wars, but he spent the Christmas of 1378 as usual at Windsor. In 1380 his half-sister Joan de Courtney was married " with great triumphing " to Lord Valeran, Earl of St. Paul's, in St. George's Chapel, but the following year saw the king at Windsor under less happy circumstances. During the insurrection headed by Wat Tyler, Richard was removed to the Tower, for greater safety, and was there joined by his mother. On June 12, 1381, the young king met Tyler and his followers by the river and appointed a meeting with them at Windsor the next day, " where they should have sufficient answer to all their demands." Richard returned to the Tower, and the meeting at Windsor did not take place, as on his way there the next morning the king met Tyler at Smithfield, and in a struggle between their respective adherents Tyler was killed by the Mayor of London, and the eady boldness of Richard enabled his followers to disperse the mob. WINDSOR CASTLE loi The marriage of the king to Anne de Luxembourg of Bohemia was celebrated at Westminster in 1381, and they afterwards proceeded to Windsor, where " they kept an open and noble house." The expenditure of the Court was lavish, exceeding that of the open-handed and generous Edward IIL John Hardyng, a contemporary chronicler, gives the following account : — Trewly, I herde Robert Trelesse saie, Gierke of the greene clothe ; that to the household Come every day for most partie alwaie Ten thousandc folk, by his messes told, That followed the household even as they wolde, And in the kechen three hundred survytours. And in each office many occupiers. And ladies faire with their gentlewomen, Chamberers also and lavenders, Three hundreth were accounted of theym then ; There was grete pride among the officers, And over all men for passing their compeers, Of riche arraie and much more costiouse Than was before or sith and more preciouse. Yeomen and gromys in cloth of silk arraied Sateyn and damaske in doublettes and in gownes, In cloth of grayne and skarlett for unpaied ; Cutt work was grete both in courte and townes. Both in men's hoddes and also in their gownes, Broiderie and furres, goldesmyth werk aye newe In many wise ech did they renewe. '' The best memorial of Anne of Bohemia is found in Chaucer's Legend of Goode Women, which he wrote on the occasion of her arrival, he being then a " yeoman of the king's chamber." In May, 1382, a great council was held at Windsor, and it was decided that the king himself should take the command of his forces in France, but no success attended his arms. St. George's Day, 1386, was celebrated as usual at Windsor, I02 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND Richard's Court being more extravagant and magnificent than ever, regardless of his losses in France and the unsettled state of the country. At this time a great number of the citizens of London arrived to present a petition to the king, complaining that they were " unduly taxed and burdened with imposts." Their guise was somewhat threatening, but Richard answered amicably and promised to give them his decision in a week, so that the conference ended peaceably ; but the king and his people were not in sympathy. In October the ex-Chancellor, Michael de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, was impeached by the Commons and imprisoned at Windsor, but he was released by order of the king on the dissolution of Parliament. The whole history of Richard's reign is concerned with his constant struggles against his uncle, his people, and more especially against the citizens of London, who were con- stantly asked to provide the king with money. In 1387 Richard was brought back to Windsor from Bristol, and taken thence to London, practically as a prisoner, and some sort of peace was arranged, so that in 1388 he kept St. George's Feast as usual at the castle. One of the most interesting circumstances of this reign at Windsor was the appointment in 1390 of Geoffrey Chaucer as clerk of the works, to superintend the repairs of St. George's Chapel. The year before he had been made clerk of the works at several other places — Westminster, the Tower of London, etc. The commission to repair St. George's Chapel, dated July 12, 1390, shows that it was in a ruinous condition. Chaucer was empowered to " impress " masons, carpenters, and other workmen and labourers, and to "seize" materials of every description with "carriages for the same," and — significantly — to imprison " refractory WINDSOR CASTLE 103 persons." ^ The chapel had only been completed within the last forty years, and it is sugj^csted that some radical failure in the foundations or construction must have become apparent to call for such stringent measures without delay. Chaucer only held the appointment for about twenty months, though the works were still being carried on when he retired. He received payment as "late clerk of the works" till 1393. Chaucer was well known about the Court, as he had been originally in the employment of John of Gaunt, "time-honoured Lancaster," and in 1367 had been appointed a yeoman of the chamber to Edward III., and, five years later, a squire of the royal household. It has been well said that " the Court was all that the poet could desire as a school of worldly manners, of human passion and character, and of gorgeous pageantry." ^ Richard did not stay long at any one of his castles. Froissart, who was also much about the Court, wrote : " I remained in the household of the King of England as long as I pleased, . . . but I was not always in the same place, for the king frequently changed his abode." The year 1396 was marked at Windsor by the return of Richard's ambassadors from France, where they had gone to make proposals of marriage for the Princess Isabella of Valois, a child of ten years old, on behalf of the king. It is said that Richard " w^as much pleased by their answers." In the following year took place the memorable " appeal of high treason " by the Duke of Hereford, afterwards Henry IV., against the Duke of Norfolk. They w^ere cited to appear before the king at a meeting of Parliament held ' They were the usual powers granted in all similar appointments at this date, and Wykeham had had the same. " Coulton : Chaucer and his England, 31 ct siq. I04 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND at Shrewsbury, where, after some high words had passed between them, they were both arrested by the Earl Marshal, the Duke of Surrey. Hereford found sureties, but Norfolk was sent to Windsor with a guard. The two dukes were then referred to " a high court of chivalry " to be held before the king at Coventry. Norfolk was allowed to have master armourers at Windsor, " as many as he pleased," to make his armour for the occasion. He demanded "trial of battle in tournament," and the lists were opened at Coventry, but at the last moment the king prevented the encounter, banished the Duke of Hereford for ten years, and Norfolk for life. They both came to make their final farewells to the king and queen at Windsor in October, 1398. The Duke of Norfolk is said to have died ** of a broken heart " at Venice in 1399. Hereford became Duke of Lancaster, on the death of his father, the same year, and returned to England, where he was received with acclamations, succeeded in causing Richard to be deposed, and was himself crowned king, as Henry IV., on the first anniversary of the day on which he had gone into banishment. Froissart says that Richard's last tournament, held at Windsor to celebrate St. George's Feast in 1399, was but ill attended. Forty knights and squires, clad in green, with the queen's device of a white falcon on their breasts, were proclaimed " to hold their own against all comers," and *' the queen was indeed present, in magnificent array, but very few of the barons attended." Richard had offended them all too deeply. A contemporary chronicler, probably a Frenchman in the queen's train, has left a minute descrip- tion of the parting of the king and the young queen on April 25, 1399. The queen, it must be remembered, was only eleven years old, and Richard, though he made ** such WINDSOR CASTLE 105 show of love and affection," as deeply impressed the chronicler, had already arranged for the dismissal of Isabella's most familiar friend and governess, Madame de Coucy, who had come with her from France. She was left in the care of the Duke of York at Windsor, but was soon removed to Wallingford, for greater safety. Richard never returned to the castle or saw his queen again after this departure. Windsor surrendered to Henry of Bolingbroke " on a blast of trumpets." He kept his first Christmas as king in great state in the castle, having sent out commands to all the lords "to attend the feast of the new king at his castle of Windsor." No less than fourteen " princes of the blood " rode in his train on New Year's Day, and these royal and noble followers of the king are said to have " worn the king's colours, to have dressed as he dressed, thought as he thought," but some of them were already plotting against him while they rode and feasted with him at Windsor. On New Year's Day a petition was brought to him by the Archbishop of Canterbur}', the king's uncle, Edward, Duke of York, and many others, representing that the safety and welfare of the realm required that an end should be made of the life of Richard, but Henry refused to take any action, except it were agreed upon " in open parliament." On January 2 the lords left Windsor, " to prepare for the tournament " which was shortly to take place. A plot had been formed by the Earls of Rutland, Huntingdon, Kent, Salisbury, and others to take Windsor by surprise, murder Henry and his young sons, and restore either Richard or the Earl of March, who was the legal heir, to the throne. The conspirators were to assemble their men-at-arms and convey them secretly to Windsor in covered carts, such carts as were used for the carriage of arms and mail for io6 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND tournaments. They were to be marked with the names of various lords who were expected at Windsor, and who would thus be allowed to enter the castle. Huntingdon, Kent, and Salisbury were to arrive in the usual manner as guests, but at night they were to rise and kill the king and his sons before they could arm. At a given signal the men hidden in the carts were to rush out and kill every one in royal livery. On Sunday morning the royal family attended mass in the Chapel of St. George, and the conspirators assembled at Kingston, whence the carts were to start, the rest marching secretly to Staines and Colnbrook, to cut off any possible retreat from "Windsor to London. The plot was betrayed by Rutland, either in pity or from infirmity of purpose, to his father, the Duke of York, who at once started for Windsor with an incriminating document, signed by all the conspirators, given to him by his son. Rutland, however, outstripped his father and made his own confession. Henry immediately left Windsor, taking with him his four sons and three other followers. They rode safely through bypaths to London, where they were received joyfully by the citizens, and Henry was able in very few days to enroll an army of 16,000 men. Meanwhile Rutland had returned to his colleagues, who knew nothing of the king's escape. Huntingdon marched on Windsor, forced the castle gates, and entered the king's house. He searched the building, left his men in possession, and returned to his fellow conspirators at Colnbrook. His followers are said to have absolutely wrecked the castle, break- ing up the furniture and carrying off plate and valuables. The end of this rebellion is well known, and all the leaders were killed. A story is told of another attempt on Henry's life at WINDSOR CASTLE 107 Windsor, a " caltrappc " having been put in his bed by a member of the late king's household. Henry's tenure of the throne was never very secure : in 1405 Lady Despenser, whose husband had been killed in the Huntingdon and Kent conspiracy, undertook to release the young Earl of March and his brother, who were in captivity at Windsor. They were to be taken to Wales, where Owen Glendower was in arms against the king. Lady Despenser obtained false keys and escaped with the boys, but only as far as the Chiltern Woods, where they were re-captured and taken back to Windsor. She accused her brother, the Earl of Rutland, of being the instigator of this plot, and he was confined in Pevensey Castle for three months, his estates being confiscated to the Crown. Both he and Lady Despenser were eventually pardoned and their former honours restored to them, " bot," says Stowe, " ye smythe for makyng ye keyes lost fyrst his handes, after his hed." Thus was justice satisfied. A solemn council was held at Windsor towards the end of this reign to decide if Edmund de Mortimer, Earl of March, the legal heir to the throne, might be permitted to marry Lady Anne Stafford, his cousin. Permission to marry was refused to them at this time, on account of their nearness to the succession, but it was subsequently granted to them after the accession of Henry V. Henry IV. died at Westminster in March, 1413, and was succeeded by his son, Henry of Monmouth, the most romantic and popular figure among all the Plantagenet Kings of England. He began his reign at Windsor by setting at liberty the Earl of March and giving consent to his marriage. His confidence was well-founded, for March remained loyal always. io8 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND Another royal prisoner at Windsor, as romantic a figure as Henry himself, was James I., King of Scotland, who had been in captivity in England since he was fourteen years old. He was imprisoned at first in Pevensey Castle, and was sent from there to the Tower, but on the accession of Henry V. was removed to Windsor, where he remained for eleven years. Soon after his arrival at the castle an attempt to release him by means of false keys was made by Thomas Payne, a Welsh priest, but his plot was discovered in time. The story of the Scottish king's romantic attachment to Joanna Beaufort, daughter of the Earl of Somerset, who after- wards became his wife, is well known. He was imprisoned in the "Maids of Honour's" Tower, called also the "Devil's Tower," and originally the " Earl Marshal's Tower," on the south side of the castle, south-east of the Round Tower, from the windows of which he could look into the garden below, and there for the first time he saw Joanna, walking by herself. His own words from The King's Quair best describe the garden : — Now was there maid, just by the Touris wall, A gardyn faire, and in the corneris set, Ane herbere grene, with wandis long and small, Railit about, and so with treis set Was all the place, and hawthorn hegis knet, That lyt was non, walkyng there forbye. That myght within scarce any wight aspye. So thick the bevis and the leves grene, Beschadit all the allyes that there were, And myddis every herbere might be sene The scharp grene suete jenepere, Growing so fair, with branches here and there, That, as it semyt to a lyf without, The bevis spred the herbere all about. WINDSOR CASTLE log And on the small grene twistis set The lytil suete nightingale, and song So loud and clere the ympnis consecrat Of luvis use, now soft, now lowd among That all the gardynis and the wallis rong Rycht of thaire song. It is best also to give his own description of Joanna, as he first saw her walking in the garden : Her golden hair and rich attire In fretwise couched with pearly white, And great balls levening as the fire, With many an emerald and fair saphire; And on her head a chaplet fresh of hue Of plumis parted red, and white and blue. According to Stowe, Queen Katherine encouraged this romantic attachment, and the lovers were betrothed at the queen's coronation festival. In 142 1 James was knighted at Windsor on St. George's Day, and consented to serve with the English army in France, on condition that he should be allowed to visit his own country three months after his return. He left Windsor with Henry in June, 1421, after sixteen years' captivity; but Henry died in the following year, and James did not go back to Scotland until his ransom was finally paid in 1424. In August, 1413, Windsor Castle was the scene of a dis- cussion that might have furnished a theme for Shakespeare. Sir John Oldcastle, usually known as Lord Cobham,^ who is supposed to have been the prototype of Sir John Falstaff in the plays of Henry IV. and the Merry Wives, the companion of Henry V. in the wild pranks of his youth, had become an important member of the sect known as the " Lollards." He had married Joan de la Pole, the only child of Lord Cobham of Cowling Castle, near Rochester, and, being summoned to Parliament as her representative, was commonly known as Lord Cobham. no ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND Tracts, obnoxious to the Church and the clergy, had been issued from his house, and Henry Chicheley, Archbishop of Canterbury, denounced Oldcastle to the king. It is said that the tracts were read to Henry in his own closet at Windsor, in the presence of Sir John. He seems to have denied any share in the production of the tracts and joined in their condemnation. All the bishops afterwards waited on Henry and represented to him the gravity of the case, but the king desired them to give him time to enter into argument with his friend. He was not successful as a controversialist, and seems to have descended from argument to threats, meant, no doubt, as a warning for Oldcastle, but he only withdrew to his own house at Cowling. He was afterwards convicted of heresy and imprisoned in the Tower, but was allowed to escape, and the rest of his history is mysterious, though he was certainly implicated in the Lollard revolts. Four years later he was taken prisoner in Wales, during the absence of Henry in France, and without the king's knowledge was burnt at the stake as a heretic — a tragic end for Shakespeare's "fat knight," though it has been argued that Shakespeare was misinformed as to the real character of Sir John Oldcastle. After Agincourt (1415) all the French prisoners of royal or noble blood were sent to Windsor, and the list included the Dukes of Orleans and Bourbon, the Counts d'Eu and de Vendome, the Earl of Richmond,^ and Boucicault, Marshal of France. Henry had a list drawn up of all the knights who had I Arthur, Earl of Richmond, was the son of the king's stepmother, Joanna of Castile. It is said that on his arrival at the castle as a prisoner he was brought into the room where the queen and her ladies were assembled, and failed to recognise his mother, to her great chagrin. WINDSOR CASTLE iii fought beside him at Agincourt, and is said to have always filled up the roll of the Garter from among them. He revived with all their pristine magnificence the festivals of St. George, the tournamentsand " hastiludes " of Edward III. He was also a great hunter, and so fleet of foot that it was said he could "capture the deer without the aid of dogs." In 1416 the Emperor Sigismund of Germany was present at the Feast of St. George, and was created a Companion of the Garter. He brought with him a relic, the supposed heart of St. George, which was preserved in the chapel till the time of Henry VIII. The name-plate of Sigismund still remains in the chapel. Contemporary accounts of this feast declare that " the finery of the guests, the order of the servants, the variety of the courses, the invention of the dishes, with the other things delightful to the sight and taste, whoever should endeavour to describe would never do it justice." A new entertainment on this occasion was the display of " Soteltes " (devices) before the king and the Emperor : " Oure Lady armyng Seint George, and an angel doying on his spores; Seint George ridyng and fightyng with the dragon, with his spere in his hand ; . . . a castel and Seint George and the kynges doughter ledynge the lambe in at the castle gates." Sigismund brought with him a suite of over a thousand persons, so that the king had to ask the dean and canons to make room for them at Windsor. The Emperor looked upon himself as the arbitrator of affairs in Europe, and desired to impose on Henry a peace with France. Eventually he was compelled to buy his way out of England, by signing a treaty with Henry, by no means in favour of France, but on his return to Germany he refused to observe the terms of the agreement. 112 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND After the coronation of the king and queen at Westminster in 1421, they retired for a short time to Windsor, and at the Feast of St. George, held on May 3, the king made some alterations and improvements in the ceremonial and statutes of the Order. Ashmole styles Henry V. " the happy restorer of the honour of the Order of the Garter," he having found " its glory upon abatement." On December 6 the same year Henry, Prince of Wales, afterwards Henry VI., was born at Windsor, and was baptized in the chapel by Chicheley, Archbishop of Canterbury. John, Duke of Bedford, Lord Warden of England, and Henry, Bishop of Winchester, his uncles, were his godfathers and were present at the ceremony, as was also his god- mother, the notorious Jacqueline, Countess of Holland and Duchess of Brabant. The king was absent at the siege of Meaux, and is said to have heard some prophecy which had made him unwilling that his heir should be born at Windsor. " I, Henry, born at Monmouth, shall small time reign and much get ; and Henry, born at Windsor, shall long reign and all lose — but as God will, so be it." He is reported to have said this, and in effect he only lived for seven months after the birth of his son, and died at Vincennes, August 31 1422. After Edward HI., Henry V. is certainly the most attrac- tive and picturesque figure among the early Kings of England at Windsor. The history of Henry VL might be summed up in the saying, Henry, " him " of holy birth, " Him" to whom his Windsor gave Nativity and name and grave. The little king of nine months old, who was presented to his council at Windsor by his uncle Humphrey, Duke of WINDSOR CASTLE 113 Gloucester, inherited the characteristics of his grandfather Charles VI., who was the ruin of France, and repeated his history in the ruin of England. The Great Seal of England " in a purse of white leather, sealed with the Chancellor's seal," was delivered to the infant king at Windsor on September 28, 1422, " at the hour of vespers, in the chamber of the king." The Archbishop of Canterbury, the bishops, and the great lords who were pre- sent " did fealty and homage," and the Great Seal was eventually delivered to the Duke of Gloucester, as Protector, in November " in full Parliament." The writs for the first Parliament of Henry VI. bade the members assemble at ** Wyndesore," but they eventually met in London. In February, 1424, James VI. of Scotland was married to Lady Joanna Beaufort at Windsor, and in April they returned to Edinburgh. Richard, Duke of York (the father of Edward IV.), the legal heir to the throne, who was about ten years older than Henry, was educated with him at Windsor, where he remained during his minority. The quarrels of his uncles Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, and Cardinal Beaufort do not seem to have affected the history of the castle. The Duke of Gloucester attempted to deprive Beaufort of the see of Winchester, and incidentally of the prelacy of the Order of the Garter, but Beaufort retained the see, and received the annual livery of robes for the Feast of St. George up to the time of his death. In 1431 Margery Jourdemain, the famous " Witch of Eye," with two priests who were accused of being her con- federates in sorcery, were imprisoned in the castle, but were afterwards released. The " Witch of Eye" was subsequently involved in the celebrated charge of witchcraft brought R.P. I 114 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND against "Dame Eleanor Cobham," the Duchess of Gloucester, in 1441, and was burnt at the stake in Smithlield.^ The marriage of Henry and Margaret of Anjou took place in April, 1445. In October, 1453, while they were at "Windsor, the mental weakness of the king became too much marked for further concealment, and it was necessary to appoint a " Council of Regency." The council went to Windsor to see the " kynges highnesse, but they cowlde get noo answere ne signe." Nothing could move him from the state of apathy, almost of insensibility, into which he had fallen. In November the king's first son, Edward, was born, and in January he was brought to the castle in the hope that his father might be roused to take some interest in him, but Henry was still sitting " like a statue, unable to move, to speak or to hear." The Duke of York was appointed Protector. The rest of Henry's history is only a record of his fluc- tuating state of mental and physical health, and the kingdom was constantly plunged into civil war by the followers of the " White Rose " and the " Red." Windsor was more than once the scene of affrays between partisans of the opposing factions. In March, 1461, Henry was imprisoned in the Tower, and Edward, son of Richard, Duke of York, was proclaimed king as Edward IV. Henry VL will always be remembered as the " Pious Founder " of Eton College. The charter of foundation was dated "at the king's manor of Shene," October 11, 1441. Permission was granted to the Provost and Fellows and their successors for ever to be called "the Provost and Royal 1 The Duchess of Gloucester herself had to do public penance in a white sheet, and was afterwards exiled to the Isle of Man. WINDSOR CASTLE 115 College of the Blessed Mary of Eton juxta Wyndcsores." A Bull was afterwards obtained from Pope Eugenius IV. authorising the king to " found and endow his college." Building commenced in 1441, the first stone of the chapel being laid on July 3, 1442. The accounts for the building, made by John Hampton the surveyor, are preserved in the archives of the college. Statutes were drawn up in 1448, and in that year William Waynflete, Provost, and the first Fellows, clerks, and other members of the college were sworn in. Mr. A. F. Leach has called attention to a more complete body of statutes prepared by the founder in 1446.^ Edward IV. assumed the title of king after his victory over the Lancastrians at Towton Field, near Tadcaster, although the Royalists preserved some hopes until the young prince Edward, son of Henry VI., was killed at Tewkesbury. A plot to assassinate Edward and to restore Henry was formed by the Archbishop of York, the Duke of Clarence, and the Earl of Warwick, during an entertainment which was to be given at the Moor in Hertfordshire, the seat of the Archbishop. The king was warned in time and rode to Windsor, reached London, and marched against Clarence and Warwick. Three years later the archbishop was unexpectedly commanded to attend the king at Windsor, but on his arrival he was arrested, impeached of high treason, and sent into exile abroad. In 1472 great festivities took place at the castle in honour of Louis de Bruges, Seigneur de la Gruthwyse, Governor of Holland under the Duke of Burgundy. A contemporary description is still extant, given by a herald who was pro- bably an eye-witness. He was evidently much impressed by * Victoria County History Bucks., ii., " Schools.'' I 2 ii6 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND the richness of the rooms, " hanged with cloth of arras," the " beddes of estate," and the series of amusements, games, dancing, banqueting and hunting. The most important act in this reign concerning Windsor was the erection of the existing Chapel of St. George. Richard Beauchamp, Bishop of Salisbury, was appointed surveyor; he was given a free hand as to the removal of impediments and demoHshment of old houses. The "Clevre ys toure " " Le Amener ys toure," and " Bazner ys toure " were all swept away, with the original houses for the dean and canons, built by Henry IIL These towers probably completed the line of defence on the north side of the castle. The chapter house was also rebuilt, and new houses for the dean and canons. The king had a " singular respect and favour for the chapel," and added considerably to its endow- ments, to which he wished to add further the endowment of Eton. He obtained a Bull from the Pope, Pius H., to dis- solve the college, but William Westbury, then Provost, exerted himself effectually to prevent this disaster, and thus remains for ever clarum et venerabile nomen to all Etonians. Edward did not live to see the completion of his great building; he died at Westminster, April, 1483, and, according to the directions of his will, was interred at Windsor, his funeral cortege proceeding by water, " with great funereal honour and heaviness of his people," says Holinshed. The king was buried "under a large stone raised within the upper- most arch, at the north side of the altar. Over this arch hung the king's coat of mail, covered over with crimson velvet, and thereon the arms of France and England quarterly, richly embroidered with pearl and gold, inter- woven with divers rubies." It remained above his grave until October 23, 1642, when the chapel was plundered by a WINDSOR CASTLE 117 certain Captain Fogg, one of the officers of the ParHamcntary forces. Edward had given directions for a monument of great splendour to be prepared for his tomb, but in the unquiet times that followed his death the monument was not com- pleted ; but the chapel itself is the best memorial of its builder. An elaborate screen of wrought iron was erected in front of the entrance to his vault, and remained there till 1789, when it was removed, and another monument in memory of Edward erected in its place.^ Elizabeth Woodville, the widow of Edward, was interred with her husband in 1492. Lord Hastings, who had been his favourite friend and chief adviser, was beheaded at the Tower in 14S3, on a charge of high treason against the usurper Richard III., and was buried at Windsor, *' his bodie with his head . . . beside the tomb of King Edward." His widow and son subsequently built and endowed " the Hastings Chapel." Of Richard III. at Windsor there are few records. After his coronation, with his queen, in July, 1483, they went to the castle for a short time, and thence proceeded on a royal progress, " with great festivities " throughout the kingdom. In 1484 he caused the body of Henry VI. to be removed from Chertsey and interred in St. George's Chapel, " on the south side of the altar." ^ This was probably done with an idea of attracting to Windsor the crowd of pilgrims that visited the tomb of the saintly king, and numerous miracles are reported to have taken place after the removal.^ Sand- ford, writing in 1676, says that Henry was buried " under a ' The coffin of Edward was found and opened in 1789. * Opposite the tomb of Edward IV. ' The wonderful state of preservation in which the king's body was found was attributed to his saintly character. It had evidently been embalmed. ii8 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND fair monument, of which there are at present no remains," but in the keystone of the roof over his grave his arms w^ere sculptured, and can still be seen.^ In 1789, when alterations were being made in the chapel, the entrance to his vault was found, but was not opened. Richard appears to have continued the building that had been begun in the preceding reign. With the accession of Henry VII. a new era of internal peace and prosperity was inaugurated for England. The rival Houses of York and Lancaster were at last united by the marriage of Henry with Elizabeth of York, and the terrible Wars of the Roses were over. The king's often illegal and unjust extortions led to numerous revolts during his reign, but they were not of sufficient importance to affect the great intellectual movement that began at this period and is known as " the English Renaissance." Henry's own tastes were literary and artistic ; he encouraged the new printing press, and patronised architecture and painting. Among numerous interesting specimens of books from the libraries of many English kings which are now in the king's library at Windsor is an exceedingly rare volume from that of Henry VII. — a small MS. folio, partly in Latin and partly in English, the indenture of an agreement between the king and the prior of St. Swithin, Winchester. The kings who had hitherto inhabited Windsor were, or should have been, warriors and statesmen. With the excep- tion of Henry III., none of them had shown any personal taste for the arts, though as a matter of policy, to further their own aggrandisement, or as a demonstration of religious fervour, they had sometimes employed and rewarded Wyatville : Illus. of Windsor. Poynter's introduction. WINDSOR CASTLE 119 great architects and builders. In studying the history of Windsor Castle this new aspect of English life must not be forgotten. The Court of Henry VII. was less splendid than that of his son became afterwards, but there is a record of St. George's Day, 1488, when the king and queen and the Countess of Richmond, the king's mother, kept the feast with great pomp at Windsor. " Her Majesty and the Countess of Richmond wore the livery of the Order, and sat in a rich chair, covered with cloth of gold, drawn by six horses, harnessed in a similar manner, followed by twenty-one ladies, among them the queen's sister, Lady Anne, habited in crimson velvet, and mounted on white palfreys, and saddles of cloth of gold, . . . their trappings covered with white roses ..." The white roses and the crimson velvet were no doubt intended to emphasise the union of the rival " Roses." The collar added to the decorations of the Order by Henry VII. in honour of his queen and their child has the red and white roses intertwined on a collar of gold. The badge known as " the George " was also introduced at this time.^ In this reign the original chapel of Henry III. was finally destroyed to make room for the royal burial place designed by Henrj' VII., but it was never completed, as he eventually built for himself the well-known chapel that bears his name at Westminster. Sir Reginald Bray built the southern tran- sept at Windsor,- and the shell of the chapel as it now exists, ^ Ashmole says that Henry VIII. instituted the collar, but Sir Harris Nicolas has decided that Henry VII. was the originator. - In the Bray Chapel may now be seen, besides the inscription to the founder, the beautiful monument to the Prince Imperial, and that erected by Queen Victoria in memory of her grandson, Prince Christian Victor, who died in South Africa in 1900. 120 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND was completed. In 1505 an agreement was made for con- structing the roof of the choir, said to be one of the most beautiful specimens of a Gothic stone roof in existence. The expense of the vaulting was defrayed by subscriptions from the Knights of the Garter. The Deanery was rebuilt by Dr. Christopher Urwick in 1500. The queen left Windsor for the last time in October, 1502, on her way from Easthampstead to Richmond. She died in February, 1503, after giving birth to a daughter. There is a long contemporary account of the magnificent reception accorded to Philip, Archduke of Austria, at Wind- sor. He was on his way to take possession of the crown of Castile in right of his wife, when he was driven by adverse weather into the harbour at Falmouth. The king sent to greet him, and he was conducted with great state to Wind- sor, where he was received by the Prince of Wales (afterwards Henry VHI.) five miles from the castle. It is recorded that the prince was accompanied by " five earles and divers lords and knights to the number of five hundred persons gorgeously apparelled," and that Philip was received " after the most honourable fashion." Most of the chroniclers, however, represent Philip as the captive rather than the guest of Henry, and the nature of the treaties arranged between them at the time leads to the conclusion that Philip was aware how speedily the guest might become a prisoner if he did not comply with the demands of his host. Henry VII. died in 1509 and was succeeded by his more famous son. Much might be said of Windsor during the reign of Henry VIII. ; it was a period of colour and interest from every point of view. Hampton Court, York Place, and Greenwich were his favourite residences, but the chroniclers give many descriptions of the state and festivity with which WINDSOR CASTLE 121 he often spent Christmas at the castle or celebrated the Feast of St. George there. There is the usual pleasant pic- ture of Henry VIII. as a young man, full of energy and gaiety, a most vigorous example of his own precept, " Youth must have some dalliance." " He exercised himself daily in shooting, singing, dancing, wrestling, casting of the bar, playing at the recorders, flute, virginals ; in setting of songs and making of ballads." He was also a mighty hunter, going forth into the forest with his archers in Lincoln green, and constantly amusing himself with jousts and tournaments in which he took part, tilting with his own knights.^ There are many legends of his going into the town of Windsor, like another Haroun Alraschid, dressed as a yeoman, and sharing the sports of his people. The Court of Kathcrine of Aragon is said to have been severe and stiff, with all the pomp and austerity observed in Spain, but the scene changed to one of less dignity if of more gaiety under Anne Bolcyn. Henry had the true Tudor love of lavish pomp and display and lost no opportunity to indulge it. Of Wolsey and his other advisers and councillors there is less to be said at Windsor than elsewhere. Henry went there more often to hunt or to hold high festival than to take council. The Feasts of St. George were always observed with great solemnity ; one of the most characteristic occasions was perhaps on May 27, 1519, when " the king removed from Richemont towards his castle of Windsor, and appointed . . . that all noblemen and oder which should wayte upon his Grace should ' Henry was no mean scholar and proved himself a great statesman. His own copy of the book that gained him the title of " Defender of the Faith," with his signature at the beginning and end, is in the library at Windsor. 122 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND be ready between Richemont and Hounslow to attend upon him. Every nobleman was taxed and rated to a certain number of horse. A duke sixty horse, a marquis fifty, an earl forty, a baron thirty, a knight of the Garter twenty ... no oder knight or nobleman to have above sixteen horse, with their carriages and all. And the king, thus right nobly com- panyed, rode to Colebrooke, and at the sign of the * Katherine Wheel,' the king took his courser, and his henchmen richly apparelled followed, also the king's horse of state led . . . Gartier King of Arms wore his coate of armes, the Lord Richard Fox, Byshop of Winchester and Prelate of the Order, with many odre great estates, gave their attendance upon His Highness. The queen and the ladies and their compaignies stood in the feild at the town's end, beside the highway toward Windesor, to see the king's noble compaignie pass by, and then the queen rode to the Fery next way to the castle (Datchet Ferry). The king rode by slow, and so to Eton CoUedge, where all they of the colledge stood along, in manner of procession, receiving his Grace after their custom. " The king entered Windsor with his great horses, that is to say nine coursers with nine children of honour upon them, and the master of the king's horses upon another great courser's back, following them, having and leading the king's horse of estate in his hand, that is to say a rich courser with a rich saddle, trapped and garnished, following the king, and so entred the castle. " At the castle gate, the ministers of the colledge received the king with procession, and the king and knights of the Ordre, at the church dore, took their mantles, and entred the quere, and stood before their stalls, till the Soveraign had offred and returned to his stall; then every knight offred, WINDSOR CASTLE 123 according to his, as by the statute is ordained, and entred their stallys, which was a long ceremony or ever they had all offred, because of the great number of knights that then was present, which were nineteen in number besides the Soveraign." ^ Hall describes the feast on the same occasion : " The Bishop of Winchester, Prelate of the Order, sat at the boards end alone. The king was solemnly served and the surnap cast like the feast of a coronation. All things were plentious to strangers that resorted thither. At the Masse of Requiem were offered the banner and other habiliaments of honour belonging to Maximilian the Emperor, late deceased." Stowe says that an attempt was made at this feast to reform the statutes of the Order. Three years later Henry, with the full consent of the Knights Commanders, made "interpre- tation and declaration of the obscurities, doubts and am- biguities of the former statutes and ordinances." In 1520 Edward, Duke of Buckingham, was accused of treason, and came in haste to Windsor to declare his inno- cence, but found himself surrounded by the king's knights, so that he could not escape. He was taken on to London the next day, where he was thrown into the Tower, and was beheaded on May 17, 152 1. The ceremony of his degrada- tion as a knight of the Garter took place in St. George's Chapel on June 8, and is described at length by Stowe. His disgrace was proclaimed and published by Garter King- at-Arms from " the quire of Windsor Collcdgc ; there being present all the other officers of armes, many knights com- panions, and other great audience." After the terms and reasons of his degradation had been read, Somerset Herald, ' Ashmole : Order of the Garter, 560. 124 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND who was " in the roode-loft behind the hachments of the saide Duke Edward . . . violently cut downe into the quire his crest, his banner and sword ; and when the publication was all done, the officers of armes spurned the saide hach- ment with their feete out of the quire into the body of the church"; and then the sword, banner, and crest were " spurned out of the said quire through the church out at the west doore, and so to the bridge, where it was spurned over into the ditch. And thus was the said Edward, late Duke of Buckingham, fully disgraded of the Order of Saint George, named the Garter." In September, 1524, the Master of the Rolls, as ambassador from Clement VII., the newly elected Pope, brought to Windsor " a rose of gold " for a token for the king. It was said to be " a tree forged of fine gold, and wrought with branches, leaves and flowers, resembling roses : this tree was set in a pot of gold, which pot had three feet of antique fashion : the pot was of measure half a pint ; in the uppermost rose was a fine saphire ' coupe perced,' the bigness of an acorn. The tree was of height half an English yard, and in breadth it was a foot." It was delivered to the king " after a solemn mass sung by the Cardinal of York." Those were the days of Wolsey's supremacy, when Henry was truly in the eyes of the whole Church a " Defender of the Faith." Seven years later (1531) the king and Katherine of Aragon were at Windsor together for the last time, at Whitsuntide. Their outward demeanour always showed perfect courtesy and consideration towards each other. Hall says their final separation took place at Windsor in July, 1531. " He left hire at Wyndesore, where she laye a whyle and after removed to the More, and afterwards to WINDSOR CASTLE 125 Esthamstede : and after this day the king and she never were together." In September the following year, though Henry had not yet obtained the much-desired divorce, Anne Boleyn was created Marchioness of Pembroke at Windsor. There is an old description of her being carried up the Castle Hill in her litter of cloth of gold, smiling and bowing to the towns- people as if she were already the queen. In Mills' Catalogue of Honoxir a full account is given of the ceremony of her elevation to the peerage, which took place in " the Chamber of Salutation which they commonly call the Presence." Anne was attired in " a surcot of crimson velvet lined with ermins . . . and her hair loose and hanging down uppon her shoulders . . . The king himself put upon her the roab of estate (of crimson velvet, furred with ermins) and also put uppon her head a coronet of gold." The Bishop of Winchester read the charter, and all the dukes and other " great estates of the kingdom " were present ** together with the French ambassador." Anne never seems to have felt secure in her position until the day when she heard of Katherine's death, and exclaimed " Now I am indeed queen ! " She is said to have discovered Henry's infatuation for Jane Seymour at a masque at Windsor.^ A curious legend of Windsor Park, afterwards made immortal by Shakespeare in the Merry Wives, belongs to th reign.^ " Kerne the Hunter," one of the king's park keepers, had been found guilty of slaying the king's deer, and in despair had hanged himself on an oak in the forest, ' Some writers say it was at Hampton Court. "^ Forvarious probably imaginary but sensational versions of the legend see Harrison Ainsworth : Windsor Castle. 126 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND which he was supposed afterwards to haunt, with a stag's antlers growing out of his head. What was his exact con- nection with the king seems to be uncertain, but it was said that he always appeared to Henry at any crisis in his life, notably when he was hunting in the forest on the day of the death of his *' awne darling," as he had called Anne. He rode off at once to the house where Jane Seymour was staying, and they were married immediately afterwards. Princess Mary, who had been constantly at Windsor before the divorce of her mother, came there no more till 1537, when Katherine was dead, and after the execu- tion of Anne Boleyn. While Jane Seymour was queen, Mary was reconciled to her father, and at Windsor in August, 1537, she distributed alms to *' many poor persons and householders." Her next visit to the castle was for the interment of Queen Jane, who died at Hampton Court on October 24, 1537. The king " immediately retired to a solitary place, not to be spoken with, leaving some of his counsellors to take order about her burial." ^ She was the only one of Henry's wives who did what was required of her and gave him a son : the king may have really regretted her death. The body of the queen was carried to Windsor on November 12, " with all the pomp and majesty that could be." Her effigy,^ richly clad in " robes of estate," covered with jewels and with a crown on her head, lay on the pall that covered her coffin, and was drawn in a " gold chair" by six chariot horses, "with trappings of black velvet and * Strype: Ecd. Mem., ii., pt. i, p. 11. ^ Some of the waxen effigies of kings and queens, used at their funerals, can still be seen at Westminster Abbey. WINDSOR CASTLE 127 escutcheons." Princess Mary was chief mourner, and all the great ladies of the Court followed in her train. On the thirteenth day after her death the queen was interred, and the obsequies were finished. She was buried in the middle of the choir of St. George's Chapel. The next great ceremony at Windsor was the reception of Frederick, Prince Elector of Saxony, the Chancellor of William, Duke of Cleves, in 1539. He came to arrange the marriage of the Princess Anne of Cleves with Henry. It is said that he ** feasted and had great pastime shown to him." Little more than a year later that disappointing alliance had been annulled, and in August, 1540, Katherine Howard was at Windsor as Queen. In the autumn she and Henry spent some time there, and the Privy Council were at the castle almost daily. Already some gossip had transpired about Katherine in the precincts, for it is recorded that a certain priest of Windsor had spoken ill of her, and had been imprisoned in the castle. Her disgrace and execution took place in 1542. The effects of the Reformation were not severely felt at Windsor ; the ** Collegiate Chapel of St. George " acknow- ledged the royal supremacy in 1534, and continued to enjoy its magnificent endowment in peace. Eton's "college of secular priests " followed the example of Windsor. It is true that the Reformation claimed some early martyrs at Windsor — Pearson, a priest ; Testwood, who was in the choir at St. George's Chapel ; and Filmer, one of the churchwardens of the parish church. They were all accused of heresy, and of speaking against certain ceremonies of the Church as "Romish superstitions." They were brought before Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, and suffered death at the stake in the town. " Many which saw their patient 128 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND sufferings confessed that they could have found in their hearts (at that present) to have died with them." Henry died at Westminster on January 28, 1547, accord- ing to some accounts with the terrible words " All is lost " on his lips. He left instructions in his famous and much discussed will for his burial " with our true and loving wife Queen Jane," and that " an honourable tombe for our bones to rest in " was to be erected. The following is a contemporary account of his funeral considerably abridged : — " On 14 February at ten in the morning the king's body set out towards Windsor in a stately chariot, his effigies lying upon the coffin with the true imperial crown on his head. . . . He wore robes of crimson velvet furred with minever, powdered with ermin, and the collar of the Garter and Order of St. George. By his side was a sword, the sceptre and orb were in his hands. . . . The chariot was drawn by eight great horses adorned with escutcheons, and a shaffedon on their heads, each ridden by a child of honour carrying a banner of the king's arms. ..." ** An exceeding great train four miles in length " followed the " chariot." They stayed at Syon for the night, and then proceeded to the castle college gate at Windsor, which was hung with black cloth and escutcheons, as were the church and choir. On Wednesday, February 16, at four o'clock in the afternoon, with much ceremony, the coffin " was let into the vault near u)ito the body of Queen Jane Seymour." " The Lord Chamberlain and all the great officials brake their white staves upon their heads and threw them into the grave. Garter declared the name and state of Edward VI., the trumpet sounded in the rood-loft, and the company departed." ^ J Strype : Ecc/. Mem., ii., pt. 2. Sandford : Gen, Hist., 493 — 4. WINDSOR CASTLE 129 The king's tomb was never completed; it was to have been a "composition of luxuriant taste and extraordinary magnifi- cence of gilt metal throughout." Wolsey also began a stately burial place for himself at Windsor, in the chapel erected by Henry VII., subsequently known as " Wolsey's tomb-house," and now as the "Albert Memorial Chapel."^ Some part of the work done for Wolsey by Benedetto, a Florentine, remained till 1646, when it was removed by com- mand of the Parliament. The figures and statues of copper gilt were sold for ^^600. The sarcophagus of black marble, of Italian design, remained at Windsor till 1805 ; it now surmounts the tomb of Nelson in the crypt of St. Paul's Cathedral. The great gateway to the lower ward of the castle remains much as it was when Henry built it soon after his accession, with his arms and devices and those of his queen, Katherine of Aragon, still appearing on it. The w'orks, and more especially the roof of the choir in St. George's Chapel, were finished during this reign.^ Ashmole laments the neglect of the Grand Feast of the Order of the Garter, and says that no anniversaries were kept during the reign of Edward VI. The advisers of the young king evidently looked upon the ceremonials usually observed as superstitious and idolatrous. It was decreed "that the Order from henceforth shall be cauled the Order of the Garter, and nat of Saynte George, leste the honor which is dew to God the Creator of all things mighte seme to be given to any creature." ' The monuments of Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, and of the Duke oi Clarence, son and grandson of the late Queen Victoria, are in this chapel. " All architectural details at Windsor are subject to discoveries which may be made by further research. R.P. K 130 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND Various other alterations of an iconoclastic nature were made in the statutes, but were repealed in the following reign. •• Edward himself disliked Windsor, where the great walls seemed to him "like a prison."^ He was brought there by night in haste from Hampton Court in October, 1549, under the escort of five hundred armed men, because the Protector thought the castle safer than the palace. Somerset's military forces were inadequate for the protection of the king, and the gentlemen of the country would not rise on behalf of the Protector, who was obliged to surrender. He was put in ward for a time in the Beauchamp Tower, but was afterwards sent to London, and Edward was permitted to return to his beloved Hampton Court. A considerable quantity of Church property, belonging to St. George's Chapel, including jewels, plate, and vestments, was sold during this reign, to meet the expense of " rebuild- ng the castle wall, taking down the high altar, and paying tenths and subsidies." There is little to record of the reign of Mary at Windsor ; she lost no time in restoring the Order of the Garter to its original condition. Edward's statutes were " abrogated and disannulled," on the ground that they were " so imper- tinent and tending to novelty."^ One of the most unpopular acts was the appointment of Philip of Spain, shortly after their marriage, as " Grand Master " of the Order, a new title, hitherto unknown to the English knights. Holinshed records that over the Sovereign's stall in the chapel, "an herald took ' Seep. 97, Edw. III. 2 Journal of Edward VI. ^ There is a contemporary transcript of Mary's statutes in the library at Windsor, but it does not give the exact expression concerning Edward's orders. WINDSOR CASTLE 131 down the arms of England and in the place of them would have set the arms of Spain, but he was commanded to set them up again by certain lords." ^ Tennyson expressed the national feeling in his description of Philip at his marriage, when he Flamed in brocade, white satin his trunk-hose, Inwrought with silver, — on his neck a collar, Gold, thick with diamonds : hanging down from this The Golden Fleece — and round his knee, misplaced, Our English Garier, studded with great emeralds, Rubies, I know not what. Only necessary repairs were done at the castle during this reign, except that some houses were built for the Poor Knights, which are still inhabited by their successors. The history of Elizabeth at Windsor reveals the stern grey walls of the castle as the background to a gorgeous and studied pageant, " fanciful and extravagant as a caliph's dream." '-^ Her Court was splendid, and she gathered round her the men who represented the height of the renaissance of art and learning in England. No sovereign of this country has been a more able, although unscrupulous, politician than Elizabeth ; her very frivolities and caprices served their end. Her self-confidence was well-founded, if amazing. " Her Majesty counts much on Fortune," wrote Walsingham, almost in despair ; " I wish she would trust more in Almighty God." But behind the riot of colour, the scene of exaggerated and voluptuous gaiety and wit in which she delighted to move, like the solid walls of the castle itself, was perhaps the most * Philip's banner apparently hung over the stall with that of the queen, as it was removed afterwards by Elizabeth's orders. * Green : Short History of the English People^ ii., 735. K 2 132 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND noble group of statesmen that ever met in council. At no time has Windsor been the scene of more moving life, of more splendid ceremonial, than in Elizabeth's reign. Though Madame d'Arblay's diary has led many to identify the north terrace chiefly with the picturesque if homely family life of George IIL and his queen, and the pathetic figure of the blind king, it belongs still more to the " spacious times " of Elizabeth. Fancy can still see her walking briskly on the broad terrace she had enlarged and extended, " to catch her a heat in the mornings." There can be imagined the brilliant figures of her courtiers in trunk-hose and slashed doublets, with ruffs and plumed hats and swaying cloaks, moving among the ladies in their wonderful farthingales and stiff lace collars, jewelled and fantastic, yet appropriate and dignified. There Raleigh and Drake and Howard may have unfolded to the queen their dreams of a new world, fabulously rich, that might be made concrete, and probably found her ready enough to lend a willing ear, to hear and to take all, but to give very little.^ There she perhaps coquetted, after her fashion, with Essex and Leicester, and there she walked and spoke gravely of affairs of State with Cecil and Bacon, passing through the midst of them all, flashing and gleaming like her jewels, but bearing a very real " weight of learning, lightly like a flower." There very probably Shakespeare himself, hat in hand, received his orders to write a comedy for Her Majesty ; and there the real and portentous tragedy of Fotheringhay was discussed and perhaps decided. The first Feast of St. George after the accession of Eliza- beth took place in June, 1559, the Earl of Pembroke being 1 A unique drawing of Elizabeth by Isaac Oliver, in the " thanksgiving dress " she wore after the defeat of the Armada, hangs in the library at Windsor, originally " Queen Elizabeth's gallery." WINDSOR CASTLE 133 the queen's substitute. Four new knights were installed, and " there was great feasting." On that day, according to Strype, " the Communion and English service began to be celebrated in the chapel of St. George." It was no doubt on this occa- sion that the banner of Philip of Spain was removed from above the Sovereign's stall, where it hung with the arms of England, and Philip in great anger offered to send back his " George," but Elizabeth replied graciously that "if he were not now the Grand Master, she regarded him as one of her knights." A truly feminine retort to which Philip could make no answer. Sir Robert Dudley, afterwards Earl of Leicester, was among the new knights, and was appointed constable of the castle and forest and keeper of the Great Park for his life. He was the first constable since the time of Henry VIII. This Feast of St. George seems to have been the only anniversary celebrated with the ancient solemnities during Elizabeth's reign, and in 1567 a statute of the Order was made which in effect abolished the annual feast at Windsor, and, according to the pessimistic view of Ashmole, "gave the greatest and almost fatal blow to the growing honour of this no less famous than ancient castle of Windsor, and severed the patron's festival from the place." The celebration of the anniversary was revived by James I. In September, 1559, John, Duke of Finland, came to Windsor to solicit the hand of Elizabeth on behalf of his brother Eric, King of Sweden, and the queen began the long series of what may be termed her " political flirtations." In 1562, when she came to Windsor to avoid the plague in London, she received on her way a " Latin oration and seventy-two epigrams in the same language from the scholars of Eton," and no doubt answered them in the same classic tongue. Strype records that the queen " still followed her 134 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND studies in a constant course with her schoolmaster Ascham, who was so extremely taken with his royal mistress's diligence and advancement in learning, that once he broke out, in an address to the young gentlemen of England, that ' it was their shame, that one maid should go beyond them all in excellency of learning and knowledge of divers tongues.' " " I believe," he said on another occasion, " that besides her per- fect readiness in Latin, Italian, French and Spanish, she readeth here now at Windsor more Greek every day, than some Prebandarie of this Church doth read Latin in a whole weeke." On certain days she did, however, " forbeayre to transylate," and joined in all the amusements of the Court, hunting in the forest, and sometimes making presents of the deer she " broughte downe with her own bowe." In 1565 Lady Mary Gray, the third daughter of Henry, Duke of Suffolk, married, secretly, Henry Keys, the queen's " gentleman porter." He was described as being *' the greatest," as she was said to be " the least," person about the Court. He was probably the original of the gigantic portrait of " Queen Elizabeth's Porter " that now hangs in the guard- room at Hampton Court. " Here is a unhappy chance and monstruos," wrote Sir William Cecil, " they are committed to severall (separate) prisons. The offence was very great." Elizabeth's courtiers could never displease her more deeply than by marrying without her consent, and her consent was not easy to obtain. During some diplomatic difficulties with France concerning the restoration of Calais and the relinquishment of Havre, Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, Elizabeth's ambassador in Paris, was thrown into prison in July, 1563, and in retaliation the French envoy to England was placed under restraint at Eton, though Cecil, writing from Windsor in August, 1563, WINDSOR CASTLE 135 says that " he was better lodged than ever he was in England . . . and useth to ryde much abroade." Hostages for the delivery of Calais were also at Windsor, and other captives were "some French captains taken coming from Florida." An amusing account is given by Strype of a brawl between the ambassador and the Provost of Eton. The custom was that the doors of the college should be closed at a certain hour, and the provost refused to send the keys to his prisoner, who therefore came with his servants and " took the provost violently out of his chamber, having but one young scholar in his company, and took the keys and opened the gate at their pleasure." The ambassador was liberated before the treaty with France was concluded in April, 1564, the peace being "proclaimed with the sound of trumpet before Her Majesty in her castle of Windsor, there being present the French ambassadors." At Burnham, three miles from Windsor, the Duke of Norfolk was arrested in 1569, on account of his "traitorous alliance " with Mary Queen of Scots and her adherents. He was on his way to Windsor, having been peremptorily recalled by Elizabeth — a command he obeyed against the advice of his friends. An open insurrection in favour of Mary, under the Earls of Northumberland and Westminster, broke out a few days later, and in November the same year Northumber- land was formally degraded from being a Knight of the Garter. The usual proclamations were read by the heralds, with the sound of trumpets ; his " achievements " were taken down from the chapel and " cast into the castle ditch." In 1570 Elizabeth still carried on her studies with Ascham when she was at Windsor, but, as Strype says, her time was much occupied " with the public and weighty affairs of the State." 136 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND A Chapter of the Garter — not a " feast of St. George " — was held in June, 1572, for the installation of Francis, Due de Montmorenci ; he and the French ambassadors were as usual "royally feasted." William Cecil, Lord Burghley, was one of the knights elected on this occasion, and the queen, as a mark of her special grace and favour, invested him with the Garter herself. To the end of her life Elizabeth remained true to all her traditions of feasting and splendour. When she came to Windsor in August, 1601, she " made a step to Mr. Attorney's (Sir Edward Coke), at Stoke where she was most sumptuously entertained, and presented with jewels and other gifts, to the amount of ;£'i,ooo or £2,000." ^ In 1602 the Merry Wives of Windsor, which had been written at Elizabeth's express command " in a fortnight," was acted before her, apparently more than once, " by the Right Honourable the Lord Chamberlain's servants." ^ It is said that she was " very well pleased at the representation." Pym says that she was very fond of having plays acted before her in the castle, and spent great sums on the scenery, which was far more elaborate than that generally used at the theatres. She had a regular " wardrobe for the actors," and a wonderful orchestra, consisting of " trumpeters, lutists, harpers, singers, minstrels and flutists." It is impossible here to enter into the fascinating picture of the period and the realistic details of Windsor that can be traced in the Merry Wives. The " Garter " Inn, where it is ' Sir E. Coke's manor-house at Stoke was pulled down in 1789, when the present house was built. ^ The " professional actor " was hardly known before the reign of Elizabeth, and even then he generally had to describe himself as a follower of some great man to prevent his being " clapped into gaol as a rogue and a vagabond." WINDSOR CASTLE 137 said that the play was written, has vanished, but it is known that it stood in the High Street, facing the castle hall, and adjoining the "White Hart."^ Hentzner, a German traveller, who visited England in 1598, gives an interesting picture of Windsor and all that he saw there in Elizabeth's reign,^ especially mentioning some tapestry that hung in her bedroom, and was said to have been brought from France by either Edward III. or Henry V. In 1570 certain repairs of the castle were undertaken, some of them apparently not too soon, for Sir Edmund Carey asked that the Chamber for the Squires of the Body might *' be ceiled over head and boarded under foot, for that it is so ruinous and cold." The roof of the castle "where the rain beateth in " is also mentioned in the accounts, and the necessity to " keep out the choughes and piggins that doe much hurte to the castle." A new gallery and banqueting hall were built in 1576, and the gallery still remains as part of the library,^ but a small gateway on the Castle Hill, facing the town, with the inscription " Elizabethae Reginas, xiii., 1572," was destroyed in the reign of George IV. Elizabeth's chief memorial at the castle is the famous north terrace. A plan of her improvements and alterations is still extant.* With the accession of James I. the splendid era of the Tudor Monarchy comes to an end. Instead of Elizabeth with her wonderful statecraft and her almost inspired know- ledge of the English temperament, the country was ruled by " the wisest fool in Christendom," preparing the way for the ' For the legend of Heme the Hunter see reign of Henry VI H., p. 125-6. - Rye : England as seen by Foreigners. 3 The oriel window at the end of the library, subsequently considerably altered, was part of Henry the Seventh's building. * Wyatville : Illus. of Windsor. 138 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND disaster that overtook his son. He visited Windsor for the first time on June 17, 1603. On June 27 he met his queen and Prince Henry near Towcester, on their first arrival in England and with them returned to the castle. Sir Dudley Carleton gives the following account of their reception: — "The king and queen, with the prince and princess (Elizabeth, afterwards Queen of Bohemia), came to this place on Thurs- day last . . . with a mervilous great Courte both of Lords and Ladies . . . Here was some squaring at first betweene our English and Scottish lords, for lodgings and some other petty quarrels, but all is past over in peace . . . The lords of Southampton and Grey . . . fell flatly out ... in the queen's presence. They were committed to their lodgings . . . with guard upon them. The next day they were brought and heard before the Council and sent to the Tower ..." Afterwards the king forgave them, told them to make friends, " and they presently set at liberty." These quarrels were not a good omen for the future history of the Stuarts at Windsor.^ Howe's continuation of Stowe's Chronicle gives an account of Prince Henry's installation as a Knight of the Garter in July, 1603, and tells how the great ladies of England came to the Court " to performe their homage to the queen." In 1604 James was at Windsor amusing himself hunting, and while there " he was drawn by Mr. Peter Yong to see Eaton Colledge, and after a bankquett there made him, he knighted Mr. Savile, the Provost." ^ Two years later the queen's brother, Christian IV., King of Denmark, visited the castle, " where he was entertayned by the king most royally," * James afterwards quarrelled both with the clergy of the castle and the burgesses of Windsor. The memory of his reign in the town was said to be one "of tyrany and oppression." ^ Winwood : Memorials, ii., 32. WINDSOR CASTLE 139 and the Knights of Windsor were presented to him, "these goodly auncient gentlemen being in their roabes of purple and Scarlett, with the Garter and Sainct George's crosse upon them." 1 Some time was spent in hunting, in which sport the queen excelled, and was called by Spenser the " Huntress Queen.' It was said that James caused the " Little Park " to be closed to the public because he did not like his subjects to see that the queen's skill in shooting was greater than his own. James frequently hunted at Windsor, though he preferred the milder forms of sport, such as coursing rabbits or hawking partridges, to the fiercer joys of stag or boar hunting. There is, however, a picture, now at Hampton Court, of the king " taking the assaye " in a stag hunt, and it was sometimes mentioned by the chroniclers that he was at Windsor " to the hunting of the wild boar." The ambassadors frequently "feasted" at the castle, and it was thought worthy of record that the Spanish ambassador, " with the Marquess of Buckingham, went every evening unto the Thames near to Eton, where the best swimming is, but so attended with choice company and a boat or two, that there could be no danger." In May, 1623, James kept St. George's Feast, which he seems to have revived, at Windsor, " where there was no great show, nor the knights and procession went not out their ordinary circuit, by reason the king was fain to be carried in a chair, not for any grief or infirmity more than the weakness of his legs, for otherwise they say he looks as well and as fresh as he did many a day. Secretary Calvert ' King Christian was personally installed as a Knight of the Garter during thi visit ; he had been elected in 1603, and installed by proxy in 1605. I40 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND was very gay and gallant there, all in white, cap-a-pie, even to his white hat and white feather."^ Ashmole speaks of the king's "infirmity" as an attack of gout. James was at Windsor for the last time in September, 1624, when he wrote to ask that the Duchess of Buckingham and the Countess of Denbigh would " meete me on Monday after- noone at Harrison's Heath hearde (herd) with theire bows." The famous survey of the Honour of Windsor by Norden was made early in the reign of James L, and the original is among the Harleian Manuscripts at the British Museum. The space enclosed is much as it is now, although the internal arrangements of park, garden, etc., are greatly altered. The circuit of the forest is given as about ']']\ miles. It was supposed formerly to have been about 120 miles in circumference. There were thirteen " rides " in it, each under the charge of a keeper, and it contained 3,000 head of deer. A description of the castle written by Stowe in the sixteenth century is also among the Harleian Manuscripts. The history of the House of Stuart has been described " as an attempt to govern England for the benefit of a party or a sect." James made the initial mistake when he declared that " Free States agree with monarchy as mickle as the deil agrees with God." Elizabeth would have expressed it otherwise. Windsor became in turns council chamber, camp, and headquarters for the king and the Parliament. The first ceremonial that took place in St. George's Chapel after the accession of Charles was the ratification of the peace with France in 1626. The chapel was at the time, from a Nichols: Progresses of James /., iv., 775. 0'^ir li^litoU'bU^iiiawtaiWU'MiuAiv'^' '■ g^y^- = (1 I* :" ' ;B ^ ;: t*. is !i ff^ !• ■i it; 'B •■; *- B '! ». ; WINDSOR CASTLE 141 memorial written by the Dean, Dr. Wren, " in a very dis- orderly state." Ashmole says that Charles intended to enlarge the tomb-house, and make it fit for a royal sepulchre, "had not bad times drawn on." ^ The Prince of Wales (Charles II.) was installed as Knight of the Garter in 1638, and in 1640, as a token of loyalty from the town of Windsor, a present was made to him and his brother, the Duke of York, of " two hunters homes, tipte and adorned with silver and gilte and gouldsmithes work, and two faire green taffaty scarfes to hang them at richly imbroideried with gould." But the collision between the king and the people was fast approaching.^ The church- wardens' accounts at Windsor give a strange jumble of prayers for the king's safe return from Scotland, and others for the " good success " of the Parliament that eventually brought the king to the scaffold. After the king's " impeachment of the five members " in January, 1641-42,^ he withdrew from London to Hampton Court, a flight that has generally been considered fatal to his cause, and the next day he removed to Windsor, believ- ing himself there " more secure from any sudden popular attempt." Charles has always been accused of making the first appeal to arms by sending for ammunition and several troops of horse to Windsor. The Commons at once retaliated by appointing a commission " for putting the kingdom into a posture of defence." ' Charles had cultivated and artistic tastes, and formed the nucleus of the collection of Rubens and Vandyck pictures as well as other works of art now at the castle. They were almost all sold by the Parliament, but many were bought back or given back to the King afterwards. ■^ The town early declared for the Parliament and raised money for the army on that side. ' Hampden, Pym, HoUis, Strode, and Haselrig. 142 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND The king remained at Windsor till February, receiving constant communications from Parliament, and the Privy Council attending him every week. This was the last time that Charles was at Windsor asking, "but even then," says Lord Clarendon, " he was fallen in ten days from such a height of greatness that his enemies feared, to such a lowness that his own servants durst hardly avow the waiting on him." About the middle of February the queen left the castle for Holland, and the king departed secretly for Greenwich and York. In October, 1642, Colonel Newn, whose name appears as one of the " Regicides," was sent to take possession of the castle as governor for the Parliament. Twelve companies of foot were sent with him to anticipate any endeavour on the part of the king's troops to seize ** the place of greatest strength in this part of the kingdom." It appears that before this formal occupation on behalf of the Parliament took place other troops had been at the castle, and " that one Captain Fogg came immediately to the College of St. George and demanded the keys of the Treasury " ; but, not finding the three key-keepers, " he caused the two doors to be broken open, and carried thence all the rich chased and other plate made sacred and set apart for the service of God." The altar had lately been furnished with new plate, the elaborate work of Christian van Vianen of Nuremberg, for great part of the original service had been sold in the reign of Edward VI. In May, 1643, Newn completed the plunder of the chapel.^ The coat of mail and jewel-embroidered surcoat of Edward IV. were carried away, the carvings, organ, and stained glass windows were broken and defaced. At this time probably many of * The chapel was so thoroughly dismantled that it was said to be impossible even to trace former arrangements. WINDSOR CASTLE 143 the shields of the Knights of the Garter were removed. The plate was sent to the Guildhall and melted down, the money being required by Fairfax in the north. Dr. Christopher Wren, then Dean of Windsor, managed to save the three registers of the Garter, known respectively as the Black, Blue, and Red Books. He also buried some of the valuables of the chapel under the floor of the treasure chamber, but they were all found and sold by the Parliament. The pay and maintenance of the troops was one of the great difficulties of the Republicans. In the autumn of 1642 Prince Rupert made an unsuccessful attack on the castle, the only endeavour to regain it which seems to have been attempted by the Royalists during the war. It was used as a prison for Royalist prisoners,^ and after a time as headquarters for the army. In 1643 Sir WiUiam Waller was left with a considerable force at Windsor, while Essex advanced to the west, but on his return in December the garrison had to be partly disbanded for want of funds. Mutinies broke out among the troops, and the condition of affairs became so serious that the Commons recommended " some speedy course for the safety of Windsor." Eventually the trained bands of Middlesex were sent to secure the castle. In January, 1644-45, Sir Thomas Fairfax was appointed commander-in-chief, and took up his quarters at Windsor, where " Colonel Cromwell " came to salute him. The king returned to Windsor again in July, 1647, as the prisoner of the Parliament. In August he was removed to Oatlands, and thence to Hampton Court. In November Cromwell and Ireton met at the castle to discuss and decide ' In January, 1642, fifty-five prisoners were at the castle. They were not even supplied with beds, but were eventually allowed to buy neces- saries for themselves. Many of their names and the sums allowed for their maintenance appear in the Journal of the House 0/ Lords, v., 589-590. 144 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND the future fate of the king. In December, 1648, Charles, after his unavaihng flight from Hampton Court, was once more brought back to Windsor, and was described in a con- temporary newsletter as " indifferent cheerful, and desirous of peace and a settlement." A plan for his escape between Farnham and Windsor on his way to the castle had been contemplated by the king's friends, but he was too closely guarded, riding in the midst of a hundred horse, every soldier having a pistol " ready spanned " in his hand. In another newsletter of January, 1648-49, it is recorded that " although he (the king) expects a severe change and tryal, yet doth he not show any great discontent." Major-General Harrison was appointed by Cromwell to convey the king from Windsor to London on January 13, 1648-49. According to Heath,^ he sat in the carriage with the king, keeping his hat on his head. The Duke of Hamilton and the Earl of Loughborough, who were also imprisoned in the castle, made their escape on the fatal 30th of January. Loughborough reached Holland in safety, but Hamilton was captured and beheaded on March 9. After '* the last sad scene " of Charles's eventful history had taken place, his body lay in a room at Whitehall for some days, exposed to public view. It was then embalmed, enclosed in a lead coffin, and carried to St. James's, where it remained till February 7. Orders were given by Parliament that the king should be interred at Windsor, " in a decent manner, provided that the expense should not exceed £"500." Four faithful lords of his bedchamber, the Duke of Richmond and Lords Hertford, 1 Heath was one of the king's servants. Chronicle, 193. WINDSOR CASTLE 145 Southampton, and Lindscy, asked for permission " to perform their last duty to their dead master, and to wait upon him in his grave." They were allowed to go to Windsor, but not to follow the corpse from London. It was conveyed to the castle on February 7 in a hearse driven by the king's own coachman, and attended by four of his late servants, who were not forbidden to wear mourning. That night the coffin lay in the king's bedchamber at Windsor, and the next morn- ing was removed to St. George's Hall, where " the room was darkened and two lighted tapers were placed on the coffin." About 3 o'clock in the afternoon the four lords, with Juxon, Bishop of London, went to Colonel Whitchcott, the governor of the castle, to ask that " His Majesty might be buried according to the form of the Common Prayer-book," the bishop being present to officiate. Whitchcott refused roughly, saying that ** it was not lawful, the Prayer-book had been put down, and he would not suffer it to be used in that garrison where he commanded." ^ " All would not pre- vaile," says Fuller, "the governour persisting in the negative, and the lords betooke themselves to their sad employment." Clarendon says that they found the chapel " with such a dismal mutation over the whole, that they knew not where they were. Nor was there one old officer that had belonged to it, or knew where our princes had used to be interred." Before the arrival of the duke and the others a grave had been dug on the south side of the altar, but the duke considered it proper that the king should be laid in a vault. After seeking in vain for one in Wolsey's chapel, then used as a magazine for arms, they tried the choir, " and at last, ' Whitchcott must have made it evident that he was only acting in an official capacity. After the Restoration he lived in the town of Windsor, and was always received graciously at the castle. R.P. L 146 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND directed by one of the aged poore knights, they did light on a vault in the middle thereof . . . where they discovered the coffins of Henry YIIL and Jane Seymour." There they decided to lay the body of Charles. Only the w^ords " King Charles, 1648," were cut in relief "on a scarfe of lead," and soldered on to the coffin. The next day the sad procession formed, the coffin being carried on the shoulders of soldiers from the garrison. " Over it," says Fuller, " was a blacke velvet herse-cloth, the foure labels whereof the foure lords did support. The Bishop of London stood weeping by, to tender that his service which might not be accepted. There was it deposited in silence and sorrow, in the vacant place in the vault, the herse-cloth being cast in after it. The lords that night, though late, returned to London." Herbert, one of the royal attendants, states that when the coffin was first brought out " the sky was serene and clear, but presently it began to snow, and the snow fell so fast that by the time the corpse had reached the west end of the chapel, the black pall was all white " — a circumstance ever after interpreted by the Royalists as indicative of the king's innocence. Only for those of blameless life was a " white funeral " permitted. At a later date a rumour was circulated to the effect that the king's body had not been buried at Windsor. It was even said that the soldiers had taken it to Tyburn for interment, but when the coffin was opened in April, 1813, before the Prince of Wales, Sir Henry Halford, and others, the remains that they saw left no room for doubt that the body of Charles himself lay there.^ 1 A small piece of bone from the king's neck with some hair clinging to it was stolen from the coffin at this time, but it eventually fell into the hands of King Edward VII., then Prince of Wales, and he caused it o be restored to its place in the coffin of Charles. WINDSOR CASTLE 147 A House of Commons of a different temper in 1G77-78 granted ;r70,ooo to defray the expenses of a solemn inter- ment for the late king and the erection of a suitable monu- ment to his memory, but though Charles 11. received the money, and Sir Christopher Wren prepared a plan for the tomb, the scheme was never carried out. To this day the " martyr king " rests as he was laid by Juxon and the faithful four. It is pitiable to think of the wreck to which the soldiers of the Commonwealth reduced the king's castle of Windsor. St. George's Hall was stripped of its knightly shields, the works of art that Charles had accumulated were sold, as well as many of the historical treasures of the place. Cromwell alone saved the castle from utter spoliation. Soon after the death of Charles an Act was passed in Parliament for the sale of the " honours, manors, and lands " belonging to the Crown. A commission was appointed in February, 1648-49, for further consideration of the best use to be made of the royal property, and it was decided that the greater part was to be kept " for the public use of the Commonwealth." Windsor was to be preserved as a garrison for the troops of the Parliament. Whitelock was appointed " Constable of Windsor Castle, Keeper of Forests, Parks, Warrens, etc., and Lieutenant of the said castle and forest " in 1657. Cromwell occasionally resided at Windsor, and exerted himself for the preservation of the castle and its contents. He brought back some of the ancient order, in a lame and broken manner, shorn of its glory, as he instituted a regular establishment to keep up the services in the chapel, and attached to it again the foundation of Poor Knights. As a token of their gratitude, a number of them. Royalists as they L 2 148 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND were, afterwards attended the funeral of the "Lord Pro- tector " at Westminster. Evelyn described it as " the joyfullest funeral he ever saw," but the people of England have much for which to be grateful to Cromwell. Until his death in 1660 Windsor remained the head- quarters of the Republican army. " Grim, solid and impregnable," the castle once more fulfilled the function of a fortress, but with the Restoration the sword that had remained unsheathed for the preservation of peace was put back into its scabbard, and the king ** returned to his own again." The first act of Charles II. with regard to Windsor was to clear the precincts of a great number of unauthorised persons who had come to live there. The justices of the peace were commanded to " take care of the poor women and children who are commanded out of the castle of New Windsor." Early in 1661 measures were taken to restore the Order of the Garter, filling up the vacant offices, and installing various knights, including Prince Rupert, who had been elected since the commencement of the Civil War. General Monk (afterwards Duke of Albemarle) and Admiral Edward Montagu (afterwards Earl of Sandwich) had been declared Companions of the Order directly after the arrival of Charles. In April, 1661, twelve new Companions, including those already mentioned, were installed, and money was raised by subscription from the Knights of the Garter to restore the lost fittings of St. George's Chapel. After an interval of many years, a grand Feast of St. George was once more held at the castle in 1662. Ashmole records *' that the knights were constrained to receive their investi- ture below in the choir, yet directly under their proper stalls," WINDSOR CASTLE 149 owing to " the great concourse of people, which at that time had flockt to Windsor (greedy to behold the glory of that solemnity, which for many years was intermitt'd) and rudely forced, not only into and filled the lower row of stalls, but taken up almost the whole choir." Of the first Feast of St. George after Charles's marriage, Pepys wrote that " Lady Castlemaine was at Windsor this St. George's Feast, and came back with the king last night. The queen is much grieved of late at the king's neglect." It was not only Lady Castlemaine, most imperious of women, that the queen was forced to receive ; on this occasion the son of Lucy Crofts, a former favourite of the king, who had been created Duke of Monmouth, and married to Anne, the daughter and heiress of the Duke of Buccleuch, was installed a Knight of the Garter. He was said to be "a pretty boy," and the queen very graciously danced with him. The king came in and was greeted by Monmouth, naturally with his hat in his hand. Charles kissed him and told him to put on the hat, " which everybody took notice of, and he would hardly have done as Prince of Wales," says Pepys. At the time there was much gossip as to the king's supposed intention to acknowledge him as a legiti- mate son. Windsor became the " habitual summer residence " of the king, and as Charles desired to model his Court on that of Versailles, it was necessary to make alterations in the building on a larger scale than had hitherto been attempted since the time of Edward III. John Evelyn, the diarist, speaks of the old rooms as being " melancholy and of ancient magnificence." In August, 1670,^ he says that The repairs were started, as far as can be discovered without going into the original accounts, in 1665. I50 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND " Windsor is now going to be repaired, being exceedingly ragged and ruinous," and he describes the manner in which Prince Rupert, who had been appointed constable, had begun to " trim up the keep," filling the hall with " furniture of arms," and the other rooms " with tapestry and effeminate pictures, so extremely different from the other, which presented nothing but war and horror." ^ Evelyn also gives a picture of the king's life at Windsor : " He passed most of his time in hunting the stag and walking in the park, which he was now planting with rows of trees." Charles was among the first to plant symmetrical avenues in England, and the Long Walk at Windsor is one of the best examples. The state apartments were entirely remodelled during this reign, and were begun in 1665, under Sir Christopher Wren ^ and the nominal Surveyor-General, Sir John Denham. The best artists available were employed on the decoration of the interior, and though few can share in the enthusiastic appreciation of his contemporaries for the paintings of Verrio, there can be little doubt that he had a fair conception of dignified and artistic treatment for the vast spaces he had to cover.^ A certain coarseness of design and heaviness of colour were almost inevitable in the execution of work which, gauged by the enormous area it filled at Windsor and at Hampton Court, was stupendous indeed, though posterity cannot quite endorse the verdict of Evelyn in 1679, who said that " the work of that excellent painter Verrio in the king's ^ Prince Rupert's tilting armour, in steel and gold, is now in the armoury at Windsor. There are also suits of armour worn by Henry, Prince of Wales, and his brother Charles I. ^ The new building was generally assigned to Wren, but later research has made this questionable. * Only three of Verrio's ceilings now remain uncovered at Windsor. WINDSOR CASTLE 151 palace at Windsor will celebrate his name as long as there walls last," and compares his painting with that of Raphael.^ There can be no two opinions, however, concerning the exquisite beauty and wonderful softness of Grinling Gibbons's carving, of which some of the best specimens appear at Windsor. The new building, originally called the " Star " but later the " Stuart " building, extends from Henry the Seventh's Tower eastward along the terrace for 170 feet. The north terrace was enlarged to its present extent, and was thrown open for the use of the Dean and Canons, a privilege the public has always been permitted to share. St. George's Hall was fitted up as a theatre in 1674, ^^'^ ^^^ Christopher Wren, who was then surveyor, was ordered to make " such alterations in it as the French comedians should direct." ^ A sinister sidelight is thrown on the unscrupulous dealings of some of the king's followers by an episode concerning Lord Mordaunt, who had been appointed constable of the castle at the Restoration (1660). He was impeached in the House of Commons for his tyranny and other offences in turning out a man called Taylor, clerk to the constable, from rooms that he occupied in the castle. Pep3's puts the case in unvarnished language: "Into the House of Parliament, where, at a great committee I did hear, as long as I would, the great case against my Lord Mordaunt, for some arbitrary proceeding of his against one Taylor, whom he imprisoned, and did all the violence imaginable, only to get him to give way to yield up his daughter to my Lord Mordaunt . . ." The committee found his proceedings illegal and arbitrary, ' On June 30, 1684, the king "being very well satisfied with the ar and industry of Sieur Antonio Verrio has been pleased to make him hi chief and first painter." " MS. in Office of Works, cit. Annals of Windsor, vol. ii. 152 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND and, after great difficulties as to procedure between the two Houses, Lord Mordaunt was superseded as constable by Prince Rupert, and a further committee appointed to consider the matter in detail. No report was ever made by this committee, and, according to Pepys, Lord Mordaunt continued his persecution of the unfortunate Taylor. In May, 1670, the Feast of St. George was celebrated by the king, queen, and Duke of York with great splendour, the Court remaining at Windsor till the middle of July, " extremely satisfied with the pleasantness of that princely seat." In August the king returned more than once for several days at a time to hunt. At Christmas the Prince of Orange visited Windsor and was entertained by Prince Rupert, " the great guns being fired round the castle to proclaim his welcome."^ He made the customary offering as a Knight of the Garter in the chapel, and proceeded to Oxford the next day. Evelyn has given an interesting account 01 an entertain- ment that took place at Windsor in the summer of 1674, when a " counterfeit presentment" of the town of Maestricht, lately taken by the French, was made in a meadow at the foot of the terrace. " It was attacked by the Duke of Monmouth (lately come from the real siege) and the Duke of York, with a little army to show their skill in tactics . . . to the great satisfaction of a thousand spectators. Being night it made a formidable show." In August, 1679, the king was seriously ill at Windsor, so that the Duke of York returned in haste from Flanders, but in September the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London ' This seems to be the first record of guns being fired at Windsor as a salute. WINDSOR CASTLE 153 arrived " in their scarlett gowns " to congratulate the king on his happy recovery. Prince George of Denmark, the husband of Princess (afterwards Queen) Anne, was installed as a Knight of the Garter in April, 1684. In August the Court left for Winchester, and in the following February the king died at Whitehall, characteristically asking his queen's pardon " with all his heart," but also remembering to say " Let not poor Nelly starve." ^ James II. was proclaimed king at Windsor on February g, 1684-85. In June, 1685, the "achievements" of the Duke of Monmouth were removed from St. George's Chapel and after the usual custom " kicked into the castle ditch." The same year the notorious Judge Jeffreys returned from that western circuit known as "the Bloody Assizes '" to Windsor, where he received the Great Seal as Lord Chancellor. " He arrived there from the west," says a contemporary writer, " leaving carnage, mourning, and terror behind him." James revived the custom of " touching for the kings' evil," and it is recorded that fifty-four persons of the parish and school of Eton were " touched " between September, 1686, and September, 1688. It is said that in 1686 " at his healinge of the evil the king began at Windsor to make use of the Latin service and his own priest," so little did he comprehend the feeling and temper of the nation. The " tomb-house," which was being painted by Verrio, was fitted up for the public celebration of the Mass."^ In July, 1687, James showed his final touch of disregard > She had a house that he had given her at Windsor, '• Burford House," which afterwards belonged to her son, the Duke of St. Albans. 2 Now the Albert Memorial Chapel, in which none of Verrio's painting or any of the original fittings remain. 154 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND for the religious scruples of his subjects. He received in state at Windsor the Pope's Nuncio, d'Adda, Archbishop of Amasia. He and his company came to the castle " by thirty-six coaches, with six horses each ... In the outward court they all alighted out of the coaches, and went up stayers into Saint George his hall, where were the king and queen, seated on two chaires under a canopy. He made three bowes, and at the second the king and queen both stood up and sate not downe again until he had ended his speeches, who answered him severally, and againe he returned." This visit caused great excitement in the vicinity. " The town of Windsor was so full of all sorts of people, from all parts, that it was very difficult to get provisions or room either for horse or man, nay, many persons of quality and others were forced to sit in their coaches or calashes almost all the day ... by reason that there has not been any public minister of State from the Pope, for above 140 years, that hath made any public entry." ^ James Francis Edward, Prince of Wales, known after- wards as the " Elder Pretender," was born at Windsor, though not in the castle,^ on June 16, 1688. There appears to have been no foundation for the report that his half- sisters Mary and Anne are said to have believed that he was a supposititious child. From his birth he was exceedingly sickly, and a curious account is given of his nurse, " a tyle- maker's wife . . . She came in her cloth petticoat and waistcoat, and old shoes with no stockings . . . she is now rigged by degrees." * It is said that after the reception the populace broke the windows of St. George's Chapel. 2 At Burford House in the town, belonging to the Duke of St. Albans, originally given to Nell Gwyn by Charles II. WINDSOR CASTLE 155 The reign of James II. was nearly at an end when his son was born. On November 5, 16S8, the Prince of Orange landed at Torbay, and on November 17 the king and Prince George of Denmark left Whitehall for Windsor, and on the following day proceeded to Salisbury, where the royal forces were to assemble. On December 14 William arrived at Windsor, and a memorable council was held there to decide the future fate of the king. James, as a last hope, sent Lord Faversham with a friendly message to William, but on his arrival he was accused of treason and conveyed to the Round Tower. He was the last State prisoner in the castle, and was liberated shortly afterwards on the request of Katherine of Braganza, whose chamberlain he w^as. James decided to go to Rochester, and had left London before William arrived. In the British Museum is an inventory of the pictures and furniture in the castle at this period. There are said to have been only 127 pictures. The new king and queen were proclaimed at Windsor, which always seems to have been the most fickle of towns, "with rejoicings" in April, i68g.^ In November, i6gi, there were great festivities on the occasion of the king's birthday at the new Guildhall of the Corporation of Windsor, where the mayor and his company feasted. Bells were rung and bonfires lighted, " with other demonstrations of joy and loyalty suitable to the occasion." William and Mary were not often at Windsor ; they preferred Hampton Court as a residence, possibly because the late king had never lived there. Macaulay says that • James had had tokens of the state of feehng in the town when the windows of St. George's Chapel were broken after his reception of the Papal Nuncio. 156 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND ** William was never so happy as when he could quit the magnificence of Windsor for his far humbler seat at Loo." He built a wall round the park, which has since been removed, and finished the Long Walk begun by Charles IL Princess Anne and her little son, the Duke of Gloucester, were assigned apartments at Windsor, and many stories are told of the precocious military tastes of the duke. On one occasion William found the boy holding a little musket, with which he presented arms to his uncle. The king asked him what he was doing, and was told ** Learning my drill, that I may help you to beat the French." William installed him as a Knight of the Garter imme- diately after this speech. He was allowed to have four Eton boys as playmates, with whom he indulged in all sorts of mimic warfare. On July 24, 1700, a great ball and fire- works were given in honour of the young prince's birthday, but he became ill almost immediately afterwards, and died on July 30, as the London Gazette truly said, ** to the inexpressible grief of their Royal Highnesses, and the sensible sorrow of the whole nation." ^ This child's death was indeed an event of importance to the nation. Shortly afterwards the Act of Settlement was altered, and the inheritance to the throne vested in ** the Princess Sophia Dorothea, Electress of Hanover, and her descendants, being Protestants, in default of direct heirs of William and his sister-in-law Anne." Several installations of Knights of the Garter were held at Windsor during this reign, but no feasts of St. George. Ceremonial of any kind was abhorrent to William. * He was buried at Westminster. "^•\ _; ^ )■> ■A ^ U « o i? •i r. -** ~i — 5 <^. y. M '■ 1 • ■-■'■• \ fe'-i! - \'^-% .-' .' , - r- -z v% ■■?' — ■*;'-■-. H^ — ^ "= - •=*?"." ' X ,^.~Sv. 1 a -^ ^ -.X =f^ ' ^ > <, WINDSOR CASTLE 157 It is said that during the later part of his hfe he contem- plated improvements at Windsor on thcscalcof those he had effected at Hampton Court, and Sir Christopher Wren pre- pared plans for such alterations, which are now in the library' of All Souls College, Oxford. The castle was in fact much neglected, even as to ordinary repairs. Queen Anne succeeded in March, 1702, and in December, 1703, Charles III., King of Spain, was received by her at Windsor. The London Gazette of December 31 gives an account of this visit, which appears to have been as cere- monious and uninteresting as Anne's entertainments usually were.^ The shades of Elizabeth and Philip of Spain may well have gazed in wonder at the dull decorum of their successors. The queen interested herself in the gardens, on which she spent ^40,000, and made numerous drives for herself in the park, including the carriage-way down the Long Walk, as she liked to hunt in a chaise, driving herself, as Swift says, " like Jehu furiously." Swift also describes her as being " an exact observer of form," even to the smallest detail of dress among her attendants. She lived so quietly that " except on Sundays, and a few hours twice or thrice a week at night in the drawing-room, she appears so little that her Court is, as it were, abandoned." ^ Swift declares that the queen had ** neither the patience to bear, nor the spirit to subdue " the imperious ascendency which the Duchess of Marlborough, for a time at all events, obtained over her. The news of the "glorious victory" of Blenheim was brought to Anne as she sat in an orieP of the library at ' Swift has left a description of the dull and shy manner in which she habitually received her guests. 2 Burnet : History of his Own Times. » This window was originally part of the building of Henry VII., not of Queen Elizabeth's gallery. 158 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND Windsor, overlooking the park. The duchess had received a few hasty Hnes from her husband, begging her to announce to the queen that " her army had had a glorious victory. Mons. Tallard and two other generals are in my coach." The bearer of the letter, Colonel Parke, was at once brought into the queen's presence, travel-stained as he was, having ridden day and night from the battlefield to bring the joyful tidings as expeditiously as possible.^ The queen, it is said, " rejoiced passively." Swift observed that " there was not in all England a person who understood more artificially to disguise her passions" than Queen Anne. The duchess took no pains to hide her overwhelming pride and her inflated sense of importance. She agreed with Addison concerning her lord — Calm and serene he drives the furious blast ; And, pleased the Almighty's orders to perform Rides in the whirlwind and directs the storm. The only storm and whirlwind over which he had no control was the duchess herself. In England the news was received naturally with tremen- dous enthusiasm and exultation. The manor of Woodstock was granted to the duke " to be holden as of the Castle of Windsor in common socage by fealty, he rendering yearly, on 2nd August, the anniversary of Blenheim (fought in 1704), at the Castle of Windsor one standard or colours with three fleurs-de-luces painted there- upon." 2 This tribute is still punctually rendered, and the ' The oriel window in the library was much altered by Wyatville. In it hangs a reproduction of the duke's hasty note, and a portrait of Colonel Parke. 2 Harl. MSS., No. 2262. WINDSOR CASTLE 159 manor of Strathfieldsaye is held by the Dukes of Welhngton under a similar title. ^ The works in the state apartments of Charles II. were brought to an end in the reign of Anne by the painting of the great staircase by Sir James Thornhill. The queen had to lay out considerable sums on necessary repairs in the castle, which she seems to have preferred to Hampton Court as a residence. Both she and Prince George of Denmark were popular in the town, and their effigies still adorn the market place.^ George I. and George II. lived very little at Windsor ; they both liked Hampton Court and Kensington and spent the greater part of their time in those palaces when they were in England. Queen Caroline's favourite architect, Kent, did some repainting (unfortunately) in St. George's Hall and the guard-room, but when George II. died he left the castle in a very dilapidated state.*^ George III. had a decided fondness for Windsor, but eighteen years after his accession it was decided that the castle was uninhabitable. Most of the rooms had been given up to private people, who had acquired apartments during the preceding reigns. Even the slope of the ditch was let on lease as a market garden. A new house was therefore built for the king, a long narrow building with battlements, of no particular style, facing the south terrace and occupying the site of the present stables. It was known as " the Queen's Lodge," and there the royal family lived in homely simplicity, 1 The colours hang in the armoury over marble busts of the first dukes. ^ There is a small portrait of Prince George and his signature as Lord High Admiral on a naval paper in the library at Windsor, * Collier's plan of the town and castle made in 1742 shows the changes since Nordern's survey, temp. James I. i6o ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND much beloved by their neighbours, to whom they were always accessible. The king had a most friendly, affable manner, and besides what is known as a "royal memory" for faces, he never failed to inquire after every subject that he thought would please. Unlike his immediate pre- decessors, he was a thorough Englishman, loved everything English, and fully deserved his pseudonym of " Farmer George." The life of this royal family at Windsor has been made familiar to all the world by Fanny Burney's^ inimitable " Diary." Some of her best descriptions are of the family walks on the terrace every evening. In 1785 she thus por- trays one of these characteristic progresses : *' The king and queen and the Prince of Mecklenburgh and Her Majesty's mother walked together. Next to them the princesses and their ladies and the young princes, making a very gay and pleasing procession of one of the finest families in the world. Every way they moved the crowd retired to stand up against the wall as they passed, and then closed in to follow." On another occasion, " the terrace was very full, all Windsor and the neighbourhood poured in upon it, to see the prince " (the Duke of York, after an absence of seven years, in 1787). The most interesting and pathetic part of Miss Burney's narrative is concerned with the gradual increase of the king's mental disorder, which first became distressingly apparent in 1788. She describes graphically the awful stillness and gloom that pervaded the castle on the night of the fatal 5th of November, when the physicians had been sent for, and the household awaited their verdict in a silence that could be felt, and with ' Better known as Madame d'Arblay ; she was the author of two famous novels, Evelina and Cecilia, and the friend of Dr. Johnson and Sir Joshua Reynolds. She was a wardrobe-keeper to the Queen for five years. WINDSOR CASTLI-: i6i anxiety no less consuming because they were still ignorant of the real cause of that anxiety. At last, early the next morning, the physicians went to the Prince of Wales, who was in another part of the castle, and the queen was told that she must be removed to a more distant apartment. The Prince of Wales carried matters with a high hand, and the queen spent her time in retirement with the princesses and her ladies. The king was afterwards prevailed upon to go to Kew, and Miss Burney says " all Windsor was collected . . . to witness the mournful spectacle of his departure, which left them without a ray of hope to see him again." In March, 1789, he was sufficiently recovered to return to Windsor on horseback, attended by a large party of gentlemen. " Everything and everybody were smiling and lively . . . all Windsor came out to meet the king," and in the evening a great display of fireworks took place, which the royal family witnessed from the windows of their house. The king's blindness increased rapidly, and he seldom left Windsor again, but he constantly attended the services in St. George's Chapel, rode on horseback with a groom on each side of him, and walked on the terrace every evening with his daughters, hearing the band play, and stopping constantly to speak to his friends. Sir Herbert Taylor, his private secretary, records that his loss of sight was borne with exemplary patience and resignation. After the Princess Amelia's death in 1810 his mental con- dition became worse ; he talked incessantly, and was the prey of constant delusions. The Prince of Wales was appointed Regent, and the king lived for ten years longer in a piteous state of mental and visual blindness. He is said to have believed himself already dead, and to have asked for " mourning to wear for King George III.," but he outlived R.P. M i62 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND his queen Charlotte, and six of his children and grandchildren ^ were carried to the royal vault in St. George's Chapel before him. The father of the late Queen Victoria, the Duke of Kent, George's third son, died and was buried at Windsor only a few days before his father. George III. had outlived political animosity and died amidst the general good will of his people. The Princess Elizabeth wrote of him : " In the hearts of his children and his subjects he will ever live." The scene of his funeral, which took place at ten o'clock in the evening of February lo, 1821, was most impressive and imposing. The long array of " mourners, clothed in sables, heralds in their brilliant tabards, princes of the Blood in sad- coloured mantles," ^ moved by torchlight from the principal entrance of the castle to St. George's Chapel, along a route draped in black cloth and lined by soldiers holding torches. The tolling of the castle bell, the lingering roll of muffled drums, the sound of minute guns, all added to the strange solemnity of the ceremony. The procession was received at the chapel door by the Dean and Canons with the choir, and entered the chapel to the strains of the favourite anthem *' I know that my Redeemer liveth." ^ The coffin rested in the choir while the burial service was read by the Dean of Windsor and the Archbishop of Canterbury ; when it was at last lowered into the vault. Garter King-at- Arms proclaimed the titles of the late king, and the mournful procession once more formed and left the chapel, while the ^ Among them the Princess Charlotte, daughter of George IV., who died at Claremont in 1817. Her monument in St. George's Chapel is by Matthew Wyatt, and is graceful and expressive if not very artistic. ^ Jesse : Memoirs of George III., vol. iii., 594-595. ^ George III. was a great lover of Handel's music. WINDSOR CASTLE 163 soldiers who had hned the dim aisles, with tapers in their hands, extin^iii^uished their lights and departed. George III. was the first king who died at Windsor, and it is said that he and William IV. and the Prince Consort all died in the same room. The new king found the castle in a state of absolute ruin that called for immediate repair if the fabric were to be preserved. The building as it now appears is chiefly the work of Sir Jeffrey Wyatville, to whom the restoration was entrusted.^ It was not finished till the reign of Victoria, and George IV. himself resided in the Royal (now Cumberland) Lodge, at the end of the Long Walk, when he came down to watch the progress of the work. It was not till 1828 that he was able to take possession of the new state apartments. Wyatville's original drawings and designs, with drawings of the castle as it appeared before the reconstruction was begun, are now in the royal library at Windsor. The plans and estimates approved bear the signatures of the king and of the seven commissioners'* appointed by Parliament to superintend the alterations. Wyatville rebuilt or replaced practically the whole castle ; very few external traces are left of the earlier building. His work has often been criticised in an adverse spirit, but the restoration was a necessity, and he endeavoured to preserve the Gothic design that he considered characteristic. His drawings of the castle in its former state make it comprehensible that he wished to give height to the whole edifice. The Stuart building can be spared, but it is a matter for regret that the beautiful oriel window of Henry VII. at * Some work had been done by Mr. Wyatt, the uncle of Sir Jeffrey. ^ The Duke of Wellington and Lord Aberdeen were among the commissioners. M 2 i64 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND the end of the gallery that is now the library had to be taken away almost entirely. Towards the end of his life the king's illness affected his personal appearance to an extent that made him sensitive of appearing in public ; his treatment of the queen and his early extravagance had made him unpopular, and the caricaturists did not spare him. He was often at Windsor, living in great retirement at the lodge in the park, and driving about chiefly within the park limits, and he only occupied the new state apartments for a short time before his death. He was also buried in St. George's Chapel at night, with the same ceremonial, but without the demon- strations of good will called forth by the death of his father. William IV. continued the building of the castle and resided there constantly with his queen Adelaide. The " Sailor King " was very popular at Windsor and made himself as accessible to all the world as his father had been. He gave constant entertainments for the neighbour- hood, and the unvarying kindliness and gentleness of Queen Adelaide endeared her to all who knew her.^ She was always the most generous and munificent patroness of every work of charity and mercy. William IV. died and was buried at Windsor,^ and Queen 1 The writer's aunt, a niece of Dr. Keate, the well-known Headmaster of Eton, who is still living and remembers perfectly the circumstance, has often described a children's ball at the castle, to which she was taken as a child of five years old. She lost sight of her own party and imme- diately ran to the queen, asking to be taken back to her aunt, Mrs. Keate, with whom she had come. The queen in the kindest manner complied with this request, and when the child was asked why she had troubled Her Majesty, she said that the queen was the only person she " knew " in the room. 2 He also was buried at nine o'clock at night, with the same solemn ceremonial as his father and brother. WINDSOR CASTLE 165 Victoria very soon made the castle one of her favourite residences, though she said in a letter to the King of the Belgians, soon after her accession, that " Windsor always appears very melancholy to me, and there are so many sad associations with it." ^ Some of the happiest associations of her life were soon to be connected with it. After the marriage of the queen and Prince Albert on February 10, 1840, they drove from Buckingham Palace, where the wedding breakfast had taken place, to Windsor, remained there till February 14th, and then returned to London. She wrote to the King of the Belgians the day after her marriage ; " I write to you from here, the happiest, happiest being that ever existed. Really I do not think it possible for anyone in the world to be happier, or as happy as I am." No doubt she afterwards agreed with Lord Melbourne when he said that " after all there is nothing like Windsor and the park." After the birth of his majesty King Edward VII. she wrote from Windsor again to the King of the Belgians, expressing her complete happiness and satisfaction, and speak- ing gaily of " our awfully large nursery establishment." On January 4, 1843, she wrote of their gaiety at Windsor : " We have been very gay : danced into the New Year, and again last night, and were very merry, though but a very small party : young and old danced." Every year the queen was at Windsor, studying and attending to " the public and weighty affairs of the State," as Queen Elizabeth had done, but, unlike her, enjoying to the full her domestic happiness. Royal and distinguished guests came and went, investitures of the Garter,^ State ' Letters of Queen Victoria, 1837-1860, July 11, 1837. 2 Lord Roberts was the last Knight of the Garter to receive his investi- ture from the queen's own hands. i66 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND banquets and balls were held, splendid receptions were given. Among [the most famous of the Garter banquets was one held in honour of the King of Prussia, godfather of Edward VIL ; one for the Czar Nicholas I., who presented to the queen the vast and wonderful malachite vase that now stands in the state apartments, and is said to be the largest in the world. The queen herself remarked on the turn of Fortune's wheel among the nations that enabled her to dance with Napoleon IIL in the Waterloo Chamber. At a later date the queen wrote that " Windsor is delightful in December" ; a sad saying when it is remembered that the greatest grief of her life came upon her on December 14, 1861, at Windsor, and she told the King of the Belgians " My life as a happy one is ended." The Prince Consort's funeral took place at Windsor in January, 1862, and his coffin was placed in the royal vault of St. George's Chapel for a year until the mausoleum at Frogmore should be ready. King Edward VIL was christened in St. George's Chapel, and was there married to the Princess Alexandra of Denmark on March 11, 1863, when the scene at Windsor once more became animated and brilliant, though the queen was only present in her "closet" in St. George's Chapel. Many of Queen Victoria's children were married at Windsor, and there lie buried her youngest son, the Duke of Albany, and two of her grandchildren, the much-lamented Duke of Clarence and one of his brothers, who died in infancy. After the Prince Consort's death the queen lived in great retirement. She was often at Windsor, and to the end of her life never failed to be there for the anniversary of her WINDSOR CASTLE 167 husband's death in December.^ She left the castle for the last time in December, igoo, and only her mortal remains were brought back to be laid by his side at Frogmore in the following February. The details, splendid and touching as they were, of the late queen's funeral are known to all the world.'^ At Windsor there was for a few moments a slight difficulty at the railway station, when the artillery horses which were to have drawn the gun carriage on which the coffin was laid became restive. The sailors who formed the guard of honour had the further honour of themselves drawing the carriage to the Chapel of St. George, where the first part of the burial service was solemnised in the presence of a congregation that included every one of note in the Empire and representatives from every civilised country in the world. The next day the coffin was removed to Frogmore, and there laid by the side of the Prince Consort in the space that had been prepared for it many years before. The Victorian era was over. King Edward VII. made Windsor the centre of his most splendid and stately Court. No structural alterations were made in the castle, but the internal decorations were entirely renovated, and considerable alterations made in the private apartments. The installation of electric light all over the building is a change of far-reaching importance. The rooms used by the Prince Consort were once more opened, and were among those inhabited by the king and queen. They had been closed for forty years. The stables and gardens have also been improved, * It was also the anniversary of the Princess Alice's death ; she died December 14, 1878. * There is a good account in Justin McCarthy's Victorian Era. i68 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND though the institution of motor cars has had the effect of sHghtly reducing the stud. Horses are, however, used on all State occasions. From time to time Windsor is the scene of great ceremonial and studied magnificence, of which two late instances may be mentioned — the visit of the German Emperor and Empress in 1907, and that of the King and Queen of Sweden in igo8. Thus are the splendid traditions of the past maintained at Windsor.^ ^ Since this was written the funeral of his late majesty king Edward VII. has also taken place at Windsor, in the midst of the sincere grief and mourning of his loyal subjects. ^(^miffton Court ^aface* THE Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem acquired the " Manor of Hampton Court " in 1237/ and had a small preceptory on the site of the present palace. The only remaining relic of the order now at Hampton Court is the bell that still rings for service in the chapel, and bears the following inscription : — + STELLA + MARIA + MARIS + SUCCURRE + PIISMA + NOBIS + (Mary, most holy, Star of the Sea, come to our assistance). From the date of Cardinal Wolsey's purchase of the lease of the manor in January, 1514-15, to the reign of George HI., the history of Hampton Court Palace is not only intimately connected with the private lives of kings and statesmen, but there were few questions of political importance that were not discussed by the Privy Council within its walls, and innumerable letters and documents that have made history were dated from Hampton Court. Wolsey is said to have been influenced in his choice of the site for his new house not only by the proximity of London, * In Domesday Book the manor belonged to Earl Algar and was granted by the Conqueror to Walter de St. Valery. In 1218-19 it was held by Henry of St. Albans, who sold it to the Prior and Brethren of St. John of Jerusalem in 1237. I70 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND and the convenience of the river as a " swift and silent highway," but by the exceptional healthiness of the neigh- bourhood. Henry VIII. and Katherine of Aragon paid their first recorded visit to Hampton Court in March, 15 14, and in June Wolsey took possession of the property and imme- diately began his extensive works on what is believed to have been the site of the old manor-house or camera of the Brethren. In May, 1516, the building was so far advanced that the cardinal was able to entertain the king and queen there at dinner, but he did not stay for any considerable period before 15 17, and it was not till after the return from the " Field of the Cloth of Gold " that he seems to have considered the house practically complete and ready for the splendid entertainments that afterwards made his " Court " famous.^ It has been said that Wolsey was the greatest political genius that England has ever produced, and that " he must be estimated rather by what he chose to do than by what he did."^ The field of action he deliberately chose was foreign policy, and all his schemes and his magnificence, including the almost regal state in which he lived at Hampton Court and elsewhere, must be understood as a part, and not a small part, of his political design. The letters of the ambassadors from foreign Courts show the important share that the cardinal's splendour had in influencing their policy. It is necessary to remember the vast interests he had at stake to appreciate at its full value the picture of the cardinal, * Wolsey was probably his own architect : the names of men who drew plans for him and of his master builders and clerks of the works can be found in the Chapter House accounts at the Public Record Office, but it does not appear that he owed his designs to any one but himself. ^ Creighton Life of Wolsey, 2. < o y. « HAMPTON COURT PALACE 171 walking in his "galleries, both large and long,"^ meditating on affairs of State, giving unwilling audience to impatient petitioners during his moments of leisure in the garden, or presiding over the princely fetes he organised in honour of the king, or his guests, or the foreign ambassadors. Wolsey's influence with the king during the early part of his reign was almost unlimited ; Henry seems to have treated the cardinal with great confidence and unusual familiarity, walking with him in the gardens at Hampton Court arm in arm, and even with his arm round Wolsey's shoulder.^ Cavendish says that when the king repaired to the cardinal's house " for his recreation, divers times in the year, there wanted no preparation or goodly furniture with viands of the finest sort that could be gotten for money or friendship," and tells an amusing story of the king's coming *' suddenly thither in a masque with a dozen masquers all in garments like shepherds (sic) made of fine cloth of gold and fine satin . . . with vizors of good propor- tion and physiognomy." He goes on to say that they startled the cardinal and his guests with " the noise of guns — they sitting quiet at a solemn banquet " ; that Wolsey entertained them as strangers, and to the great joy of king and Court mistook which was the king, and went up to one of the gentlemen of the Court, hat in hand.^ It is impossible here to enter into the course of Wolsey's diplomacy during the following years, though Hampton Court was the scene of many of his negotiations. He worked always for the peace of Europe, and an important * " My galleries were fayer, both large and long, to walk in them when that it lyked me best." Cavendish : Metrical Life of Wolsey. ^ Law : Hist. Hampton Court Palace, i., 43. ^ Cavendish : Lt/c; of IVolsey, 51 et seq. 172 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND treaty was signed at Hampton Court in 1526 by Wolsey on behalf of Henry VHI. and the French ambassador on behalf of Francis I. The next year saw the arrival of French commissioners to arrange a marriage between Francis I. and Henry's daughter Mary, then only ten years old. The ambassadors were taken to the palace, where the king and queen were staying, and had an audience of the king ** in the hall."^ In the evening they were admitted to the " queen's chamber " and talked with Henry on indifferent matters, he showing himself, as the French secretary says, " very learned." The treaty was signed at Greenwich in April, 1527, but on account of the negotiations having been carried on there it is known as the " Treaty of Hampton Court." The most wonderful as well as the last of Wolsey's regal entertainments at Hampton Court took place in the autumn of 1527, when a special embassy came from France to ratify the agreement finally and to invest the king with the Order of St. Michael. Cavendish gives a lengthy and detailed account of the splendid reception that was prepared for the ambassadors, and describes the rooms hung with arras, the extraordinary quantity of plate, the great candlesticks, the lavish profusion of the feast that was served for them. " The service was brought up in such order and abundance, both costly and full of subtleties, with such a pleasant noise of divers instruments of music, that the Frenchmen, as it seemed, were rapt into Paradise . . . and could not commend him too much." ^ Wolsey at first seems to have encouraged Henry's desire for a divorce in order to further his own foreign policy, but ^ Wolsey's " Great Hall " no longer exists. The present one was built by Henry VIII. '^ Cavendish : Life of Wolsey (ed. Singer). HAMPTON COURT PALACE 173 from the moment that Anne Boleyn became his political rival the fate of the " greatest political genius that England has ever produced" was sealed; though for a time, even after he had made his gift of Hampton Court to the king, he continued to transact business and to receive the foreign ambassadors there. A truce with the Netherlands was concluded in 1528, signed at Hampton Court and solemnly confirmed in the chapel there on June 17. This truce, which must not be confused with the peace already mentioned, is also known as " the Truce of Hampton Court." The last time that Wolsey was at his " great house" was in July, 1529. A bill of indictment was preferred against him in November, and he retired to Esher, where he had built himself a small house, part of which still remains. Hampton Court is not concerned in the final details of his disgrace — That once trod the ways of glory, And sounded all the depths and shoals of honour. Cavendish also gives an account of his interview with the king in the garden at Hampton Court when he was summoned to speak of the cardinal's death, and was told by Henry that he would " liever than twenty thousand pounds that the cardinal had lived." Nevertheless he inquired anxiously for the small remains of his favourite's great fortune. There is a tradition maintained to tliis day in the palace that a certain spider, known as the ** Cardinal Spider," is peculiar to Wolsey's part of the palace, and is connected in some strange fashion with his tragic fate.^ It is also said * Respect for truth claims mention that the species is found in other parts of the Thames valley. 174 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND that the cardinal himself haunts the scene of his former greatness, and a story is told of a housekeeper of the palace early in the last century who declared that she seldom went through the cloisters "without brushing against his Eminence." Another story is told of a room near the beautiful little apartment known as the "Cardinal's Oratory," where he was said to open and shut the door.^ Henry did not actually take possession of the palace until Wolsey had been finally banished. Up to that time the " king's manor" of Hampton Court was apparently a figure of speech, but one of his first acts was to erase the cardinal's badges and to mark the whole building with his own arms and monograms. Katherine of Aragon accompanied Henry when he first went to Hampton Court in February, 1530, and they were said to treat each other in public with the ** greatest possible attention " ; but already in the Chapter House accounts the "Lady Anne's lodgynges" were frequently mentioned, though it is not possible to identify her rooms. On July 14, 1531, Henry left Katherine at Windsor and rode to Hampton Court ; after that day he never saw her again, and in September, 1532, the crown jewels were sent from Greenwich to Hampton Court for Anne Boleyn. The accounts of Henry's sojourns at the palace read like the shifting scenes of one long pageant of joy and revelry, yet behind them were the stern politics that he never neglected ; the meetings of the Council took place constantly, and all foreign despatches were daily submitted to the king. Giustinian, the Venetian ambassador, gives an account of * This room, with its beautiful cinque- cento ceiling and linen panelling, is now open to the public. HAMPTON COURT PALACE 175 a tournament held in the "tilt yard"^ that Henry had laid out, and says that when the king appeared a grand proces- sion was formed, headed by the marshal of the jousts on horseback, dressed in cloth of gold, surrounded by thirty footmen in liveries of blue and yellow. Then followed the drummers and trumpeters, all dressed in white damask ; next forty knights and lords in pairs, all in superb attire, and many in cloth of gold; then "some twenty young knights, on very fine horses, all dressed in white, with doublets of silver and white velvet, and chains of unusual size, and their horses barded with silver chainwork, and a number of pendent bells. Next came their pages, on horseback, their trappings, half of gold embroidery, half of purple velvet, embroidered with stars ; and then the jousters, armed, with their squires and footmen. Last of all came his Majesty, armed cap-a-pie^ with a surcoat of silver bawdakin, surrounded by some thirty gentlemen on foot, dressed in velvet and white satin, and in this order they went twice round the lists." 2 Anne Bolejm was crowned in June, 1533, and in July she came to Hampton Court, where a series of magnificent " revellynges " took place in her honour. There were great rejoicings at the birth of Elizabeth, but Henry very soon made manifest how all-important he considered the birth of a son. It becomes sufficiently apparent what the motive was for the vast trouble and expense lavished on obtaining his divorce. Only three years after her coronation, in May, 1536, Anne was executed, and the king obtained a dispensa- tion from Cranmer for his marriage with Jane Seymour on * The old walls of the tilt yard and one of the towers for spectators still remain. The tilt yard is now a nursery garden. Giustinian : Despatches, ii., loi. 176 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND the same day. The next morning she secretly joined the king at Hampton Court, and there, in the presence of a few courtiers, they were formally betrothed. Ten days later they were married in the " Quene's Closet at York Place." ^ In September, 1537, Jane Seymour returned to Hampton Court to await the birth of the anxiously expected heir to the throne, and on Friday, October 12, at two o'clock in the morn- ing, the long-desired prince was born. His christening took place on the Monday following in the chapel, with much pomp and ceremony ; the rooms through which the procession passed and the chapel itself were richly decorated; in the middle of the choir the font " of solid silver gilt was set, and over it a rich canopy," the trumpeters meanwhile " standing in the outer court within the gate, there blowing and the minstrels playing, which was a melodious thing to hear." The excitement proved to be too great for the queen, and twelve days after the birth of her son, on October 24, she died, and Henry had the grace to write to Francis L, " of the bitter- ness of the death of her who brought me this happiness." She lay in state at Hampton Court until Monday, November 12, when her body was removed, with great funereal state, to Windsor, where she was buried in St. George's Chapel. Jane Seymour's arms still remain, coupled with those of the king, at the entrance of the chapel.^ Henry seems for a time to have left the palace as a sort ot nursery for his son, and the ambassadors were occasionally invited there to see the prince. In November, 1539, the king was at Hampton Court while waiting for the arrival of Anne of Cleves, but he never brought her there. The decree 1 Letters and Papers of Henry VIII., x., no. 1000. 2 The arms of Wolsey originally hung there, and the figures of angels that were his supporters still remain. HAMPTON COURT PALACE 177 of divorce was pronounced in July, 1540, and shortly after- wards Henry arrived with Katherine Howard. They had been married privately at Oatlands on July 28. On August 8 she appeared openly as queen and sat next to the king in the royal closet in the chapel. Little more than a year afterwards Henry received his first intimation of Katherine's guilt, made to him by means of a paper put into his hand by Cranmer, while he was hearing Mass in the chapel at Hampton Court, and he showed himself overwhelmed with grief and rage. A day or two afterwards he left secretly to confer with his council in London. Meanwhile the palace was closely guarded, and Katherine was formally made aware of the charges against her by the Archbishop of Canterbury and a deputation from the council. To them she denied all, but confessed to the archbishop, hoping thus to obtain the royal pardon. She was sent to Syon House under an escort, and thence to the Tower, where she was executed on February 13, 1542. The best-known ghost story of the palace is connected with Katherine Howard ; the " haunted gallery " is so called because her ghost is said to run shrieking through the room. She attempted to make her way into Henry's presence as he was hearing Mass in the chapel, but was seized by the king's guard and carried back to her own chamber, while the king listened to her screams unmoved. This strange scene her unquiet spirit is said to enact constantly, and her screams are supposed to have been heard by ladies who inhabited neighbouring apartments.^ Nothing seems to have changed Henry's affection for the ' The great objection to this story is that Katherine did not know of the charges that had been brought against her until after Henry had left the palace. R.P. N 178 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND place ; he chose to be married at Hampton Court to his last bride, Katherine Parr, the widow of Lord Latimer, " in an upper oratory called the Quyne's Privy Chapel," on July 12, 1543. The ceremony was performed by Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, in the presence of about twenty witnesses, including the Princesses Mary and Elizabeth. Christmas of that year was celebrated with much festivity at Hampton Court, and the new queen's brother and uncle were created peers. Henry eventually left Katherine Parr and his three children at Hampton Court, when he went to take com- mand of the English army in France in the summer of 1543. Some of the queen's letters are still extant, informing him of the health of the prince and other affairs. Henry returned in October, and they continued at Hampton Court for some time. The well-known picture, attributed to Holbein, of Henry VHL and his family sitting in the cloisters at Hampton Court, which is now in the state apart- ments, was probably painted at this period, about 1546.^ Henry left Hampton Court for the last time before the end of 1546, and died at Westminster on January 28, 1547. Edward VI. had been brought up, to a certain extent, at the palace; a regular household had been appointed for him there in 1538, and the rooms allotted to him were on the second floor on the north side of the chapel court, facing the gardens to the east. His nurse was Sibell Penn, daughter of William Hampden and wife of David Penn, who con- tinued to live in the palace after Edward had outgrown her ministrations, and after his death. She died in 1562 and was buried at Hampton Church, where her monument with a * It is not by Holbein, though it is of his school. HAMPTON COURT PALACE 179 quaintly rhyming epitaph can be seen. Her ghost is said to haunt the south wing of the east front, and is among the best authenticated of those that are supposed to appear at Hampton Court. Edward's hrst return to the palace as king was in June, 1547. In his "journal " he gives an account of his walking in " the gallery " with his uncle the Lord Admiral Seymour of Sudeley, who tried to urge the young king to assert him- self, " that within three or four years he should be ruler of his own things." Meanwhile the splendour and arrogance of his other uncle, the Lord Protector Somerset, increased, so that the Council became alarmed and met secretly in London to devise measures to reduce his power. Somerset became suspicious of their intentions, and armed all his own men and the king's attendants at Hampton Court. He also issued a proclamation, signed by the king, bidding all his " loving subjects " to repair to Hampton Court in haste " in most defensible array, with harness and weapons " to defend the king's person and that of his " entirely beloved uncle the Lord Protector." Edward says in his journal that " peple came abundantly to the house," and it is said that the moat was filled, the gates fortified, and all preparations made for a siege. But the people only came from curiosity. Somerset was not popular, and though he took the young king into the outer court ^ and there harangued the crowd, he saw that his force was not sufficient, and that popular feeling was against him, for late that night he hurried off with Edward and " al the peple " to Windsor, which he probably considered a stronger place of defence. Somerset's power was, however, broken, and he was shortly afterwards sent to the Tower, ^ Now the " barrack yard." He probably stood on the bridge built by Henry VIII. across the moat. This bridge has lately been excavated. N 2 i8o ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND though he returned and was again with Edward, in a modi- fied position, until 1551. On October 11 he was present at the gorgeous ceremonies in the great hall at Hampton Court when, among other promotions in the peerage, the Earl of Warwick, his greatest enemy, was created Duke of Northumberland. On October 14 Somerset attended a council at the palace, but a few hours after the meeting he was accused of treason and felony and removed to the Tower. Six weeks later he was found guilty, and was executed on January 12, 1551-2. The Dowager-Queen of Scotland visited Edward at Hampton Court in the autumn of 1551, but during the remaining three years of his life he was little at the palace. Mary spent her honeymoon with Philip of Spain at Hampton Court, where they arrived on August 23, 1554, a few days after their state entry into London. The Court was in mourning at the time, and they lived in a very retired manner for some weeks. It was perhaps the happiest period of Mary's ill-starred existence. In April, 1555, she returned to await the birth of her child, and all preparations were made, the nurseries were opened, and " a cradle sumptuouslie and gorgeouslie trimmed " was ready. It was at this time that Elizabeth arrived at the palace and the often mentioned reconciliation between the sisters took place. To the end of her life Mary refused to abandon her hope of a child, but the later accounts of the ambassadors who visited her at Hampton Court give a terrible picture of her mental and physical condition. Philip and Mary paid their last visit to the palace in June, 1557, when they came down " to hunt in the park," but it was only a flying visit, as the household was left at Whitehall. Though Hampton Court was not the scene of any great HAMPTON COURT PALACE i8i historic events during the reign of Ehzabeth, it was the background for many festivities. The queen inherited to the full the Tudor love of splendid ceremonial and elaborate pageantry. She arrived at the palace for the first time after her accession on August lo, 1559. Already the question of her marriage was the cause of great anxiety to her advisers, and at this time the Earl of Arran, eldest son of the Duke of Chatelherault,^ was the suitor they favoured. He came secretly to England and concealed himself in Cecil's house in the Strand. In August he came to Hampton Court, and was brought by Cecil into the " Privy Gardens," where a sort of clandestine interview took place between him and the queen, who, though the romantic touch of such a meeting pleased her, was not attracted by Arran personally, and he returned to Scotland. The secrecy was unavailing, for the Spanish ambassador, from whom they wished to conceal the fact of Arran's presence in England, appears to have been quite aware of it. It is necessary to mention that Hampton Court was the scene of some of the " scandal about Queen Elizabeth." Many years after her death a man appeared in Madrid who declared that he was the son of Elizabeth and the Earl of Leicester and that he had been born in the palace, but had been brought up as the reputed son of Robert Sotheron, once a servant of Mrs. Ashley, one of the ladies about the Court, who on his death-bed had revealed to the boy his real parentage. This story has been dismissed as impossible. " Arthur Dudley " was probably only a carefully coached spy. There are, nevertheless, various stories of the familiar terms on which the queen and Leicester were. On one occasion Elizabeth ' He was presumptive heir to the throne of Scotland. i82 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND was sitting in the dedans of the tennis court at the palace watching a game between the Duke of Norfolk and Leicester, and it was said that " My Lord Robert being verie hotte and swetinge tooke the quene's napken oute of her hande and wyped his face, which the duke seinge saide that he was to sawcie, and swore yt he wolde laye his racket upon his face. Here upon rose a great troble and the quene offendid sore with the duke." It can hardly be considered that he was more courtly than Dudley. Nevertheless Elizabeth knew when to make her favourite understand " that there was only one mistress in England and no master." The autumn of 1592 was a period of great political anxiety in England, and in October Elizabeth was ill at Hampton Court, reputed to be dying of the smallpox. On the night of the 15th the Council was summoned in haste to decide on measures to be taken in case of her death, and on recover- ing from a prolonged state of unconsciousness she found them gathered round her bed waiting to hear what she might say of the succession. She declared that " though she loved Robert dearly, nothing unseemly had ever passed between them," and begged that he might be made Protector of the realm.^ This scene may have taken place in the room on the south side of the palace which still has Elizabeth's crown and cipher above the window. Her illness was soon over, and by November 11 she was well enough to be moved to Somerset House. In 1568 an important council was held at Hampton Court on October 30 to decide on the further action of England with regard to the future of Mary Queen of Scots, then a prisoner at Carlisle. A conference was held in London, and 1 Cal. State Paper, Spanish, 1558-59; Froude, Hist. Engl., vii., 429; Martin Hume, Courtships of Queen Elizabeth, 68. HAMPTON COURT PALACE 183 Elizabeth received Mary's commissioners at the palace and assured them that the proceedings were to be in no way judicial. On December 8 the celebrated Casket Letters were produced by Murray and laid before the English commis- sioners, and another great council of peers was summoned to Hampton Court to discuss the proceedings of the conference and to see these proofs ; but their verdict was not unanimous, and negotiations between the commissioners of Elizabeth and Mary were carried on for a considerable period after- wards. The queen continued to spend some time at Hampton Court every year, and her visits were generally marked by a series of the " revels " in which she delighted. Masques and plays were presented before the Court almost every evening in the great hall. " The Accounts of the Revels at Court " ^ contain many details of such performances, and show that the stage scenery of those days was not so primitive as is generally thought. The most interesting of these plays is " The Historie of Error showen at Hampton Court on New Year's Day at night, enacted by the children of Powles'." It has been conjectured that this play was the foundation of Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors. The queen's hospitality was practically boundless. The sum total of the charges for the upkeep of her household amounted to £80,000, in one year, but this vast sum for the period was exclusive of the expenses for Christmas and other festivities. Elizabeth paid her last visit to Hampton Court in 1599, determined to be as young and energetic as ever. The Scottish ambassador reported that when she left Hampton ^ Published by the Shakesperian Society. Ed. P. Cunningham. i84 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND Court she wished to go on horseback as usual, though she was " scarce able to sit upright," and " the day being passing foul, my Lord Hunsdon said ' it was not meet for one of Her Majesty's years to ride in such a storm.' She answered in great anger, ' My years ! Maids, to your horses quickly,' and so rode all the way." Three and a half years later she died at Richmond. James L apparently determined to keep up Elizabeth's habit of spending Christmas at Hampton Court with suitable festivity. In December, 1603, the famous masque called " The Vision of the Twelve Goddesses " was specially written for the occasion by Samuel Daniel. The exchequer accounts for the queen's royal household and wardrobe give some details of the preparations in the great hall and "great watching chamber " for this masque. In a copy of the first edition, now in the British Museum, the names of the twelve .ladies who took part in it are inserted in a contemporary handwriting.^ The representation took place in the great hall on Sunday, January 8, 1604, at nine or ten o'clock in the evening. In a letter of Sir Dudley Carleton's he speaks of the banquet afterwards being ** despatched with the customary confusion." Shakespeare belonged to the " King's Company of Comedians," and it is extremely probable that he took part in some of the numerous plays presented before the king and queen in the great hall at different times. Mr. Law has pointed out that the arrangement of the hall is little altered from what it was then, and that it remains an example of a Shakesperian theatre. James had more important affairs to deal with than the ^ Law, History of Hampton Court Palace, ii., 9, 22. Vide also Law, A Royal Masque at Hampton Court, in which there is a reprint of The Vision of the Twelve Goddesses. HAMPTON COURT PALACE 185 entertainment of his Court. He professed himself to be anxious to make a satisfactory compromise in the matter of estabhshing a recognised form of religion in the kingdom, and summoned a conference at Hampton Court, when the bishops and deans of the Church of England and some of the great divines of the Puritan party were appointed to discuss the questions at issue. This was the celebrated " Hampton Court Conference" which took place in January, 1603-4, in " the king's privy chamber," probably one of the large rooms built by Henry VHI. and afterwards destroyed by Wren. James's theological learning received the appro- bation and support of the bishops, though the Puritan party can hardly have appreciated the forcible style of his language. The king was delighted to display his own erudition and wrote to a friend in Scotland, " I have peppered thaime soundlie." The best-remembered consequence of this conference was the decision to make a new translation of the Bible, which gave to the nation the " Authorised Version." There are two contemporary accounts of Hampton Court in the reign of James I., one written by Prince Otto, the son of the Landgrave Maurice of Hesse, who came there in 161 1, and gave a long description of the tapestries, pictures, and other curiosities he saw there. Among the rooms he mentions one called " Paradise — within which almost all the tapestry is stitched with pearls and mixed with precious stones." The other account is by Ernest, Duke of Saxe Weimar, who visited England in 1613. Hewasalso astonished by the " Paradise" room, and added the detail that " all the apartments and galleries were laid with rush matting." ^ * Rooms were generally " strewed" with rushes and herbs to a much later date. i86 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND He further described a " great hunt " he had with the king. Both James and his queen, Anne of Denmark, were devoted to the sport, and there is an interesting portrait of the queen, wearing a green hunting costume, in the palace.^ In 1618 the queen became seriously ill, and removed from Oatlands to Hampton Court for the sake of her health. She was evidently consumptive, and by the end of February, i6ig, grew rapidly worse. On March i " all the lords and ladies . . . went to Hampton Court, but very few were admitted." The physicians, the Prince (Charles) of Wales, and the Bishop of London were called to her hastily in the early morning of the next day, and at four o'clock she died. There is an ancient tradition that she expired exactly as the clock struck the hour, and that it stopped, and has continued to stop ever since when any old inhabitant of the palace dies. Many corroborating coincidences have been noted, but the clock is old, and no record has been kept of the dates when it has stopped without any death having taken place to account for it. The body of Anne of Denmark was removed by water in a royal barge to Somerset House; she was afterwards buried in Westminster Abbey. James was at Hampton Court in September, 1624, when Charles, Prince of Wales, and the Duke of Buckingham returned from their romantic expedition to Spain, for Charles to make his own proposals of marriage to the Infanta, or rather perhaps to test the good faith of the Spanish Govern- ment, and the negotiations were broken off very soon after his return. There is no record that James was at the palace again before his death on March 27, 1625. ^ By Vansomer. HAMPTON COURT PALACE 187 The early history of Charles I. at Hampton Court is con- cerned almost entirely with his many difficulties regarding the household of Henrietta Maria.^ The record is one of constant quarrels, misunderstandings, and reconciliations with her and with the diplomatic agents of France. Eventually the difficulties became so complicated that Richelieu sent the Marquis de Bassompierre to try and arrange a compromise. On Sunday, October 11, 1625, he arrived at Hampton Court in one of the king's coaches ; a splendid repast had been prepared for him, but neither he nor his suite would touch it. Bassompierre acted with tact and discretion, but ineffectually, and on July 31, 1626, after a final scene with the queen, her French attendants were sent away from Whitehall and returned to France. Charles continued to visit Hampton Court at intervals and added the splendid gallery of the Duke of Mantua to his collection of pictures there. Two at least of Shakespeare's plays were acted before him and the queen, The Moor of Venice on December 8, 1636, and Hamlet on January 24, 1637. In February, 1642, Charles made his untoward attempt to arrest the " five members " in the House of Commons, and, alarmed by the menaces of Parliament and people, the king and queen with their family fled from London to Hampton Court, where their arrival was so unexpected that they and their three elder children had to share one room. They only remained a few days and moved to Windsor for " greater security." Charles was at the palace again only for one night before he was brought back as a prisoner on August 24, 1647. Much damage had already been done by the soldiers of the Parliament, who had destroyed the stained * Henrietta Maria was only fifteen years old at the time. i88 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND glass in the chapel, pulled down the altar rails, and removed the pictures. Charles remained in the palace as a prisoner for about two months, receiving honourable and dignified treatment. The headquarters of the army were at Putney, and Cromwell, with other superior officers, came over frequently to confer with the king. One of the most interesting of the historical scenes of which Hampton Court has been the background is that of Charles and Cromwell walking together, in friendly converse, through the galleries or in the gardens of the palace. It is generally thought that Charles's fatal love of intrigue at this time destroyed the last chance of the compromise at which Cromwell sincerely wished to arrive. By degrees the Parliamentary officers ceased to visit the king, and Charles was warned that his position had become dangerous. He withdrew his promise not to escape, and in the early darkness of the autumn evening on November ii, 1647, he left the palace with Colonel Legge, passing through the room called ** Paradise " by a private passage to the riverside, where he was met by his two loyal followers, Ashburnham and Berkeley, with horses, and so made good his escape. It has never been satisfactorily decided whether they crossed the river at Thames Ditton and went thence through West Molesey to Oatlands, or whether they rode to Hampton and over Walton Bridge. Colonel Whalley, who had been left in charge of the king, discovered his escape at about eight o'clock, sent out soldiers to search the neighbourhood, and informed the generals at their headquarters at Putney. Cromwell rode over to Hamp- ton Court at once, and wrote to the Speaker of the House of Commons from the palace at twelve o'clock the same night. His letter, and three which the king had left on his 1^ v. 1^ k ■^ HAMPTON COURT PALACE 189 table, addressed to Colonel Whalley, the Parliamentary Com- missioners, and the Houses of Parliament, were all laid before the House the next day. This was the last departure of Charles I. from the palace.^ Immediately after the execution of the king a Bill was introduced into Parliament to provide for the sale of all the property of " the late Charles Stuart." It was passed on July 4, 1649, and a full and ample inventory was made of all the furniture, plate, jewels, pictures, tapestries, etc., in Hampton Court Palace. This inventory is still preserved in the British Museum (Harl. MSS., No. 4898, fol. 238). A certain number of the tapestries, etc., were fortunately pre- served " for the use of the Lord Protector," but much was sold, and the sale lasted for nearly three years. The Council of State eventually decided that the greater number of the king's palaces were to be kept " for the public use of the Commonwealth," but in 1653 the manor and surrounding property were actually sold, and had to be bought back at some loss when Cromwell was proclaimed Lord Protector in December, 1653. Cromwell was constantly at Hampton Court afterwards, and one of the early records of his time is of a Royalist plot to assassinate him on his way from London, frustrated by his receiving a timely warning and returning by another road. In 1657 it was proposed that he should be blown up by a sort of "infernal machine" at Hammersmith, on his way to Hampton Court. The Duke of York, writing to ' There is an interesting story given by Mr. Law {History of Hampton Court Palace, ii., 147-149) of a book which was dropped by Charles in the mud while he was escaping from the palace. The volume, with mud- stains on the leaves, is now in the British Museum (No. loo of the Thomason Collection, known as "the King's Tracts.") igo ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND Charles II., says calmly that the plan was " better laid and resolved on than any he had known of the kind." In the same year another bold Royalist was "taken in the gallery at Hampton Court with two loaded pistols and a dagger." Such discoveries had their effect on Cromwell, and he was always " changing and shifting his lodging, to which he passed through several locks, when he went between White- hall and Hampton Court he passed by private and back ways, but never the same way backward and forward, he was always in a hurry, his guards riding at full gallop, and the coach always filled with armed persons, he himself being furnished with private weapons." ^ He seems to have felt himself more secure at Hampton Court than in London, and was constantly there with his children and grandchildren. He transacted affairs of State there, and the members of the Council came down to him on such occasions as they had come to the late king. Mrs. Cromwell, the " Lady Protectress," as she was sometimes called, endeavoured to hold a sort of Court in the palace, somewhat awkwardly ; and occasionally when public enter- tainments had to be given some of the old state was revived, such as the Protector's halberdiers attending in the banquet- ing room, and the old Court ceremonials being observed in bringing up the dishes to the table. At other times Crom- well was fond of rough horseplay and used to amuse himself and his officers with " antick tricks, as throwing of cushions and putting live coals in their pockets and boots ... he had twenty other tricks in his head." ^ He had other tastes as well, and it must not be forgotten that his secretary was John Milton, and that he had two good organs put up in * Heath : Flagellum, 193. « Ibid. HAMPTON COURT PALACE 191 the great hall, on which no doubt his secretary often played.^ Cromwell's third daughter, Mary, was married to Lord Falconbridge in the chapel at Hampton Court on Novem- ber 17, 1657. In the following year he had the grief of losing his favourite child, Elizabeth Claypole, who died in the palace, after a short illness, on August 6, 1658. It is said that on her death-bed she implored her father to make atonement for his disloyalty to the king. A week after her death Cromwell became seriously ill, and George Fox, who came to Hampton Court to present a petition for the Quakers, said that " he looked like a dead man." He was removed to Whitehall, and there died on September 2, the eve of his " fortunate day," the anniversary of the battles of Worcester and Dunbar. The Cromwells evidently desired to keep Hampton Court as their private property,^ but a resolution was once more passed in the House of Commons for the sale of all the royal manors. This was prevented, and Hampton Court was saved for Charles H., who after the Restoration made a great many alterations in the place, especially in the parks and gardens, and spent much time there. The marriage of the king and Katherine of Braganza took place at Portsmouth on May 21, 1662, and they arrived at Hampton Court a week later. Their progress was stately and dignified.^ They probably alighted at the foot of the great hall stairs, under Anne Boleyn's gateway, and in the hall itself were received by the Lord Chancellor Clarendon, ' The organs were removed long ago. "^ Or at all events the furniture. ^ See picture from a contemporary print in Law, History of Hampton Court Palace, ii. 192 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND the Lord Treasurer, and other Councillors of State. In the Presence Chamber they were met by the foreign ministers, the peers, and the lords and ladies of the Court, v/ho came to do homage to the new queen. The Duchess of York also came by barge from London, and was received at the " privy garden gate " by the king himself. Like Henrietta Maria before her, and for the same reason, Katherine suffered on account of her retinue, who were quite unable to adapt themselves to their gay surroundings, and were described by de Grammont as " six frights . . . and a duenna, another monster." At first the king and queen amused themselves with entertainments out of doors, balls, plays, and music indoors. John Evelyn gives an account of their going on the river in a gondola, presented by the State of Venice, and also mentions the queen's " Portugal music, consisting of fifes, harps, and very ill voices." As it happened in the palace it is necessary to mention the insult Charles was weak enough to offer the queen, by unexpectedly bringing into her presence the notorious Lady Castlemaine before the whole Court. The scene ended in confusion, for the queen fainted, and after- wards maintained her resolute refusal to receive Lady Castlemaine. It is to Clarendon's lasting dishonour that he used his influence with Katherine to make her yield to the king's wishes, and was then the first to blame her when, unable to bear the pressure put upon her, she consented to appoint Barbara Palmer as one of the ladies of her bed- chamber. On July 28, 1662, Henrietta Maria returned, to pay a visit to her son, never having seen the palace since her fatal flight from it in 1642. She alighted at the foot of the stairs leading to the great hall, where she was received by the queen, and HAMPTON COURT PALACE 193 they sat together in the presence chamber, under the " Cloth of State." The king and the Duke of York had to act as interpreters, for Katherine could not speak French, nor Henrietta Spanish or Portuguese. In 1665 the Court was at the palace, in quarantine from the plague, the deaths in London amounting to over 2,000 a week. Pepys gives an entertaining account of his being at Hampton Court on July 23, " where I followed the king to chapel and there heard a good sermon." He was afterwards distressed because no one invited him to dinner, but was eventually entertained by Mr. Marriott, the housekeeper, at whose house he found " good dinner and good company, amongst others Mr. Lilly the painter."^ Towards the end of his reign Charles was not often at Hampton Court, though he sometimes came down to play tennis or for stag-hunting. James H. never lived there at all, and after his accession only held one council in the palace, on May 29, 1687. The reign of William and Mary opens a new era in the history of Hampton Court Palace, as under their auspices more than half the original Tudor building was pulled down.^ Wren's great new palace was erected, and the whole place assumed very much the appearance it has now. The quiet- ness of the situation, the distance from London, and perhaps the fact that James H. had never lived there as king may have formed part of the attraction that the place evidently had for both king and queen, though William at once decided that the old building was inconvenient and ill-arranged. 1 Lely's famous portraits of the " Beauties of the Court of Charles II." now hang in the " King's State Bedroom." ■^ The part built by Henry VIII. was destroyed, except the "great hall." Wolsey's courts still exist. R.P. O 194 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND Almost immediately after their first visit Christopher Wren was appointed architect and the works began.^ While plans and elevations were being prepared and the demolition of the older part had already been started, the king and queen still passed a great deal of time in the palace. The routine of their life was very simple. Queen Mary superintended every- thing herself, inspecting the building and the gardens, making fringe, and playing " Bassett." The king hunted in the parks, and occupied himself during the first summer by visiting the camp formed on Hounslow Heath. The life of the Court was so quiet as to cause great dissatisfaction among the people, and Lord Hahfax took upon himself to inform William that " his inaccessibleness and living so at Hampton Court altogether, and at so active a time, ruined all business," and remonstrated with him on the loss of time caused to the ministers, who took five hours to come and go. The king only answered peevishly, "Do you wish me dead?" The " Bill of Rights " was being debated, and no doubt William's presence in London was highly desirable. The vexed question of the succession was for the moment set at rest by the birth at Hampton Court of the Princess Anne's son, William Henry, afterwards known as the Duke of Gloucester. He was baptized in the chapel on the evening of Saturday, July 28, just a hundred and fifty years after the last christening there of an heir to the throne. The usual ceremonial was observed, William's adherents were knighted, and the ambassadors were received in state. The history of the palace during this reign is chiefly the history of the new building, which absorbed all atten- tion when William and Mary were there. Quarrels arose * Wren's alternative plans and designs for the palace are still extant, some in the Soane Museum and some at AH Souls College, Oxford. HAMPTON COURT PALACE 195 occasionally between Wren, the " surveyor," and Talman, the "comptroller," and the queen wrote constantly to the king during his absences in Ireland and Holland, complaining of the delays caused by the " want of money and Portland stone." Mary installed herself in the building known as the " Water Gallery " while the palace remained uninhabitable. It is recorded that she made of her dwelling " the pleasantest little thing within doors that could possibly be made, with all the little neat curious things that suited her conveniences." Inspired, no doubt, by Lely's paintings of the beauties of the Court of Charles II., she began to make a gallery of the portraits of her own ladies, painted by Sir Godfrey Kneller. When the " Water Gallery " building was destroyed after Queen Mary's death, because it spoilt the view from the windows of the new palace, these pictures were removed to a room known henceforth as the " Beauty Room," ^ but they now hang in the " Presence Chamber " with other examples of Kneller's work. The new apartments were not finished till 1694, shortly before Mary's death, and she never occupied them. The work languished afterwards, until in January, 1698, the palace of Whitehall was burnt down, and William once more turned his attention to the completion of Hampton Court. '^ He often stayed in the palace afterwards, and displeased his ministers by saying " that he could not be troubled with business at Hampton Court," but his amusements did not include the balls, banquets and masques beloved by the Tudors and the Stuarts. He superintended the building, * This room is now known as the " Oak Room " and is used by the residents in the palace for entertainments. 2 He never seems to have contemplated rebuilding Whitehall. O 2 ige ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND and his only other relaxation seems to have been hunting or coursing in the parks. Later in his reign he was often there for his health, under- going strange courses of treatment, that included such unpleasant prescriptions as " crabs' eyes and hogs' lice." James II. died in September, 1701, while William was in Holland, but he returned to Hampton Court, to find himself more popular than he had ever been, because Louis XIV. had acknowledged the son of James as King of England. William was overwhelmed, even the day after his return, by deputations from " cities, counties, and universi- ties," assuring him of the loyalty of his subjects. It is possible to imagine that he received them in the new " Presence Chamber," which remains practically the same as it was then, with its canopy of crimson damask, its splendid silver chandeHer, and the great picture of William landing at Margate, after the peace of Ryswick, by Kneller, hanging on the wall. Macaulay wrote that " the whole king- dom was looking anxiously to Hampton Court. . . . Both Whigs and Tories waited with intense anxiety for the decision of one momentous and pressing question — Would there be a dissolution? " The proclamation dissolving Parliament and calling together a new one was issued from Hampton Court on December 30. The accident that caused William's death took place at Hampton Court on February 21, 1701-2. The king was riding a favourite horse called Sorrel, who stumbled on a molehill, and threw his rider, who received injuries little regarded at the time, though they were eventually the cause of his death on Sunday, March 8, 1701-2.^ • He died at Kensington Palace. The exact spot where the accident happened is not known, even by tradition. HAMPTON COURT PALACE 197 Hampton Court was left to Queen Anne, with accumulated arrears of debts against the Crown amounting to thousands of pounds. Her association with the palace is accurately summed up in Pope's words : Here thou Great Anna ! whom three realms obey Does sometimes Council take — and sometimes tea. In the early part of her reign Anne used often to preside over meetings of the Privy Council in the Cartoon Gallery-, otherwise known as " the Great Council Chamber " or " King's Gallery," where the seven great cartoons of Raphael hung in the room built for their reception,^ which is one of the finest in the palace, both as to its proportions and the carved cedar panelling which decorates it. Swift has left a description of the Court held by Anne in the palace. On one occasion he described his visit as follows : " We made our bows, and stood, about twenty of us, round the room, while the queen looked at us with her fan in her mouth, and once in a minute said about three words to some that were nearest to her. I dined at Her Majesty's Board of Green Cloth. It is much the best table in England, and costs the queen 3^1,000 a month, while she is at Windsor or Hampton Court, and is the only mark of magnificence or royal hospitality that I can see in the royal household." The queen had drives, or " chaise rides," made for herself in the parks at this time, and Swift said that on one occasion she hunted the stag till four o'clock in the afternoon, and drove in her chaise no less than forty miles. A trivial incident — when Lord Petre cut off a lock of Miss Fermor's hair — * They are now in the South Kensington Museum, and their place has been taken by French tapestries, copies of the cartoons themselves, of much later date. igS ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND which took place at Hampton Court will always be remem- bered, as it led to the composition of Pope's famous poem " The Rape of the Lock." Anne died in 17 14, and George L arrived at the palace about nine months after his accession, and lived there in great retirement with the two ladies who added considerably to his unpopularity with his subjects.^ In 1716 the Prince of Wales was appointed Regent during his father's absence in Hanover, and was allowed to live at Hampton Court, in the suite of rooms now known as " the Queen's State Rooms," on the east side of the palace. The prince and princess endeavoured to hold a Court which should contrast with the dull and stiff formality which was the king's idea of regal dignity. It was probably Caroline who encouraged the world of wit and learning as well as that of birth and beauty to come to the palace. The reminiscences of Walpole and Swift, the poems of Pope and Gay, which commemorate this epoch, are well known. Gaiety reigned at this young Court as it never seems to have done when George and Caroline returned as king and queen to hold the last of the regal Courts destined to be held in the palace. Most famous among the wits who thus made brilHant this epoch was Philip Dormer, fourth Earl of Chesterfield, best known by his famous Letters. Carr, Lord Hervey, his brother John, who succeeded to the title and was afterwards celebrated as the friend of Queen Caroline and of Sir Robert Walpole, and the mother of the Herveys, Lady Bristol, were also among the wits. Sir Robert Walpole's first wife was one of the ladies of the Court, and among other cele- brated or notorious women must be mentioned Mrs. Clayton, ' Madame Schulenberg, afterwards Duchess of Kendal, and Madame Kilmansegg, afterwards Countess of Darlington and Leinster. t^r HAMPTON COURT PALACE 199 afterwards Viscountess Lundon, the intimate friend of the Princess of Wales, Mrs. Selvvyn, mother of the famous George Augustus Selwyn, and Mrs. Howard, better known as Lady Suffolk:, a woman of some abihty and beauty, who encouraged Pope and his literary friends, and gained an ascendency over the Prince of Wales which she never entirely lost till she retired from the Court altogether in 1734. There were also the beautiful maids of honour, Mary Lepell, afterwards Lady Hervey, whose praises were sung by all her contemporaries, including Pope and Gay, Pulteney and Chesterfield; Mary Bellenden, of whom even Horace Walpole could only speak to commend her charms ; and the ** giddy and unfortunate " Sophia Howe, then in the zenith of her youth and gaiety. Besides these Lord Scarbrough, "amiable and melancholy," Lord Bolingbroke, Lord Bathurst, Pope, Gay, Pulteney, Arbuthnot, and latterly Swift, may be mentioned as among those who added to the brilliancy of the Court. Social life at the palace was a constant round of amuse- ment ; in the morning it was the custom to go on the river in gaily decorated barges, rowed by oarsmen in royal liveries. The prince and princess dined in public and were accessible to all the world. In the afternoon or evening the four pavilions that stood at each corner of the bowling green were visited, chocolate was served, and " ombre " or " commerce " played. Sometimes the princess had a party to play cards or dance in the " queen's gallery." Meanwhile business was not neglected, for Sir Robert Walpole, Lord Mcthuen, the Lord Chancellor Finch, Lord Townshend, and Count Bothmar, the Hanoverian minister of George L, were constantly in attendance. In October, 1716, the Court left the palace, and in August 200 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND the next year, when they returned with the king, the scene was changed, for Pope wrote that " no lone house in Wales, with a mountain and a rookery is more contemplative than this Court." Not long afterwards the king and his son quarrelled so violently that even the prince's friends were not received by the king. One of the most shameful and sordid acts of the inglorious reign of George L was the dismissal from his post as Sur- veyor-General of Sir Christopher Wren, who had served under five different monarchs with conspicuous success. The pretext was stated to be a desire for economy ; the real reason a wish to please the Duchess of Kendal and Lady Darlington, who appointed a creature of their own. Wren behaved with admirable fortitude and philosophy and retired to his house on the Green.-^ His successor's incapacity and dishonesty soon became apparent, and he was ignominiously dismissed from his post after holding it only for a year. There is little more to record of the palace till after the accession of George IL, who first came into residence as king in July, 1728, and during the next ten years of his reign visited regularly Hampton Court for some months every summer ; but the brilliancy of early days had vanished. Lord Hervey gives an account of the dull evenings spent in the ** queen's audience chamber," when the king walked about and talked of armies or genealogies to Lord Lifford and his sister, " while the queen knotted and yawned, till from yawning she came to nodding, and from nodding to snoring." ' Many houses in the vicinity claim the honour of having been Wren's house, but the second house on the south side of the Green, known as " Old Court House," is undoubtedly that which he occupied. HAMPTON COURT PALACE 201 The queen and Lord Hervey had interminable conversations on every conceivable subject, but when the king was present he took care that nothing interesting to Carohne should be discussed.^ The most important domestic matter for a long time was the continued state of ill-feeling and disagreement between the king and queen and their eldest son, Frederick, Prince of Wales, which culminated at last in his determination to annoy his parents by preventing his mother from being present at the birth of his eldest child. This he did, at imminent risk of the Princess of Wales's life, by hurrying her away from Hampton Court at half-past eight o'clock in the evening, driving her to London at full gallop, where they arrived at ten o'clock, and their daughter was born only an hour later. The queen visited her daughter-in-law at St. James's and saw the grandchild to whom she could give no better welcome than to say " le bon Dieu vous b6nisse pauvre petite creature, vous voila arrive dans un d^sagreable monde " ; but the king absolutely refused to pardon his son. The Court left Hampton Court practically for the last time on October 28, 1737,^ and the queen died on November 20. With her death the history of the palace as a royal residence comes to an end, George IL never actually lived there again, though he occasionally came down for a day with Lady Yarmouth or others of the Court. " They went in coaches and six in the middle of the day, with heavy horse-guards kicking up the dust before them, — * She was fond of architecture, gardening, and painting, and threw herself with zest into theological questions. - The architect Kent, under (2ueen Caroline, had restored much of the building and had considerably altered the gardens. 202 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND dined, walked an hour in the garden and returned in the same dusty parade ; and His Majesty fancied himself the most lively and gallant prince in Europe." ^ Occasionally he stayed for a night or two, and on one such occasion he boxed the ears of the young prince, his grandson, afterwards George III., who is said to have been so much offended that he could never afterwards make up his mind to live in the palace where he had suffered such an indignity. From that time no king of England has occupied the palace, and it has ceased to be the scene of historical events, though among its inhabitants at all periods may be found the names of some who have " made history." Even before the accession of George IIL the place had been left to the mercy of the housekeeper and deputy-housekeeper, who made a show of it and exacted what fees they would from visitors. Horace Walpole tells one of the numerous stories about the famous and beautiful Miss Gunnings, in 1751. ** They went the other day to see Hampton Court ; as they were going into the Beauty Room,^ another company arrived, the housekeeper said, * This way, ladies, here are the Beauties.' The Gunnings flew into a passion and asked her what she meant ; that they came to see the palace, not to be shown as a sight themselves." ^ From October 25, 1760,* the history of Hampton Court assumes an entirely new aspect, and becomes interesting only as the lives of private individuals to whom apartments were allotted by grace and favour of the Sovereign happen to be interesting. * Walpole : Reminiscences of the Court of George II. ^ Now the " Oak Room," where the Kneller pictures used to hang. ^ Horace Walpole : Letters, ed. Toynbee, vol. ii. * The date of the accession of George III. HAMPTON COURT PALACE 203 The state apartments were gradually dismantled during the long reign of George III., but it was not until the time of Queen Victoria that by her special thought and care for the people the galleries and gardens were thrown open to the public, and year by year visitors pour into the palace in ever-increasing numbers. As to the private apartments, it has latterly become the rule to present them always " in recognition of distinguished services rendered to Crown and country by the husbands or near relatives of the recipients." It follows naturally that society in Hampton Court Palace has never been without its own peculiar charm and interest, as is testified by the list that includes such well-known names as those of Lady Mornington, mother of the great Duke of Wellington ; Mrs. Thomas Sheridan, mother of the famous Sheridans ; Admiral of the Fleet Sir George Seymour, G.C.B,, who served as a midshipman in the Victory, and his brother Sir Horace Seymour, K.C.H., who was one of the heroes of Waterloo. Lady MacGregor, the daughter of Nelson's flag captain Hardy, and Lady Georgiana Grey, daughter of Lord Grey, of Reform celebrity, who died only recently, must also be mentioned, as well as Princess Frederica of Hanover, daughter of the blind King of Hanover, who gave up her apartments in i8g8. Among the present occupants many well-known names appear, such as those of the famous general, Field-Marshal Lord Wolseley, K.G. ; Lady Napier of Magdala, widow of the late Field-Marshal Lord Napier of Magdala ; and Mrs. Creighton, widow of the late Bishop of London, one of the greatest of modern historians. His late Majesty King Edward VII. frequently visited the palace after his accession, and took a keen interest in the 204 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND improvements and restorations which from time to time were effected in the building and the gardens. To all who know and appreciate these ancient monuments of history, and value them for the sake of the old associations, the human interest that attaches itself to all old dwelling- places, Hampton Court Palace must be always among the most attractive and fascinating, not only for its artistic beauty and the charm of the splendid architecture and the brilliant gardens, but for the long story of lives that have been lived in the precincts, of events connected with the place that are part of the national life and honour. To those who realise the close interweaving of yesterday with to-day and to-morrow, every corner and passage, every brick and every stone, has its own story to tell, full of living interest and fraught with most vital consequences. " Let us now praise famous men and our fathers that begat us." Orpi^epaff. OF all the royal palaces in London, none have such a strong and clear historical tradition as old Whitehall. This perhaps is the more remark- able in that its history was short, but, on the other hand, some of the most dramatic events in the lives of the kings of England were crowded into the one hundred and sixty years that Whitehall was the home of the Court. The name at once recalls the gorgeous courts of the splendour- loving Tudors and Stuarts, with the processions, tournaments, masques and revels in which they delighted. Still better is it known as the scene of the greatest tragedy of the Stuart kings — the execution of Charles I. But, though its history is so familiar, the palace itself has vanished, and of its outward appearance, the present generation of Englishmen have hardly a tradition. The banqueting-house, built by Inigo Jones for King James I., is all that remains standing, and it gives a most misleading suggestion of the old palace. It alone of the splendid designs prepared by the architect for the rebuilding of the whole structure was carried out, and Whitehall was essentially Tudor in its architecture, the work of Cardinal Wolsey and Henry VIII. It was an irregular and rambling collection of buildings, reaching from east to west from the river to St. James's Park, and from 2o6 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND north to south from Scotland Yard and Wallingford House to Cannon Row and Downing Street. Its size, indeed, was the most remarkable point about it, covering the huge area of nearly twenty-four acres. In the days of Wolsey, Whitehall, or, as it was then called, York Place, was the residence of the Archbishops of York, and the old building was little suited to the taste of the cardinal. He seems to have completely rebuilt it, with such magnificence that it surpassed any house in existence, whether belonging to king or nobleman. Nothing remains of his work, except in all probability the basement of Crom- well House, or No. 3, Whitehall Yard, but Oxford and Hampton Court still furnish an adequate idea of his love of building and taste in architecture. York Place, even when rebuilt, was much smaller than the later palace, which must be accounted the work of Henry VIII. He seized the arch- bishop's palace on the fall of Wolsey, as if it had been his minister's own property, and at once proceeded to enlarge it and convert it into a royal palace. York Place was said, in the deed of gift extorted from Wolsey, to contain one messuage, two gardens, and three acres of land, but the king quickly added to this, and bought a considerable amount of land from the Abbot of Westminster, part of which was turned into the gardens and park. On much of the land, however, he built and added to Wolsey's palace. The buildings included two galleries, one of them being thrown across the street ; the famous cockpit, tennis court, bowling alley, and tilt yard ; the Holbein gateway, a chapel, and a hall for entertainments. But little building was carried out under Edward VI. and Mary, and Elizabeth only added a banqueting-house to the palace, for the reception of the ambassadors sent by Cathe- rine di' Medici in 1581. Stowe describes this building as the 7. < =5 WHITEHALL 207 "old, rotten, sleight, builded Banqueting-house," ^ but in Holinshed's Chronicle there is a minute description of Queen Elizabeth's hall. "This yoere (against the comming of certeine commissioners out of France into England) by hir Maiesties appointment, on the six and twentith daic of March in the morning (being Easter daie) a banketting house was begun at Westminster, on the south west side of hir maiesties palace of White hall, made in maner and forme of a long square, three hundred, thirtie and two foot in measure about ; thirtie principals made of great masts, being fortie foot in length a peece, standing upright ; betweene euerie one of these masts ten foot asunder and more. The walles of this house were closed with canuas, and painted all the outsides of the same most artificiallie with a worke called rustike, much like to stone. This house had two hundred ninetie and two lights of glasse. The sides within the same house was made with ten heights of degrees for people to stand upon : and in the top of this house was wrought most cunninglie upon canuas, works of iuie and hollie, with pendents made of wicker rods, and garnished with baie, rue, and all maner of strange flowers garnished with spangles of gold, as also beautified with hanging toseans made of hollie and iuie, with all maner of strange fruits, as pomegranats, orenges, pompions, cucumbers, grapes, carrets, with such other like, spangled with gold, and most richlie hanged. Betwixt these works of bales and iuie, were great spaces of canuas, which was most cunninglie painted, the clouds with starres, the sunne and sunne beames, with diuerse other cotes of sundrie sorts belonging to the queenes maiestie, most richlie garnished with gold."^ In other respects the palace was * Stowe : Annals, ed. 1615, p. 892. 2 Holinshed: Chronicle, ed. 1587, iii., p. 1315. 2o8 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND allowed to fall into disrepair, and James I. on his accession determined to rebuild it. He employed Inigo Jones, his surveyor of the works, to prepare plans, and three sets of designs were made, all slightly differing from one another. Whitehall, if these designs had been carried out, would indeed have been a magnificent building, but for one reason or another no king was ever in a position to accomplish such a task. The banqueting-house, however, was completed in the reign of James L In 1606 he ordered the old banqueting- house to be pulled down, and another " very strong and stately, beeing in every way larger than the first," was begun the next year. It was not ready for the following Christmas festivities, but the masques of the succeeding years were per- formed in the new banqueting-house, while " a new room built to dine and dance in " was in use at the time of the marriage of Princess Elizabeth with the Count Palatine. The new banqueting-house, however, was destroyed in 1619 by a disastrous fire, which raged " from end to end, and side to side, before it was discerned or descryed, by any persons or passengers, either by sent or smoke, . . . " ^ In the same year Inigo Jones began to build his famous banqueting-house, which, " besides being the sole relic of a Whitehall that never existed, is also the sole relic of the Whitehall that was." Charles I. continued the decoration of the new building, obtaining the services of Peter Paul Rubens, when he came to England in 1630 as ambassador from the Governess of the Netherlands. Charles did little more to the fabric of the palace, and under the Commonwealth the interior was dismantled, many of its treasures being sold to cover the vast expenses of the Civil War, but no harm, excepting the ^ Stowe : Annals, ed. 1631, p. 1031. WHITEHALL 209 destruction of Charing Cross, was done to the buildings, which indeed were used as Government offices. Charles IL, after the Restoration, like his grandfather, planned to rebuild the whole palace and employed Sir Christopher Wren to prepare designs. Nothing, however, was ever put in hand, although the various apartments were much re- paired, and Evelyn records that the lodgings of the Duchess of Portsmouth at the end of the gallery were burnt down after having been three times rebuilt to please her erratic fancies. His successor, James H., built a Roman Catholic chapel in Whitehall. It contained four statues, the work of the sculptor Grinling Gibbons, and of them Evelyn says : " Nothing can be finer than the magnificent marble work and architecture at the end, where are four statues repre- senting St. John, St. Peter, St. Paul, and the Church, in white marble, the work of Mr. Gibbons, with all the pillars of exquisite art and greate coste, ..." A fire broke out in Whitehall in i6gi and caused very serious damage, but it also led to a new interest in the palace on the part of the reigning sovereigns. Mary was much attached to Whitehall, and it was probably through her influence that its restora- tion was begun. A newsletter gives the following description of the work : ** On travaille a Witehall a une terrasse dans la riviere depuis I'apartement de la duchesse de Grafton jus- ques a I'apartement de my lord Portland. Vous scavez que dans I'entredeux sont les logemens du Roy et de la Reyne. Les debris de I'incendie arrivee il y a quelques mois serviront a faire le fondement. On ne rebatira plus la galerie. On joindra ce grand espace au jardin prive qui par ce moyen ira jusqiles a la riviere et joindra a la terrasse. Cela sera beau. On racommode I'apartement de my lord Portland et celuy de my lord Monmouth qui donne sur le jardin privu. On fera R.P. r 2IO ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND des apartemens et ailleurs a loisir pour les seigneurs qui ont perdu les leurs. La Reyne a donne a my lord Devencher comme grand maitre la chapelle du Roy Jaques, ou il se logera assez commodement pour tenir table," ^ The terrace was known as Queen Mary's terrace and was a great im- provement in the water front of Whitehall, but the palace seemed destined to destruction by fire. Numerous outbreaks are recorded in its history, the last and most fatal belonging to the year i6g8. It began unnoticed one afternoon in January, in the lodgings of Colonel Stanley, and raged all night so fiercely that efforts to overcome it proved ineffectual. Various letters describing the fire were written while it was actually burning itself out. " Whilst I write to your lordship, Whythall is in flames and a verie dismal sight ; the fire broke out about 3 in the afternoon, and hes alreadie consumed all the royal lodgings both on the water and privie garden, so that I think there is litle of it left but the banqueting houss."^ " Such was the fury and violence of this dreadful and dismal conflagration, that its flames reduced to ashes all that stood in its way, from the Privy-stairs to the Banquetting-house, and from the Privy-gardens to Scotland-yard all on that side, except the Earl of Portland's house and the Banquetting- house, which are preserved, though much damnified and shattered ; the fire proceeded close to the gate by the Duke of Ormond's lodgings, before it could be extinguished."^ Another account describes how " all that was worth standing at Whitehall, is burnt except the banqueting-house, which with difficulty was saved." This meant the complete destruction of the royal apartments, the council chamber, * Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. viii., App. i., p. 563a. 2 Ibid., xiv., App. iii., p. 129-130. ^ Harleian Miscellany, vi., p. 398. WHITEHALL 211 the guard hall, the offices of the Secretary of State and of the Treasury, various lodgings of different Court officials, the long gallery, and the chapel built by James IL These con- temporary letters, as a rule, included the Chapel Royal amongst the buildings thus destroyed, but this seems to have been a mistake. Probably, however, it was so much damaged that it was unfit for use, and its ruins were pulled down certainly before 1728, if not sooner. This fire brought the history of Whitehall Palace to a close, for it was never rebuilt. William IIL never cared for it, and neither he nor Queen Anne attempted to rebuild it, while the Hanoverian kings possibly were far from anxious to revive the associations of a building so closely connected with the House of Stuart. Although it is difficult to form a vivid picture of the appearance of old Whitehall, so different from the Govern- ment offices and Georgian houses that have been built on its site, its place in history has been celebrated by many writers, both contemporary and modern. In the reign of Henry III. the great justiciar Hubert de Burgh obtained for himself a grant of land from the Abbot of Westminster, and there built himself a " noble Palace " within convenient distance of the royal palace and the law courts at Westminster. Hubert died in 1242, and, either by his will or by a previous sale, this property passed into the possession of the Black Friars of Holborn. A few years later they found a suitable purchaser of the palace in Walter de Grey, Archbishop of York, who bought it for his see, and from that time until the fall of Cardinal Wolsey it was known as York Place and was the London residence of the archbishops of the northern province. During this period it served for a time as a royal palace, since Edward I. moved his Court from Westminster to York Place, after a disastrous fire in his own palace. He P 2 212 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND seems to have used York Place on various occasions, and made certain alterations to suit his own convenience. Westminster was rebuilt by Edward II., but in 1360 Edward III. summoned Parliament to York Place, although no reason is assigned for its use for this purpose. The character of the old palace, however, changed during the episcopate of Wolsey ; not only did he rebuild his palace, but the magnificence of his establishment rivalled if it did not actually outshine the Court of his master. The pages of Cavendish, his faithful follower and biographer, are full of descriptions of the members of his household, their numbers, their liveries and servants, and the many tables main- tained. The household indeed numbered about five hundred persons, and the cardinal exercised a lavish hospitality, keep- ing practically a free table for all " suitors " in his hall, besides a " house where poor men were accustomed to be served." ^ At York Place he delighted in receiving and entertaining all ambassadors and important visitors to England, while many of his most gorgeous entertainments were provided for the amuse- ment of Henry VIII. Many of the deliberations as to the king's divorce were held at York Place. To one of these con- ferences, as Cavendish relates, Wolsey, as legate, summoned all the bishops and other learned men, who "debated, reasoned, and argued " the king's case, but came to no con- clusion beyond the expediency of obtaining the opinions of all the universities of Europe. Wolsey was hastening to his fall, and the final acts of humiliation were performed at his London palace. To Whitehall came the Dukes of Suffolk and Norfolk to demand the Great Seal, but Wolsey was obdurate and refused to yield it up without the king's ' Letters and Papers Hen. VIII., v., no. 952, p. 446. WHITEHALL 213 written command. The discomfited messengers were forced to return to Henry to report their non-success, but they returned to the charge next day, and upon the presentation of the written order, Wolsey gave up the seal and his chancellorship. To York Place there came, too, Master Shelley, the judge, bringing word of the king's determination to seize the archbishops' palace and make it a royal residence. The cardinal argued pertinaciously and long to save the possessions of the see, but he was forced to give in with the words " Howbeit, I pray you, show his majesty from me, that I must humbly desire his highness to call to his most gracious remembrance, that there is both heaven and hell." ^ The king entered on his new possession and shortly began the various alterations which have been already described. Most important was the change of name, made presumably not only to banish memories of the days of the cardinal, but also to wipe out all reference to the spoliation of the see of York. The new palace was at first known as the king's new manor of Westminster, and the name of Whitehall was only gradually introduced, while York Place still recurred, even in official documents, for several years. In a surprisingly short time, however, Whitehall became the name in current use, and the common report as to the cause of the change is voiced by Shakespeare in Henry VIII. (Act iv., scene i). Sir, You must no more call it York Place ; that's past : For since the Cardinal fell, that title's lost ; 'Tis now the King's and called Whitehall. The acquisition of the new palace was a matter of great convenience to Henry VIII., who when he was in London had no suitable residence, since the palace of Westminster ' Cavendish: Life of Cardinal Wolsey (ed. 1907), p. 144-5. 214 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND had been burnt down in the early years of his reign. The king and his successors came to Whitehall for the Parlia- mentary sessions, and there the members of both Houses came to present the Address to the Throne on the opening of Parliament. One of the first official acts of Henry VIH. in the new palace was the reception of a deputation from the Lower House. In 1529 the Commons, " after long debate, determined to send the speaker of the Parliament to the kinges highnes, with a greuous complaynt, agaynst the bishop of Rochester, and so on a day when the kyng was at layser, Thomas Audeley the speaker for the commons and thirtie of the chief of the common house, came to the kynges presence in his palace at Westminster, whiche before was called yorke place . . . "^ In the same palace, where Wolsey had so often arranged banquets and masques to cover the meetings between the king and Anne Boleyn, their marriage took place. " King Henry privilie married the Lady Anne Boleine on the five and twentith day of January being S. Paules Day " in his closet at Whitehall.^ The king and his new queen were at Whitehall both before and after her coronation, but much of his time was spent at Greenwich, his favourite residence, and there Anne's only child, Elizabeth, was born. After the execution of Anne the king seems to have had little affection for the place that had been so closely connected with her. He kept his Court at Whitehall at rarer and rarer intervals, but he was seized with his last fatal illness while in residence there. In 1547 all the brilliance of the early part of his reign had faded ; uncertainty and persecution had driven away the crowded Court, and the old king was nearly deserted as he lay dying. The last acts * Hall: Chronicle, ed. 1809, p. 766. ^ Stowe : Annates, ed. 1615, p. 561. WHITEHALL 215 of the king, the imprisonment of the Duke of Norfolk and the execution of his son Surrey, the poet, showed no mercy, and none dared tell Henry of his approaching death. At last Sir Anthony Denny, who had long been the keeper of Whitehall Palace, undertook the task and brought Archbishop Cranmer to the chamber of the dying king. " The last office the Archbishop did for the King his master was to visit him in his last sickness, whom of all his bishops and chaplains he chose to have with him at that needful hour, to receive his last comfort and counsel. But the King was void of speech when he came, though not of sense and apprehension. For when the King took him by the hand, the Archbishop speaking comfortably to him, desired him to give him some token that he put his trust in God through Jesus Christ, according as he had advised him ; and thereat the King presently wrung hard the Archbishop's hand, and soon after departed, viz., January the aSth."^ His body lay in state at Whitehall, first in the privy chamber and then in the chapel, the arrangements for his burial being of a most elaborate nature. " On Sunday the 13th of Febry, when the Body was removed from the Chapell to the Chariot over the coffin was cast a pall of rich cloath of gold, and upon it a goodly ymage like to the Kyng's person in all poynts, wonderfully richly aparrelled with velvet gold and precious stones of all sorts, holding in ye right hand a Sceptre of gold, in the left hand the ball of the world with a crosse : upon the head a crown imperial of inestimable value, a collar of the Garter about the neck and a garter of gold about the leg, with this being honourably conducted as afore- said, was tied upon the said coffin by the Gentlemen of his * Strype : Memorials of Archbishop Cranmer, ed. 1812, i., p. 199. 2i6 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND privy Chamber upon rich cushions of cloath of gold and fast bound with silk ribbands to the pillars of the said Chariot for removing."^ The next morning the funeral procession started on its way to Windsor, where the king was to be buried, and covered a space of four miles from beginning to end. The reign of Edward VI. adds little to the history of Whitehall, but there are interesting records of the palace under Queen Mary. During the greater part of her reign she preferred St. James's, and only went to Whitehall for special State occasions. At the time of her marriage, the happiest and, as it seemed, the most successful part of her reign, the Spanish visitors were lodged at Whitehall and took part in many ceremonies, often of a religious character. In the year 1556 there " was a goodly pressessyon at Whyt- hall by the Spaneards ; the hall hangyd with ryche cloth, and at the (screen) in the halle was a auter mad, and hangyd rychely with (a canopy), and with grett baseins clen gylt and candyll-stykes ; and in the (court) at iiii corners was mad iiii godly auters hangyd with clothe of gold, and evere auter with canepes in brodere ; and (in the) court mad a pressession way with C. yonge okes sett in the grond and of evere syd sett ard to the wall with gren boughs ; and then cam the pressessyon out of the chappell syngyng and playing of the regalles ; and after the sacrement borne, and over ytt the rychest canepe that the Quen had, with vi stayffes borne by vi goodly men, and a-bowt the sacrement a C. torchys burnyng, and sum of whytt wax ; and at ever autre (was ringing) and senst with swett odurs, and all the kyng('s) garde with (partizans) gyltt, and after to messe in the chappell, and song by the * Leake : Ceremonials, ii., 300, cit. Sheppard : Old Royal Palace of Whitehall, p. 292-293. J WHITEHALL 217 Spaneardes." ^ The diarist John Machyn, in whose pages this description appears, also records the creation of the Earl of Northumberland as a Knight of the Garter and a celebration of St. George's Day, in which King Philip took part. The king " whent a prossessyon at Whyt-halle (through the hall) and round abowt the court hard by the halle ; and so (certain of) the knights of the garter as they whent in ther (robes) of the garter ; . . . " ^ On another occasion a Russian ambassador came to England and was received in audience by the queen, passing " thraugh the halle, and the gard stod in a-ray in ther ryche cottes with halbardes, and so up to the quen('s) chamber." As a whole Queen Mary's Court was stately and solemn. She had no taste for the "revels", which figured so largely in the expenses of the Courts maintained by her father and sister. Elizabeth was little at Whitehall before she succeeded to the throne. There are glimpses to be obtained of her coming to visit her brother, surrounded with the state she already loved so dearly, and at the time of Mary's coronation her sister took a prominent part in the procession from Whitehall to Westminster Abbey. She carried the crown, an honour which was distinctly burdensome, and she complained of the weight of the crown to the French ambassador ; M. de Noailles, however, was ready with the flattering reply, " Be patient ; it will seem lighter when on your own head." Whitehall was shortly afterwards her prison. The princess was accused of complicity in Sir Thomas Wyatt's rebellion and detained at the palace, until she was removed to closer imprisonment in the Tower. After her nominal release she was little at her sister's Court, but on her ' Machyn : Diary of a Resident in London (Camden Soc), p- io7- » Ibid., p. 134. 2i8 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND accession she gave free vent at Whitehall to the love of gaiety and splendour, which was part of her inheritance from both her father and mother. Much of her time was spent in magnificent progresses through the country, but she made her Court the home of the most distinguished men of the day Not only did the handsome young courtier, who never failed to win her approval, pass his days in attendance on the queen, but statesman and politician, poet and scholar, sailor and adventurer, found at her Court the surest recognition of their genius. Elizabeth frequently kept Christmas and Twelfth Night, the time of greatest festivity, at Whitehall, and many of the plays written at the beginning of the most famous period of English drama were acted at Court for the first time. An old play was rarely produced before the queen, and it must have been an anxious time for the author and actors as they watched the expression of her face for signs of approval or disapproval. She showed her disapproval instantly. One such occasion is recorded by Machyn. On December 31, 1559, " the placers play shuche matter that they wher commondyd to leyff off, and contenent the maske cam in dansyng."^ The masque was one of the most popular of the entertainments of the Court, and a season of festivity rarely passed without the production of several masques, generally performed immediately after a play. The performance had been much developed and elaborated since the days of Wolsey and Henry VIIL, and some of the most magnificent were prepared for the amusement of the various French and Spanish ambassadors who came to the Court with proposals for the hand of the queen. Elizabeth dallied with them and played with them, but in the meantime they were royally ' Machyn: Diary of a Resident in London (Camden Soc), p. 221. WHITEHALL 219 entertained. The Prince of Sweden, pressing his suit in person, was probably present at the play which was so brusquely dismissed by the queen, since the next day he " rod to the cowrt gorgyusle and rychele, and in gard in velvet ierkyns and holbardcs in ther handes, and mony gentyll-men gorgyosly with chenes of gold."^ Some years later the Due de Montmorency, the French ambassador, was present at a masque in which the chief characters were Apollo, the nine Muses in a chariot, Lady Peace, Argus, and Discord, but the most splendid entertainments of all were prepared for the reception of the commissioners sent by Catherine de' Medici to propose the queen's marriage with the Duke of Anjou. The new banqueting-house, already described at length, was built for the occasion, and the pageantries occupied many days and nights. Anjou himself crossed over from the Netherlands and remained three months in England while the marriage articles were discussed. He was received with great splendour, and on his departure Elizabeth accompanied him to Canterbury, and there they bade one another farewell. The queen deceived her contemporaries both in England and in France ; it is impossible to believe that she ever really contemplated the marriage, though she allowed the negotia- tions to be carried farther than on any previous occasion. Perhaps the young suitor really flattered her vanity, but she also probably felt that his departure broke down another barrier which stood in the way of war with Spain. " The departure was mournful betwixt her Highness and Monsieur, she loth to let him go, and he as loth to depart. Her Majesty, on her return, will be long in no place in which she lodged as she went, neither will she come to White Hall, • Machyn: Diary of a Resident in London (Camden Soc.) p. 221. 220 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND because the places shall not give cause of remembrance to her of him with whom she so unwillingly parted."^ An embassy to Elizabeth's Court spent the day in jousts and tournaments in the tilt yard, viewed by the queen and chief ambassadors from the gallery, in bear-baiting and cock-fighting, and the nights at plays, masques, and dancing, in which last amuse- ment the queen was highly accomplished. The queen received many of the embassies in a flattering and remarkable manner. In 1579, Duke Casimir arrived in London, and on his first coming to Court at Whitehall, " Her Majesty shewed him greatest countenance, and upon his coming, meeting with him, offered to kiss him, which he humbly altogether refused. Upon Her Majesty bringing him thro' the great Chamber into the chamber of presence, Her Majesty would have him put on his hat, which in no wise he would, offering himself in all things at her highness commandment. She then replied that if he would be at her commandment, he should put on his hat ; he expounded that it should be in all things, save in things to his reproach." ^ She was fond of showing herself to her subjects in all possible state, and many proces- sions started from Whitehall with the queen at their head. " On Wednesdaie the five and twentith of Januarie the parlement began, the queenes maiestie riding in hir parle- ment robes, from hir Palace of Whitehall, unto the abbeie church of Westminster, with the lords spirituall and temporall, attending hir likewise in their parlement robes." ^ On other occasions she went by water with a procession of barges ; one evening at eight o'clock she set out and went " a-longe by the banke-syd by my lord of Wynchaster('s) * Lodge : Illustrations of British History, ed. 1838, ii., p. 203. ^ Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. iv., p. 334 b. ' Holinshed : Chron., ed. 1587, iii,, p. 1180. WHITEHALL 221 place, and so to Peper alley, and so crost over to London syd with drumes and trumpetes playhynd and be-syd, and so to Whyt hall agayne to her palles." ^ Machyn describes the Maundy of the year 1560, which Elizabeth kept at Whitehall. The " Quen('s) grace kept her monde in her halle at the cowrt at afternon, and her grace gayff unto xx women so many gownes, and on woman had her best gowne, and ther her grace dyd wosse ther fett, and with a nuw whyt cupe her grace dronke unto evere woman, and they had the cupe, and so her grace dyd leyke-wyse unto all, and every woman had in money" {blank).^ The amount of money given is omitted in the diary, but on the same day she distributed to more than a thousand men, women, and children, " both holle and lame," 2d. each, as they were collected together in the park. Until her last illness Elizabeth kept up the traditions of her Court, attracting to it fresh adherents as her old courtiers and followers left it from one cause or another. Richmond was the scene of her death, but her body was brought to White- hall, and lay in state there from March 24 to April 28, when the funeral procession was formed to take her to her last resting-place in Westminster Abbey. The palace quickly changed from a scene of mourning to one of rejoicing to welcome the arrival of the new king from Scotland, and the summer was passed at Court in busy preparations for the coronation of James L With his accession, the history of Whitehall enters on its most famous period. The king and his consort, Anne of Denmark, were even more devoted " revellers" than Queen Elizabeth. They had none of her method and economy ; lavish expenditure was the rule of the day, and the numbers of the courtiers and • Machyn : Diary, p. 200. " Ibid., p. 230. 222 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND of the tables maintained by the great officials were increased. The pensions paid by the king were raised, in some cases even doubled, and when Charles L made a great effort, in the early years of his reign, to reduce his expenditure, he hoped to save jTsOjOOO a year by regulating his Court according to the old standard set by Elizabeth. Her good management had been abandoned in other directions, and the courtiers were reported to be not averse to the proposed reductions, if their pensions were paid with the regu- larity of the old queen's time, " when nothing upon earth was surer than Exchequer pay." ^ The Court, too, was far from peaceable, and the crowd of Scotchmen who accompanied James I. were as unpopular as the French household of Henrietta Maria in the next reign. When Guy Fawkes was brought bound, to Whitehall, for his examination in the king's chamber, to one of the questions put to him he replied, " One of my objects was to blow Scotchmen back to Scotland." Even when the unpopularity of the Scottish invasion had died down, the foreign policy of James L provided a ceaseless and sometimes amusing quarrel between the different foreign envoys to his Court. The Spanish and French ambassadors were the most militant, and Sir Dudley Carleton, a minute retailer of Court news, gives a graphic picture of their rivalries. In 1609, the Twelfth Night enter- tainments were postponed till Candlemas, " as it is thought the Spaniard may be gone, for the French ambassador hath been so long and so much neglected, that it is doubted more would not be well endured." ^ During the celebrations in honour of the creation of Prince Henry as Prince of Wales, a masque was performed, to which all the ambassadors were ' Birch : Court and Times of Charles I., n., p. 41. ^ Birch : Court and Times of James I., i., p. 87. WHITEHALL 223 invited to be present in a private capacity ; the Spanish representative accepted and the Frenchman refused. On the night of the entertainment, however, the Spaniard sat in state by the king, for " seeing no cause to the contrary, he put off Dofi Taxis, and took upon him El Senor Embaxadoiir, where in he outstript oiir Utile Monsieur.'" ^ Monsieur Beaumont indeed was extremely angry and declared that the whole Court was Spanish. None of these difficulties, however, deterred the king and queen from their amusements, and their patronage was especially extended to the masque. In Elizabeth's time, the queen herself had never taken part in a masque, but Anne of Denmark was amongst the most energetic performers. She employed the celebrated men of the time to devise them, and the partnership of Ben Jonson and Inigo Jones produced some of the most popular masques, while others were written by Campion, Chapman, and Daniel. They were generally performed in honour of a special occasion, such as the successive creations of Prince Henry and Prince Charles as Prince of Wales and the marriages of Princess Elizabeth or of distinguished courtiers. In January, 1604, Sir Philip Herbert and Lady Susan Vere were married at Whitehall, when " the Court was great, and for that Day put on the best Bravery." ^ The ceremony was followed by a masque and banquet, which, although gorgeous, seems to have been badly arranged, for the crush was so great that " there was no smal Loss that Night of Chaines and Jewells, and many great Ladies were made shorter by the Skirts . . . "^ On another occasion, the "Night's Work was concluded with a Banquet in the great Chamber, which was so furiously assaulted, that down went Table and * Winwood : Memorials, ii., p. 44. ^ Ibid., p. 43. 224 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND Tresses before one bit was touched." ^ In the same year, 1604, little Prince Charles was created Duke of York on Twelfth Day, and at the same season several new Knights of the Bath were made by the king. The " solemnity of the creation was kept in the hall where first the duke was brought in accompanyed with his knights, then carried out againe, and brought back by earles in their robes of the Garter. My Lord Admiral bare him, two others went as supporters and six marched before with the ornaments." ^ A few years later, another solemn creation was the occasion of great festivities. Prince Henry was created Prince of Wales when a boy of sixteen. He came to Whitehall by water, attended by his household, and on the way many noblemen came out to meet them, the stream of craft growing longer and longer. Finally the prince was met by " the lord mayor and aldermen of London, with the severall companies of the citie, honourably furnish't and appointed, and disposed in faire order," who were waiting for him at Chelsea, with a "great train and sumptuous showe," which included " two artificiall sea-monsters, one in fashion of a whale, the other like a dolphin, with persons richly apparrelled sitting upon them . . . "^ The whole proces- sion reached Whitehall, and its arrival was witnessed from the privy gallery by the king and queen, the Princess Elizabeth, and the Duke of York, while the prince passed in to the palace, where he was entertained by the chief officers of the household. The actual creation took place in the Court of Requests at Westminster, and not at White- hall, whither the king and prince returned by water with much state. The prince dined that day in public and " was * Winwood : Memorials, ii., 44. " Somers : Tracts, ii., 184. WHITEHALL 225 served with great state and magnificence," and in the midst of the banquet the heralds approached his table and pro- claimed the titles both of the king and the prince. Prince Henry died only two years after his creation, and in another four years his brother was advanced to the same dignity. The ceremonies connected with Prince Charles's creation were in some respects a curious repetition of those in which his brother had taken part ; the actual creation, how- ever, took place at Whitehall, but "the queen would not be present at the creation, lest she should renew her grief, by the memory of the last prince, . . . " ^ By far the most brilliant occasion in the history of Whitehall in this reign was the marriage of Princess Elizabeth with Frederick, the Count Palatine. John Chamberlain, a volumiinous letter- writer, viewed the wedding procession from a window in the jewel house, but he found " the excess of bravery, and the continual succession of company " so dazzling, that he missed much of what he hoped to see. " The bridegroom and bride were both in a suit of cloth of silver, richly embroidered with silver, her train carried up by thirteen young ladies, or lords' daughters, at least, besides five or six more that could not come near it. These were all in the same livery with the bride, though not so rich. The bride was married in her hair, that hung down long, with an exceeding rich coronet on her head, which the king valued the next day at a million of crowns. Her two bridemen were the young prince and the Earl of Northampton. The king and queen both followed, the queen all in white, but not very rich, saving in jewels. The king, methought, was somewhat strangely attired in a cap and feather, with a * Birch : Court and Times of James /., i., 435. R.P. Q 226 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND Spanish cape and a long stocking. The chapel was very straitly kept, none suffered to enter under the degree of a baron, but the three lords chief justices. In the midst there was a handsome stage or scaffolding made on the one side, whereon sat the king, prince. Count Palatine, and Count Henry of Nassau. On the other side, the queen, with the bride and one or two more. Upon this stage they were married by the Archbishop of Canterbury, assisted by the Bishop of Bath and Wells, who made the sermon. It was all done in English, and the Prince Palatine had learned as much as concerned his part reasonably perfectly." ^ The same evening, after the bride had entertained three ambas- sadors at dinner, there was a masque performed by certain lords, but it was " long and tedious, and more like a play than a masque." The next day was occupied in tilting and similar amusements, in which the king, Prince Charles, and the Count Palatine all took part, and at night " was the Middle Temple and Lincoln's Inn masque prepared in the hall at court, whereas the lords was in the banqueting room. It went from the Rolls, all up Fleet Street and the Strand, and made such a gallant and glorious show, that it is highly commended. They had forty gentlemen of best choice out of both houses, and the twelve masquers, with their torch- bearers and pages, rode likewise upon horses exceedingly well trapped and furnished, besides a dozen little boys, dressed like baboons, that served for an anti-masque, and, they say, performed it exceedingly well when they came to it ; and three open chariots, drawn with four horses apiece, that carried their musicians and other personages that had to speak. All which, together with their trumpeters and * Birch : Court and Times of James I., i., 225. WHITEHALL 227 other attendants, were so well set out, that it is generally held for the best show that hath been seen many a day." ^ Still another masque was prepared for the following night, by Gray's Inn and the Inner Temple, under the direction of Sir Francis Bacon. The masquers came by water, with their barges charmingly illuminated, but on their arrival at Whitehall they met with an untoward check. The hall was so full that there was no room to make a distinguished entry, and " worst of all was, that the king was so wearied and sleepy, with sitting up almost two whole nights before, that he had no edge to it. Where upon. Sir Francis Bacon adventured to entreat of his majesty that by this difference he would not, as it were, bury them quick ; and I hear, the king should answer, that then they must bury him quick, for he could last no longer . . . " ^ The masquers were forced to depart, but in spite of this disappointment the king ordered them to appear a few nights later and was so pleased with the masque that he invited forty of them the next day to a " solemn supper," for which, by the way, he was at no expense. " The king husbanded the matter so well that this feast was not at his own cost, but he and his company won it upon a wager of running at a ring, of the prince and his nine followers, who paid ^^30 a man."^ The Inns of Court were indeed even more energetic masquers than the courtiers, and kept Christmas and Twelfth Night with such vigour that on one occasion the disturbance reached the sleeping Court at Whitehall. " The gentlemen of Gray's Inn, to make an end of Christmas on Twelfth night in the dead time of the night, shot off all the chambers * Birch: Court and Times of James /., i., 226-227. 2 Ibid., 228. ^ Ibid., 229-230. Q 2 228 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND they had borrowed from the Tower, being as many as filled four carts. The king, awakened with this noise, started out of his bed, and cried, * Treason ! Treason ! ' and that the city was in an uproar ; in such sort, as it is said, that the whole court was raised, and almost in arms ; the Earl of Arundel running to the bed-chamber with his sword drawn, as to rescue the king's person."^ Charles I. kept his household at St. James's Palace when Prince of Wales, but he moved to Whitehall immediately on his father's death, on March 27, 1625. Charles remained in retirement until April g, when he came to sermon at Whitehall, and afterwards remained there " settling his household." He made an effort to reduce the expenses of the Court, which was " kept more strait and private than in the former time,"^ but his economies came to an end with his marriage the same summer with Princess Henrietta Maria of France. She brought a crowd of French attendants in her train, and the difficulty of finding the necessary supplies both for the Government and for the Court was as great as ever it had been. In 1627 a riot outside the palace was only just averted ; '* some hundreds of sailors went for their pay to Whitehall, against whom the gates were shut ; but his majesty coming into the gallery to see them, sent unto them a gentleman, with a message that they should depart," and he promised that they should be paid the next day near the Tower. " Whereat they threw up their hats, leaped and cried, * God save King Charles ! ' and so separated."^ After Charles's marriage with Henrietta Maria the question of religion quickly came to the front. The provision of a Roman * Birch : Court and Times of James L, ii., 360. ^ Birch : Court and Times of Charles I., i., 8. ^ Ibid., i., 189. WHITEHALL 229 Catholic chapel for the queen had been amongst the stipula- tions of the marriage articles, and Mass was celebrated in Whitehall and Somerset House. " On Friday last," wrote a protestant on June 24, 1625, "the queen was at her first Mass in Whitehall, which was mumbled over to her majesty at eleven of the clock." ^ So strong was the religious feeling of the queen that she refused to be crowned in Westminster Abbey, or even to be present during the cere- mony of Charles's coronation, although she watched the procession from the windows of Whitehall. In spite of the disturbances between the English and French courtiers, which ended in the dismissal of the latter at the end of a few months, the Court of Charles I. and Henrietta Maria was far more stately and dignified than it had been in his father's time, and Bassompierre, the French ambassador to England in 1626, has recorded that "The company was magnificent and the order exquisite."^ In spite of spasmodic attempts at economy, the hospitality exercised by the English king was a source of continual amazement to foreigners. Not only the king and the royal family but many of the officers of State maintained tables at Court, to the number of eighty-six, " whereof the King's Tables had 28 Dishes, the Queen's 24, the whole number being in all about 500 Dishes each Meal, with Bread, Beer, Wine, and all other things necessary." ^ There are, however, few events to record in the history of Whitehall in the early years of the reign of Charles I. Afterwards the life of the Court was clouded by the difficulties between the king and Parliament, and politics ' Birch : Court and Times of Charles I., i., 2)3- "^ Bassompierre : Memoirs of the Embassy to the Court of England in 1626, ed. 1819, p. 42. De Laune : Anglian Metropolis, ed. 1690, p. 113. 230 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND filled the horizon for contemporary writers rather than ceremonies and revelling. One of the last events before the outbreak of the Civil War was the betrothal of the king's eldest daughter, Mary, with the Prince of Orange. The ceremony took place on April 20, 1641, in the Chapel Royal at Whitehall, but the times were too troubled for such festivity as had graced the marriage of her aunt. The next year saw the final struggle between Charles and the Long Parliament. The Court kept Christmas at Whitehall, but so threatening was the attitude of the House of Commons, supported by the City of London, that there was a large gathering of cavaliers at the palace, to act as a special body- guard of the king. No further outbreak took place, however, beyond a rather serious affray between the cavaliers and the London apprentices ; but the king withdrew to Hampton Court, never to return to Whitehall until his trial and death. From the time that he was delivered over to the Parlia- mentarians by the Scots, Charles L was practically a prisoner, and as each attempt at negotiation failed, the extremists, represented by the Council of Officers, demanded with increasing urgency his deposition and afterwards his execu- tion. It was at last decided that the king should be tried by a specially constituted Court of justice, and from Caris- brooke he was brought to Windsor and shortly afterwards to London. He arrived at St. James's Palace on January 19, 1649, and the same day crossed the park to Whitehall, where he occupied his own bedchamber, with sentinels at the door and a guard of musqueteers in the palace. That night was passed in Whitehall, the king being in the charge of Colonel Tomlinson and attended by Herbert alone of his own servants. The trial began next day. Charles was carried in a sedan chair to the house of Sir Robert Cotton WHITEHALL 231 and thence to Westminster, "none but Mr. Herbert going bare by the King ; no other of his Majesty's Servants going along King Street or Westminster-Hall, the Soldiers hinder- ing them." ^ There is much divergence of evidence as to the place in which the king passed the nights during the trial, but probably it was generally in St. James's Palace. Some historians, however, state that he slept at Whitehall, but this seems a mistake, arising possibly from ignorance of the fact that the ordinary route from St. James's to Westminster lay by Whitehall, and thence either by King Street or by water. Herbert omits to mention that Charles was taken on some days by the latter route, but Philip Henry, whose father was Keeper of the Orchard at Whitehall, with a house near the Garden Stairs, relates that as an Oxford under- graduate he was at home in January, 1649, "and during my stay there at that time at Whitehal it was that I saw the Beheading of King Charles the first ; He went by our door on Foot each day that hee was carry'd by water to Westminster, for hee took Barge at Garden-stayres, where wee liv'd, & once hee spake to my Father & sayd Art thou alive yet ! " ^ The last day of the trial was on Saturday, January 27. On that day Bradshaw delivered the judgment of the Court, by which the king was condemned to death. Herbert describes how the king was brought to Whitehall in a closed chair through King Street, closely guarded, " But Shop-Stalls and Windows were full of People, many of which shed Tears, and some of them with audible Voices pray'd for the King, who through the Privy-Garden was carried to his Bed-Chamber; whence after Two Hours space, he was removed to St. James's."^ ^ Herbert : Memoirs of the Two Last Years of the Reign of King Charles I., ed. 1813, p. 159. ^ Philip Henry : Diary, ed. 1882, p. 12. ' Herbert, op. cit., p. 168. 232 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND According to the journal of the Earl of Leicester, the king spent the next two nights at Whitehall and did not go to St. James's till Monday, but Herbert's account is more likely to be correct, especially as he is corroborated by Sir Philip Warwick. The last two days the king spent in preparation for his death, attended by Dr. Juxon, the Bishop of London, and he did not leave St. James's again until the morning of the 30th, the day fixed for his execution. The scaffold was hastily prepared on the Monday. " The high court of justice appointed a committee to inspect parts about Whitehall for a convenient place for the execution of the King; who having made their report, it was agreed, that a scaffold should be erected to that purpose near the Banqueting- house, and order given to cover it with black. The same day, being the 2gth of January, they signed a warrant for his execution, to which about threescore of the commissioners set their hands and seals ; . . ." ^ Everything was ready early on Tuesday morning ; " the King was brought from St. Jameses walking on foote through the Parke, with a regiment of foote, part before and part behinde him, with coulers flying, drums beating, his private guard of partisans with some of his gentle- men before and some behinde, bare-headed, — Doctor Juxon next behinde him, and Collonel Tomlinson (who had the charge of him) talking with the King bareheaded, from the Parke up the staires into the Gallerye, and so into the chamber where he used to lye. . . ." ^ Herbert faithfully records the events of the last hour in the palace. The king and his attendants remained in the bed-chamber, "where, after a little Repose, the Bishop went to Prayer; which, being done, his Majesty bid Mr. Herbert, bring him some * Aungervyle Soc. Reprints, x. (ist ser.), 65. 2 Sidney Papers : Journal of the Earl of Leicester, ed. Blencowe, p. 59. WHITEHALL 233 Bread and Wine, which being brought, the King broke the Manchet, and eat a Mouthful of it, and drank a small Glassful of Claret-Wine, and then was sometime in private with the Bishop, expecting when Hacker would the third and last time give warning. Mean time his Majesty told Mr. Herbert which Satin Night-Cap he would use, which being provided, and the King at private Prayer, Mr. Herbert address'd himself to the Bishop, and told him, The King had ordered him to have a White Satin Night-Cap ready, but was not able to endure the sight of that Violence they upon the Scaffold would offer the King. The good Bishop bid him then give him the Cap, and wait at the end of the Banquet- ting-House, near the Scaffold, to take care of the King's body ; for (said he) that, and his Interment, will be our last Office."^ Herbert omits, however, an incident that Colonel Tomlinson recalled during the trial of Colonel Hacker, after the Restoration. Mr. Henry Seymour approached while they were waiting in the bed-chamber, with a letter from Prince Charles, which was, with the colonel's help, delivered to the king ; Charles read it, and " gave several things in charge to Mr. Seymour, to acquaint the prince with, and was pleased to mention to him something of civility that I had shewn him in his imprisonment." ^ But to return to Herbert's narrative : " Colonel Hacker came soon after to the Bed- Chamber-Door, and gave his last signal ; the Bishop and Mr. Herbert, weeping, fell upon their Knees, and the King gave them his Hand to kiss, and help'd the Bishop up, for he was aged." " Colonel Hacker attending still at the Chamber-Door, the King took notice of it, and said, Open the Door, and bade ' Herbert, op. cit., p. 191-192. * State Trials, v., 11 79. 234 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND Hacker go, and he would follow. A Guard was made all along the Galleries and the Banqueting-House ; but behind the Soldiers abundance of Men and Women crowded in, though with some Peril to their Persons, to behold the saddest sight England ever saw. And as his Majesty pass'd by, with a chearful Look, heard them pray for him, the Soldiers not rebuking any of them ; by their silence and dejected Faces seeming afflicted rather than insulting. There was a Passage broken through the Wall, by which the King pass'd unto the Scaffold."^ Herbert, as he himself relates, could not face the execution of his master, and thus omits all that happened on the scaffold. Philip Henry stood amongst the crowd and describes the scene from a spectator's point of view. " On the day of his execution, which was Tuesday, Jan. 30, I stood amongst the crowd in the street before Whitehal gate, where the scaffold was erected, and saw what was done, but was not so near as to hear any thing. The Blow I saw given, & can truly say with a sad heart ; at the instant whereof, I remember wel, there was such a Grone by the Thousands then present, as I never heard before & desire I may never hear again." ^ The scaffold was hung round with black and the floor covered with black ; in the middle was set the block, while near it staples had been driven into the scaffold, with chains attached to them, in order to bind the king should he at the last minute have resisted. After reaching the scaffold Charles made a speech and declaration of faith. " ' I declare before you all, that I dye a Christian according to the profession of the Church of England, as I found it left me by my father ; and this honest man, pointing to Dr. Juxon, I thinke will witness it,' &c." ^ * Herbert, op. cit., p. 193. " Philip Henry: Diary, p. 12. ^ Sidney Papers, p. 60. WHITEHALL 235 Dr. Juxon then spoke, and the kin^ turned to the executioners, who were " disguised in saylors clothes, with visards and peruques unknown . . . ," ^ and said, " I shall say but very short prayers, and then thrust out my hands."'' He called for his night-cap and, by the desire of the executioner, his hair was put inside the cap. Turning to Dr. Ju.xon, he said, " I have a good cause and a gracious God on my side," and the bishop replied, " There is but one Stage more, this Stage is turbulent, and troublesome, it is a short one, but you may consider, it will soon carry you a very great way, it will carr}^ you from Earth to Heaven, and there you shall find a great deal of Cordial Joy and Comfort." The king : " I go from a corruptible to an incorruptible Crown where no disturbance can be." Dr. Juxon : ** You are exchanged from a Temporal to an Eternal Crown, a good Exchange."^ Charles then took off his cloak and his George, giving the latter to the bishop, with the famous word " Remember," and, after a few small ceremonies, " the King stooping down laid his Neck upon the Block, and after a very little Pause, stretch- ing forth his Hands, the Executioner, at one Blow, severed his Head from his Body." "The King died with true Magnanimity and Christian Patience ; ... At the Scene were many sighs and weeping Eyes, and diversstrove todip their Handkerchiefs in his Blood, as in the Blood of a martyr." ^ So wrote White- locke, but a republican pamphlet records that Charles I. " lived an enemy to the commonwealth, and died a martyr to pre- rogative." * The second executioner, after the fatal stroke had been given, held up the head of the king and showed it to the ' Sidney Papers, p. 60. ^ Whitelocke : Memorials, p. 375. » Ibid. * Somers : Tracts, vi., loi. 236 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND people, who were afterwards scattered and dispersed as fast as might be by a regiment of horse. When all was over, the head and body were placed in a coffin, covered with a black velvet pall, and delivered to Bishop Juxon. He together with Herbert conveyed it to the back stairs to be embalmed by the surgeon Topham, and in the interval waited in the long gallery. When the embalmment was completed, the coffin was removed to the king's lodging-chamber in Whitehall, but afterwards it was carried to St. James's, there to await the decision of the Council as to the place of burial. Much controversy has raged round various points in the history of the execution, which the contemporary accounts have left curiously vague. One of these points, the position of the scaffold in relation to the banqueting-house, is, of course, closely connected with the history of Whitehall. There seems to be no doubt that the scaffold was erected on the western face of the banqueting-house. The warrant specifies the " open street before Whitehall," meaning plainly the open space between the banqueting-hall and the tilt yard, through which there was a public way, and this is, of course, corroborated by Philip Henry's account of the execu- tion already quoted. More difficult is the problem as to the exact position of the scaffold on the western face of the banqueting-house and the route by which the king and his guard reached it. The most probable solution seems to be that the king entered by an outside staircase on the eastern or river side of the banqueting-house, entering by one of the windows of the Ionic storey. He passed along the hall to the northern end, where a passage had been broken through the wall, thus giving admittance to a small building that then existed against the northern face. From the window of the WHITEHALL 237 room he had thus reached the king stepped on to the scaffold, which extended along the western face to the second or third window. The news of the execution of the King of England was received with horror at the different Courts of Europe and stunned net only the Royalists, but many of the more moderate Parliamentarians, who echoed the closing lines of an epitaph on Charles I. : — Thy suff' rings and thy death let no man name It was thy glory, but the kingdom's shame. In the meantime, however, Cromwell and the army remained the most powerful force in the kingdom, and the General was the next important occupant of Whitehall. The offices of state in the palace were used by the Parlia- ment, and many of the numerous committees held their meetings there, while the more important leaders had grants of apartments. Cromwell occupied the Cockpit lodgings, but the palace was reserved for his use when he assumed the office of Lord Protector. From Whitehall the procession started for " the grand solemnization of the General's Protectorship,"^ which was performed "with no less state and magnificence than any former Kings have used. From Whitehall to Westminster, a lane of soldiers being made, his Excellency, seated in a rich coach, the Lord Mayor in one boot. Major General Lambert and another in 'tother, advanced leisurely, attended with a multitude of coaches, the colonels, officers, and lifeguard all on foot bareheaded (as were all from my Lord Mayor to the meanest.)"^ State apart- ments were prepared for the Protector's use, and in April, 1654, " the Privy Lodgings for his Highnessthe Lord Protector » Egmont MSS., vol. i. pt. 2, 532 (Hist. MSS. Com.). 2 Ibid. 238 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND in Whitehall are now in readiness, and also the lodgings for his Lady Protectress";^ they were furnished richly, and Cromwell maintained several tables for his household. M. de Bordeaux relates that though his officers, who surrounded him, cared little about " fineness of apparel," yet " To- wards the Foreign Ambassadors, the Protector deports himself as a king, for the power of kings is not greater than his."^ There are, however, but few events to record at Whitehall during the Interregnum. That experiment in Parliaments, the assemblage of one hundred and forty-four godly men, which is known in history as Barebones' Parliament, first met in the council chamber in the palace, where only six months later the Speaker and a following of members were induced by Cromwell to render up its power. In 1656 the Government was disturbed by the discovery of a plot which had the twofold object of assassinating the Protector and burning down his palace. It was, however, discovered in time, and Cromwell received the congratulations of Parlia- ment on his escape, the members pressing up to the hall of the banqueting-house in such numbers that the outside entrance staircase gave way beneath their weight. The Lord Protector was carried during his last illness from Hampton Court to Whitehall, and there nominated his son Richard Cromwell as his successor. He died on September 3, 1658, surrounded by many Puritan divines, and outside the palace a terrible storm raged, that uprooted some of the finest trees in St. James's Park, an omen interpreted in very different ways by the opposing factions of the time. His corpse lay in state at Whitehall until his burial in Henry the Seventh's Chapel at Westminster. The poet Cowley * Weekly Intelligencer, cit. Loftie : Whitehall, p. 64. ^ Loftie : Whitehall, p. 65. WHITEHALL 239 was a spectator of the stately funeral procession. " There was a mighty train of black assistants, among which, too, divers princes in the persons of their ambassadors (being infinitely afflicted for the loss of their brother) were pleased to attend ; the hearse was magnificent, the idol crowned, and (not to mention other ceremonies which are practised at royal interments, and therefore by no means could be omitted here) the vast multitude of spectators made up, as it uses to do, no small part of the spectacle itself. But yet, I know not how, the whole was so managed that, methought, it somewhat represented the life of him for whom it was made ; much noise, much tumult, much expense, much magnificence, much vainglory ; briefly a great show, and yet, after all this, but an ill sight." ^ The restoration of the Stuart kings was as important an event in the history of Whitehall as their first accession. Charles H. returned to the palace on May 29, 1660. " You must excuse me and all friends now," wrote a correspondent that day," for writing any more, by reason we are now spec- tators of his Majesty's coming to Whitehall, where, the Lord be praised, he is come safe at six of the clock, and in so much state and joy that you must expect it in print by a better hand. But by travellers it is averred that no King in Christendom was ever received in more triumph and rich reception, and now we be going to make bonfires and use other ceremonies of joy." ^ Whitehall quickly regained its old character. " At this time the Court at Whitehall (the Duke of York and the Duke of Gloucester having theirs distinct from the king's) was very splendid."^ The rejoicing was * Chambers: English Poets, vii., 173, 174. ^ Egmont MSS., vol. i. pt. 2, 614 (Hist. MSS. Com.). * Memoirs of Sir John Reresby (ed. 1875), p. 48. 240 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND dimmed for a time by the deaths of Mary, Princess of Orange, and the Duke of Gloucester, both of which occurred at Whitehall, only a few months after the king's return. Of the palace under Charles II. much has been written, and de Grammont, Pepys, and Evelyn, of contemporary writers, have left vivid descriptions of the amusements, life, and manners of the Court of the Restoration. The old scale of magnificent and wasteful hospitality was revived, although in the first year of his reign Charles com- plained in a speech to the Houses of Parliament that he could only maintain his own table at Whitehall, adding, " that which troubles me most is, to see many of you come to me at Whitehall, and to think you must go some where else to seek your dinner." ^ The same functions were the occasions of special festivity after the Restoration as before, the recep- tion of ambassadors, creations, and marriages. The Royal Society owed its foundation charter to Charles II., and in 1662 " the Council and Fellows of the Royal Society went in a body to Whitehall, to acknowledge his Majesty's royal grace in granting our Charter, and vouchsafing to be him- self our Founder : when the President made an eloquent speech, to which his Majesty gave a gracious reply, and we all kissed his hand."^ The king's personal interest in scientific matters is witnessed by Pepys, who went into the " King's little elaboratory, under his closet, a pretty place ; and there saw a great many chymical glasses and things, but under- stood none of them."^ In 1667 the celebrations on St. George's Day by the Knights of the Garter were held at Whitehall. After the services in the chapel, " they proceeded ^ Somers : Tracts, vii., 465. , ^ Evelyn : Diary, August 29, 1662. ^ Pepys: Diary, January 15, i668-g. WHITEHALL 241 to the banqueting-house to a great feast. The King sat on an elevated throne at the upper end at a table alone; the Knights at a table on the right hand, reaching the length of the room ; . . . About the middle of the dinner the Knights drank the King's health. Then the King, theirs, when the trumpets and music played and sounded, the guns going off at the Tower. . . . The cheer was extraordinary, each Knight having forty dishes to his mess, piled up five or six high ; the room hung with richest tapestry."^ Three marriages of importance in the royal family took place during the reign of Charles II. The little Duke of Monmouth was married to the Duchess of Buccleugh in 1663, in the king's chamber in Whitehall, and the next year lodgings in the old tennis court were made ready for his reception. Many of the festivities on the arrival of the Prince of Orange in 1677 took place in Whitehall, although his marriage with Princess Mary, the eldest niece of the king, was actually celebrated in St. James's Palace. Her sister's marriage, however, six years later, with Prince George of Denmark, took place in Whitehall itself, and, unlike the Princess of Orange, Anne and her husband remained in England, occupying the Cockpit apartments. Among the list of important residents in the palace, two names of particular interest occur at this time : General Monk, who was created Duke of Albemarle by Charles II., was granted apartments in Whitehall, in which he died in 1670, and Dr. Titus Oates, during the Popish plot, received both lodgings and a handsome pension. The amusements at the Court changed in character during the reign of Charles II.; the masque disappeared, its place ' Evelyn : Diary, April 23, 1667. R.P. R 242 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND being taken by more ordinary balls. Pepys watched a ball at Court in 1662, at which the king and queen and the Duke and Duchess of York were present, and he recorded that the king "dances rarely, and much better than the duke."^ At other times there were concerts of instrumental and vocal music, at which both the king and queen were frequently present, but more especially popular at Court was the theatre. A new playhouse was built at Whitehall, and Charles practically threw it open to the public — a great innovation, since any one could get admission by paying. As a rule the plays were performed by regular companies, but on one occasion a play called " The Indian Emperor " was acted by the Duke and Duchess of Monmouth and other courtiers; and Pepys records that the majority of them could do nothing " but like fools and stocks." Gaming occupied the evenings even more than in previous reigns, when the play had been high enough, and Pepys was shocked that the Portuguese queen played on Sunday. In 1685 Charles II. was seized with illness in his private apartments. The illness of the king had been entirely unexpected by his Court, where, six days before his death, Evelyn had watched and con- demned "the inexpressible luxury and profaneness, gaming, and all dissoluteness . . . ."^ To the king came various of his chaplains and other Anglican divines, who were present at the moment of his death, but the Duke of York intro- duced the Jesuit priest Father Huddleston, secretly and in disguise, and to them the king made his declaration of faith and received the last rites of the Church of Rome. He died on February 5, and, unlike so many of his predecessors, was ' Pepys : Diary, December 31, 1662. ^ Diary, February 4, 1685. WHITEHALL 24^ buried privately, his corpse being conveyed by water from Whitehall to Westminster. In spite of the excitement that had prevailed in the country over the question of the succession, no immediate opposition was aroused against James II., and he was pro- claimed King of Great Britain and Ireland by the heralds at Whitehall Gate. He removed with Queen Mary of Modena to the royal apartments at Whitehall, where he horrified many of his subjects by attending Mass openly, and moreover gave apartments to the Jesuit Father Petre, to whose bad advice and influence his deposition was attributed by many of his contemporaries. The dramatic incidents that ended his reign were enacted in the main within the palace of White- hall. There he first learnt of the arrival of the Prince of Orange, and there he insisted on the flight of the queen with the infant Prince of Wales, in spite of her entreaties to remain and share his dangers. In disguise she left the palace by the back stairs, with her little son in her arms, and before daybreak embarked undiscovered and crossed the river to Lambeth. After various alarms, she and her atten- dants reached France in safety, while the king advanced with his army to meet his son-in-law. Desertion after desertion brought him to despair and he retreated to Lon- don. At Whitehall James decided to leave the country and successfully reached Faversham. There, however, he was stopped by some fishermen, thinking him a Jesuit in dis- guise, and he was forced to return to London. On Sunday, about four in the afternoon, James " came through the City, preceded by a great many Gentlemen bare-headed, and followed by a numerous Company with loud huzzas. The King stopped at the Queen-Dowager's before he came to White- hall, and the evening concluded with ringing of bells and R 2 244 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND bonefires."^ The Londoners were fickle and indeed hardly knew which king they desired, and in the palace all was uncer- tainty and confusion. Prince George of Denmark, the Dukes of Grafton and Ormond, Lord Churchill, and many others had joined the Prince of Orange, and finally Princess Anne left her lodgings in the Cockpit on November 26, the night before the king's return, at midnight, accompanied only by Lady Churchill, Lord Dorset, and Bishop Compton. His daughter's desertion was the final blow dealt to the king, and he acquiesced in the message sent by the prince and delivered to him at Whitehall at midnight by the Marquis of Halifax, the Earl of Shrewsbury, and Lord Delamere, that he must again retire from Whitehall, since *' the prince did not think it safe for him to come to London so long as his Majesty had such a confluence of papists still about him." ^ On the prince's approach to London he sent the Comte de Solmes, at the head of the Dutch Guards, to occupy Whitehall, and James forbade the resistance ^contemplated by the old Earl of Craven. The king embarked at Whitehall on December 17, and for the last time sailed down the Thames, followed by ten or twelve boats full of the prince's soldiers. On the same day that the king left Whitehall the prince entered London, but took up his residence at St. James's, and at once visited the queen-dowager and the Prince and Princess of Denmark, who had returned to Whitehall. The Princess of Orange arrived in England in January and was received with great acclamations of joy. Her behaviour on her arrival at Whitehall has drawn many censures upon her, even from Bishop Burnet. Mary "came in to Whitehall laughing and jolly, as to a wedding, so as to seem quite ' Ellis : Original Letters (ser. 2), iv., 175. 2 Ibid., iv., 179. WHITEHALL 245 transported." ^ The last event of great importance at the palace took place on February 13, 1689. The Convention Parliament met at Westminster and settled the crown on William and Mary. The two Houses then marched to the banqueting-house at Whitehall and offered them the crown of Great Britain and Ireland, an offer which was accepted. The new king and queen, however, were but little at Whitehall. Its low situation near the waterside increased the king's ill-health, and when his minister Halifax urged the inconvenience of his residing at Hampton Court, " his answer was that it was not to be done except he desired to see him dead; . . . "^ Queen Mary died in 1694, and her funeral procession was formed at Whitehall and passed through the precincts of the palace on its way to Westminster. Only four years intervened between this event and the great fire of 1698, and thus with the death of the queen the history of Whitehall as a royal palace was brought to its close. The later history of the banqueting-house is, however, worthy of mention. After the accession of George I. the ruins of the old Chapel Royal at Whitehall were cleared away ; the banqueting-house had been occasionally used for Divine service after the fire, and in 1724 it was officially converted into the Chapel Royal, the king being present at the opening ceremony. It was so used until iSgi, but in that year it was decided to close it for Divine service on the recommendation of the Chapel Royal Commissioners, and Sir Henry Ponsonby wrote to them that Queen Victoria was " glad to lend — from January i, 1891 — the banqueting hall to the United Service Institution on such terms as the * Evelyn: Diary, February 31, 1689. ^ Memoirs of Sir John Rcresby, p. 460. 246 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND Lord Chamberlain might consider advisable."^ It is now used as the museum of the Institute, and within its walls are collected the relics of many heroes of both services, of Drake and Nelson, Cromwell and Wellington, and side by side with these, the relics of Napoleon in the last days at St. Helena. * Sheppard : The Old Royal Palace of Whitehall, p. 21. §>t. 3^me0*6 (paface. THE view of St. James's Palace, from St. James's Street, must always come with surprise to the Londoner, whose eyes are accustomed to the very different styles of architecture in its imme- diate neighbourhood. The beautiful Tudor gateway, red brick and embattled, almost alone among the public buildings of London, takes him back with no misgiving to the days of its royal builder. King Henry VIH., and, although the rest of the palace is of later date, outwardly the Tudor charac- teristics have been perpetuated. St. James's did not become the official residence of the English Court for many years, but was generally assigned to the heir to the throne until the destruction of Whitehall by fire necessitated the migra- tion of the sovereign across St. James's Park. During the Commonwealth the royalist ballad-makers bewailed the dis- mantled state of Whitehall ; after the Restoration they rejoiced in its recovered glories, but not till the reign of Queen Anne was St. James's recognised as the home of the Court in the public mind. A Whig ballad on the Treaty of Utrecht witnesses this change : King Jemmy fights for England, Queen Anne did die for France, And he that at St. James' His interest would advance, To Paris straight must go, etc.* ' Wilkins : Political Ballads, ii., 113. 248 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND From this time the English Court was known as the Court of St. James's, and though Buckingham Palace has been for many years the residence of the sovereign, the name still persists, bearing witness to the important role played by England during the reigns of the Georges, when the Court was still lodged at St. James's Palace. The history of St. James's before it became a royal palace is old and curious, but also very uneventful. The palace was built on the site of a leper hospital, said traditionally to have been founded by the citizens of London before the Norman Conquest. Originally the hospital was in the jurisdiction of the Abbot of Westminster, but Henry VL granted it to his new foundation at Eton, which held it at the time of the disso- lution of the monasteries. In 1532 the Provost and College of Eton granted the site of the hospital called " Saynt James in the Feld " with its lands in London to King Henry VHL and received two manors in exchange. The inmates of the hospital were pensioned and their house pulled down, to be rebuilt, under the superintendence of Thomas Cromwell, while the lands in the field of Westminster formed the nucleus of the new park that the king enclosed, which is still known as St. James's Park. The palace has been added to by many sovereigns, but parts of King Henry's palace still survive. The clock tower and gateway, the Chapel Royal, the Tapestry room, the chimney-piece in the presence chamber, bearing the initials H. & A., six turrets surmount- ing different parts of the building and much of the brickwork, all date from his time. Henry himself, however, resided but rarely at St. James's and granted it to Thomas Cromwell, who lived there for some time, and Mary was the first sovereign who occupied the palace for any continuous length of time. She was much attached to St. James's, where she lived when =s( .^y rxM ^i. o t CO yfluuiii ST. JAMES'S PALACE 249 in London, only going to Whitehall for State functions. In the stormy days of Wyatt's rebellion, the rebel army marched to Charing Cross, where a skirmish was fought and many men were slain. As they passed by the palace they shouted " God save Queen Mary." In the same year St. James's was the scene of a more peaceful event. Philip of Spain was in England as a suitor for the queen's hand, and on St. George's Day she went in procession with all the Knights of the Garter to St. James's, where Philip and the Earl of Sussex were created knights of the Order. The religious functions at Queen Mary's Court were gorgeous and numerous, and were at times accompanied with much feasting; "at the Cowrt of sant James, the quen('s) grace whent a prossessyon within sant James with harolds and serjants of armes, and iiii bysshopes mytred, and all iii days thay whent her chapell a-bowt the feldes, first day to sant Gylles and ther song masse ; the next day tuwysse-day to sant Martens in the feldes, (and there) a sermon and song masse, and so they dronke ther ; and the iii day to Westmynster and ther a sermon and then masse, and mad good chere ; and after a-bowt the Parke, and so to sant James cowrt ther."^ The brilliance of Mary's Court soon faded away, and the religious difficulties in England and the troubles of the Spanish foreign policy engulfed the country in gloom. The loss of Calais was the final tragedy of her reign, but the queen still hoped that King Philip would come to her aid and join her in England. In failing health, she was carried to St. James's to receive him. She made all arrangements for his coming, but Feria, the Spanish ambas- sador, at last bluntly told her that his master was too busy * Machyn : Diary of a Resident in London (Camden Soc), p. 6i, 250 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND to leave the Netherlands. Philip concluded peace on the best terms he could secure, but in spite of Mary's efforts the restoration of Calais to England was neither included in the treaty nor undertaken by force of arms. At St. James's she signed the treaty giving up the last English possession in France, and all hope of Philip's return being over, she grew rapidly worse in health. Few of her Court remained with her. She had alienated the affections of the country ; her courtiers and councillors, even the paid agents of Spain, deserted her at St. James's and paid their court to Princess Elizabeth at Hatfield. Only Mrs. Clarencius and the Countess Feria, once Mary's favourite maid of honour, Jane Dormer, remained with the dying queen. On November i6 the Council once more met at St. James's and assembled in the queen's bed-chamber, where the Master of the Roils read her will. Mary, however, was already unconscious, and the following morning Mass was celebrated in her presence ; the last rites were performed, and soon afterwards the queen died. A gorgeous funeral was accorded to the first queen regnant of England, in marked contrast with the neglect that she had suffered in her last illness. Her body lay in the chapel at St. James's till December lo, when it was conveyed to Westminster ; " the corps of Queene Marie was honour- ablie conveyed from hir manor of S. James unto the Abbeie of Westminster. Hir picture was laid on the coffin, apparelled in her roiall robes, with a crown of gold set on the head thereof, after a solemn manner."^ At the head of the pro- cession there was a standard, which was follov/ed by a great company of mourners ; then came another standard with King Philip's servants, riding two and two. Behind a ^ Nichols : Progresses of Queen Elizabeth, i., 33. ST. JAMES'S PALACE 251 third standard rode the Marquis of Winchester, bearing the banner of England, accompanied by the different heralds with the insignia of the crown. The Somerset, Lancaster, Windsor, and York heralds carried banners depicting saints, embossed with gold, and immediately preceded the chariot in which the coffin was placed. The members of the Chapel Royal with the bishops and a procession of monks surrounded the chariot, singing as they went, and finally came the queen's ladies, " rydyn, alle in blacke, trapyd to the grond." ^ Thus the procession made its way to the Abbey, and this service, the last royal ceremony in which the regular clergy publicly took part, marked the end of the old order. The completeness of the change brought about by the accession of Queen Elizabeth was shown even in the place of residence of the new queen, who came but little to St. James's. She had been there during the reign of Edward VL, coming to London " with a grett compeny of lordes and knyghtes and gentyll men, and after her a grett nomburof lades and gentyll women to the nombur of ii C on horsse-bake, and yomen," ^ but, as queen, she rarely spent a night at St. James's, except perhaps as she went or returned from one of her progresses ; on one occasion, as she returned to London, she was received by two hundred citizens of London " of the gravest sort, in cotes of velvet, and chaines of gold, on horssebacke, and a thousand of the Companies on foot (having with them a thousand men with torches readie there to give light on everie side, for that night drew on) . . . ." ^ On another of these visits her favourite, Robert Dudley, was created Earl of Leicester, and in 1588, during the gravest crisis of her ^ Machyn: Diary^-p. 183. 2 Ibid., p. 16. • Nichols : Progresses of Queen Elizabeth, ii., 423. 252 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND reign, when Philip II. at last sent out his great Armada, she came with her Court to St. James's. It was not, however, until the Stuarts came to the throne that the palace again played a definite part in the life of the Court. It was granted to the heir to the throne for the time being, and became the home of a brilliant Court which indeed sometimes rivalled that of the king at Whitehall. James I. came to St. James's on his arrival in London and remained there until after his coronation, but he made Whitehall his permanent residence, assigning St. James's to his eldest son, Prince Henry. The prince gathered around him many of the most distinguished men of the day, while his household numbered at least five hundred persons, for whose accommo- dation various alterations in the palace were carried out. The prince " oversaw his house and expenses himself," as well as preserving strict order in his Court. His treasurer, Cornwallis, tells a quaint story of how Prince Henry, when only fourteen or fifteen years old, had " boxes kept at his three severall standing houses. Saint James, Richmond, and Nonsuch, causing all those who did swear in his hearing to pay moneys to the same, which were after duly given to the poor ; . . ." ^ He also gave much time to perfecting himself in the art of war, and at St. James's played what is now called a war game with " battailes of headmen appointed both on horse or foot, in a long table." ^ The different captains who returned from service abroad were received by him, amongst them being a well-known Dutch engineer, and the prince and his attendants were expert in the exercises of the tournament and tilt yard. The Christmas previous to his creation as Prince of Wales he issued a challenge for a great * Somers : Tracts, ii., 228. 2 Jbid., p. 230. .iiir • J, <: V \r. ST. JAMES'S PALACE 253 tournament which was held in the tilt yard of Whitehall on Twelfth Day. Both assailants and defendants were enter- tained at St. James's, and after the fight " a magnificke feast " was held there, " at which his majestie, his highnesse, his brother and sister, with all the other earles, lords, and knights of the court, were present ; where, after supper (according as before they had been judged) his highnesse gave three prises, to the three best deserving, viz. to the right honourable the earl of Montgomery one, and to Sir Thomas Darcy, and Sir Robert Gurdon, knights, the other two." ^ It was not only in the arts of war that the young Prince of Wales strove to become proficient, but Cornwallis speaks of his interest in " building and gardening, and in all sorts of rare musique, chiefly the trumpet and drumme ; in limming, painting and carving, in all sorts of excellent and rare pictures, which he had brought unto him from all countries."^ He began, in fact, the collection of works of art for which St. James's was afterwards famous, while the nucleus of the royal library was moved to the palace by James I. in order to encourage his son's taste for learning. The prince held his Court at St. James's only for a short time, for he died there at the early age of nineteen, during the festivities held in honour of the marriage of his sister Princess Elizabeth with the Count Palatine. The funeral was attended with all the pomp usual on such occasions, and the procession which started from the palace was attended by two thousand mourners. His death, however, caused real grief in the country, where his early promise had raised many hopes ; and, according to the extravagant language of the seventeenth century, " Prince Henry was the darling of * Somers : Tracts, ii., 229. "^ Ibid., p. 250. 254 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND mankind, and a youth of vast hopes, and wonderful virtues ; but was too soon man to be long lived." ^ St. James's Palace was assigned to Prince Charles as the next heir to the throne, and he lived there until he succeeded to the crown on the death of James I. There is little to relate of the palace while he was still Prince of Wales, except the laying of the foundation stone of a Roman Catholic chapel. While Prince Charles, accompanied by the Duke of Buckingham, was in Madrid pursuing his harebrained courtship of the Spanish Infanta, he ordered that a chapel should be built at all possible speed for her use, " Mr. Surveyor Jones" being especially recommended as the architect. Preparations were made in the palace for the reception of the Infanta ; *' The Spanish ambassador hath been at St. James's and Denmark House, to fit and appoint her lodgings, with many alterations ; especially there must be a new chapel built in either place; . . ."^ and shortly afterwards, on May i6, 1623, " was the first foundation of the new chapel, at St. James's, for the Lady Mary of Spain in the afternoon. The Spanish ambassador made a cross on the first stone, laid it in mortar, made a prayer in French, that God would dispose of that foundation to his glory, and the good of the church, and universal good of all christians, and gave j^8o to the workmen ; his son laid the second stone, and gave them ^80."^ The negotiations for the Spanish match came to nothing, and James I. at last made the great revolution in his foreign policy, of which there is a curious echo in the history of St. James's. The break with Spain involved the support of the Count Palatine, whose emissary, 1 Welwood : Memoirs of Transactions in England (ed. 1820), p. 20. 2 Birch : Court and Times of James I., ii., 394. ^ Ibid., p. 400. ST. JAMES'S PALACE 255 Count Mansfield, had come to London, seeking in vain any help from the English king for his master; in 1624, however, the count removed from his obscure lodging and w^as well received at Court, being " lodged by the Prince at St. James's, in the very chamber intended for the Infanta . . ."^ The chapel was finished for the use of another Catholic princess, Henrietta Maria of France, who brought in her train a bishop and twenty-nine priests, fourteen of whom were Theatines, on her arrival in England as the bride of Charles L St. James's was granted to the new queen, who was much attached to the palace, where she had "her intertainements and devotions, for which the new-built Chappel is decently adorned, and the new-come Capuchins lodged commodi- ously beyond the austeritie of their rule . . ."^ Besides her priests, the queen brought with her a numerous train of French attendants, who were lodged at St. James's, where their expenses and maintenance are said to have cost the king about £240 a day. This extravagance, added to the unpopularity of the foreigners in England and their inter- ference in English politics, induced Charles only a few months after his marriage to take the extreme step of dismissing the whole French household. About three o'clock one afternoon the king went to the " queen's side " in Whitehall and led her to his apartments, locking the door and shutting out every one. In the meantime, " Lord Conway called forth the French bishop and othersof that clergy into St. James's Park, where he told them, the king's pleasure was, all her majesty's servants of that nation, men and women, young and old, should depart the kingdom. . . . The king's message being thus delivered by my Lord Conway, his lordship, accompanied > Cal. S. P. Dom., 1623-25, p. 223. ' Ellis: Original Letters (2nd ser.), iii., 260. 256 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND with Mr. Treasurer, and Mr. Controller, went to the queen's lodgings, and told all the French likewise, that were there, that his majesty's pleasure was, they should all depart thence to Somerset House, and remain there till they knew further his Majesty's pleasure. The women howled and lamented, as if they had been going to execution, but all in vain ; for the yeomen of the guard, by that lord's appointment, thrust them and all their country folks out of the queen's lodgings, and locked the doors after them."^ In spite of the indignation of the queen, the wrath of the French ambassador, and the remonstrances of the French bishop, all the members of the household were forced to leave the country with the exception of one or two women attendants. After their departure, the housekeeper at St. James's reported to the king that they had " so defiled the house, as a week's work would not make it clean," and they are further said to have carried off everything belonging to the queen's wardrobe that they could lay hands on, *'the queen having left her but one gown and two smocks to her back." They were " entreated by some of the lords of the council to send her majesty some apparel ; so they sent her only one old satin gown, keeping all the residue themselves,"'^ and this in spite of very generous treatment by the king. Henrietta Maria was frequently at St. James's Palace, and there three of her children, Charles L, James IL, and Mary, Princess of Orange, were born. In 1639 she fitted up the palace with much care and splendour for the reception of her mother, the Queen-Dowager of France. Marie di Medici arrived at the palace, accompanied by King Charles, and was greeted in the courtyard by the Queen of England, surrounded by all her children-and many ladies. * Birch : Court and Times of Charles I., i., 119-120. 2 Ibid., i., 122. ERRATUM. Page 256, line 24, for " Charles I." read " Charles II." 256 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND with Mr. Treasurer, and Mr. Controller, went to the queen's lodgings, and told all the French likewise, that were there, that his majesty's pleasure was, they should all depart thence to Somerset House, and remain there till they knew further his Majesty's pleasure. The women howled and lamented, as if they had been going to execution, but all in vain ; for the yeomen of the guard, by that lord's appointment, thrust them and all their country folks out of the queen's lodgings, and locked the doors after them."^ In spite of the indignation of the queen, the wrath of the French ambassador, and the remonstrances of the French bishop, all the members of the nenrietta maria was irequentiy ai csi. jamess raiace, and there three of her children, Charles L, James IL, and Mary, Princess of Orange, were born. In 1639 she fitted up the palace with much care and splendour for the reception of her mother, the Queen-Dowager of France. Marie di Medici arrived at the palace, accompanied by King Charles, and was greeted in the courtyard by the Queen of England, surrounded by all her children-and many ladies. * Birch : Court and Times of Charles /., i., 119-120. 2 Ibid., i., 122. ST. JAMES'S PALACE 257 She maintained a miniature Court at St. James's, having at least two hundred servants ; she was intensely unpopular in England, and at the end of two years the Parliament voted her a large sum of money on the one and express condition that she left England at once. The country was then on the verge of the outbreak of civil war, and the Court left London early in the year 1642, so that little is known of St. James's at this time. It naturally fell into the hands of the Parliamentarians, who were supreme in London, and many of its treasures — pictures, statues, medals, and books — were stolen or sold to raise money. Thus dismantled, the palace served for two purposes — for barracks and for a prison. Among the earliest prisoners were two of the king's children, the Princess Elizabeth and the Duke ot Gloucester. In 1645 they were placed in the kindly care of the Earl and Countess of Northumberland, who received the large grant for their maintenance that had been voted by Parliament ever since their first imprisonment. They were joined in captivity at St. James's by their elder brother, the Duke of York, who had fallen into the hands of his father's enemies after the surrender of Oxford. Very quickly, however, the royalists in London effected his escape. The plot was laid by Colonel Bamfield and Anne Murray, after- wards Lady Halkett, who has left a graphic description of the duke's escape. The first point was to provide a disguise ; Lady Halkett asked the colonel " to take a ribban with him and bring mee the bignese of the Duke's wast and his lengh, to have cloaths made fitt for him. In the meane time C. B. was to provide mony for all nesesary expence, w was furnished by an honest cittisen. When I gave the measure to my tailor to inquire how much mohaire would serve to make a petticoatc and wastcoatc to a young gentlewoman of that R.P. S 258 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND bignese and stature, hee considered itt a long time, and said hee had made many gownes and suites, butt hee had never made any to such a person in his life. I thought hee was in right ; butt his meaning was, hee had never seene any woman of so low a stature have so big a wast ; however hee made itt as exactly fitt as if hee had taken the measure himselfe. Itt was a mixed mohaire of a light haire couler and blacke, and y*" under petticoate was scarlett." ^ The tailor was both shrewd and trustworthy, and everything was ready by the evening of April 20 for the attempt. Lady Halkett describes hov/ " itt was designed for a week before every night as soon as y^ Duke had suped hee and those servants that attended his Highnese (till the Earle of Northumberland and y^ rest of the howse had suped) wentt to a play called hide and seek, and sometimes hee would hide himselfe so well that in halfe an howers time they could not find him. His Highnese had so used them to this, that when hee wentt really away they thought hee was butt att the usuall sport." ^ The ruse was completely successful, and the Duke of York slipped through a side gate from the palace garden into the park, opening it with a key which Colonel Bamfield had obtained from one of the gardeners, presumably by bribery. Once in the park, he found the colonel waiting for him with a cloak and periwig, and they drove off in a coach to a house near the waterside. There waited Lady Halkett and her maid Miriam, ready with the more complete disguise she had prepared. The boy put on the girl's dress, " w'^'" fitted his Highnesse very well, and was very pretty in it," and she sent him off with a Wood Stree cake to accomplish the rest of his journey. The escape of the Duke of York was not 1 Autobiography of Anne, L%dy Halkett (Camden Soc), P- 20-1. 2 Ibid., p. 21. y. y. 3 ■< -^ -^ X X ..■^■Tw -^n ST. JAMES'S PALACE 259 discovered at St. James's at once, and afterwards much time was spent in a useless search through the palace, so that he reached the coast in safety and crossed the Channel to Holland, where he was welcomed by his sister, the Princess of Orange. Several of the "secluded members" were afterwards imprisoned in St. James's, and on January ig, 1649, the most illustrious prisoner of all arrived at the palace. The king was brought from Carisbrooke by gradual stages to London for his trial ; with his guard, under the command of Colonel Harrison, he passed through " Brainford, Hammer- smith, and the direct way to his Majesty's House at St. James's, where his Chamber was furnished by Mr. Kinnersly, his Servant, strict Guards placed, and none suffer'd to attend in his Majesty's Bed-Chamber, save Mr. Herbert. Neverthe- less, his usual Diet was kept up and the Gentlemen that formerly waited were permitted to perform their respective Services in the Presence, where a State was placed, and for a few Days all things with Decency and Honour observed." ^ On the day of the king's arrival in London he only spent a short time in the palace, being afterwards taken to Whitehall, where he passed the night. It is pro- bable, however, that during the trial he was lodged, at least on several nights, in St. James's, whither he undoubtedly returned on the Saturday, after the sentence of death had been pronounced. The prisoner had at first been treated with the usual ceremony, but on his return to St. James's no such observances were offered him, and, rather than submit to this change in public, he dined in his own apartment in the palace. For the remaining days of his life, " his whole • Herbert : Memoirs of the Two Last Years of the Reign of Kvig Charles I., ed. 1813, p. 152. S 2 26o ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND business was a serious Preparation for Death, which opens the Door unto Eternity;"^ and at his own request Dr. Juxon, the Bishop of London, was allowed to be with him, but he refused to see the various London ministers who offered to come to him. " The king," however, " return'd them Thanks for their Love to his Soul, hoping that they, and all other of his good Subjects, would in their Addresses to God, be mindful of him." ^ None of his faithful adherents were allowed access to their king, but on Monday, January 29, the day before his execution, his two children, who were then prisoners at Sion House, were brought to the palace to take farewell of their father. They were the only members of the royal family left in England, and the parting was indeed pitiful. The little Princess Elizabeth and the king were especially devoted to one another, and she was old enough to realise the tragedy that was to befall them on the morrow. She wept and fell on her knees on coming into his presence, and the Duke of Gloucester joined with her, though too young to understand the full meaning of the parting. " The King rais'd them both from off their Knees ; he kiss'd them, gave them his Blessing, and setting them on his Knees, admonish'd them concerning their Duty and Loyal Observance to the Queen their Mother, the Prince that was his successor, Love to the Duke of York, and his other Relations."^ Princess Elizabeth has left a most pathetic description of the scene : " He told me he was glad I had come, for although he had not time to say much yet somewhat he wished to say to Me, which he had not to another, or leave in writing. Because he feared their Cruelty was such, as that they would not have » Herbert, op. cit., p. 169. 2 Ibid., 171-2. 8 Ibid., 179. ST. JAMI-:S'S PALACr: -Gi permitted him to write to me. Hee wished me not to greeve and torment my selfc for him ; for that would be a glorious death that he should dye; it being for the Laws and Liberties of this Land, and for Maintaining the true Protestant Religion. He bid me read Bishop Andrews' Sermons, Hookers Eccle- siasticall Policie, and Bishop Lauds Book against Fisher, which would ground me against Popery. He told me he had forgiven all his Enemies, and hoped God would forgive them also ; And commanded us, and all the rest of my Brothers and Sisters to forgive them : hee bid me tell my Mother, That his thoughts had never straied from her, and that his Love should be the same to the last. Withall he commanded me and my brother to be obedient to Her . . ." ^ The king warned the little Duke of Gloucester never to let himself be made king while his elder brothers were alive, and the boy promised him, saying "I will be torn in peeces first." ^ A similar message was given to the princess for the Duke of York, and then the children bade their father farewell. " Most sorrowful was this Parting, the young Princess shedding Tears and crying lamentably, so as mov'd others to Pity, that formerly were hard-hearted ; and at opening Bed-Chamber Door, the King return'd hastily from the Window and kiss'd 'em and bless'd 'em ; so parted."^ The king gave the princess his pocket Bible, and distributed his remaining possessions amongst his children and friends. The rest of the day Charles spent partly with the bishop, who did not leave till late, and partly alone in prayer and devotion. In the night ' Brit. Mus. Single Sheets, March ii — November 26, 1649: Another Relation from the Lady Elizabeths oicn hand. ' Ibid., A True Relation of the King's Speech to the Lady Elizabeth and the Duke of Gloucester, the day before his Death. * Herbert, op. a'/., p. 1 79-1 So. 262 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND he slept soundly for some hours, with Herbert lying on a pallet by his side. He awoke before daybreak and roused his attendant, " for " (said his Majesty) " I will get up, having a great Work to do this Day, . . ." ^ Herbert found the king more than usually particular about his toilet, for he said, " this is my Second Marriage-Day. I would be as trim to-day as may be ; for before Night I hope to be espoused to my blessed Jesus." ^ He insisted on wearing an extra shirt, " by reason the season is so sharp as probably may make me shake, which some Observers will imagine proceeds from fear. I would have no such Imputation. I fear not Death ! Death is not terrible to me. I bless my God I am prepared." ^ The rest of the morning Charles spent with Dr. Juxon and received the Communion. He was summoned during the morning by Colonel Hacker to leave the palace for Whitehall, where the scaffold had been erected. Walking through the palace garden, he stopped as he reached the park, and, after asking Herbert the time, presented him with the silver clock that his attendant carried with him. " The Park had several Companies of Foot drawn up, who made a Guard on either side as the King passed, and a Guard of Halberdiers in com- pany went some before, and other some followed ; the Drums beat, and the Noise was so great one could hardly hear what another spoke. Upon the King's Right-Hand went the Bishop, and Colonel Tomlinson on his left, with whom his Majesty had some Discourse by the way ; Mr. Herbert was next the King ; after him the Guards." * So the procession passed from St. James's. The history of the execution belongs to White- 1 Herbert, op. cif., p. 184. 2 Ibid. 3 Ibid., p. 184-185. ^ Ibid.^ p. 191. vST. JAMES'S PALACE 263 hall, but when all was over the body of the king was brouj:;ht back to St. James's, " where was great pressing by all sorts of People to see the King, or where he was : A doleful Spectacle ! but few had leave to enter and behold it." ^ Amongst those who came to behold the body of the king, Cromwell, according to tradition, must be included. The coffin remained at St. James's until February 8, when the Council at last decided that the king was to be buried in St. George's Chapel at Windsor. "Accordingly the Corps was thither carried from St. James's in a Hearse covered with black Velvet, drawn by Six Horses also cover'd with black; after which Four Coaches followed, two of them likewise covered with black Cloth, in which were about a Dozen Gentlemen and others, most of them being such as had waited on his Majesty at Carisbrook-Castle and other places, since his Majesty's going from New-Castle, all of them being in black." 2 The palace was granted to Cromwell when he became Lord Protector, but he never lived there, and during the Commonwealth it was mainly used as barracks. General Monk, however, had lodgings at St. James's, and there he matured his plans for the restoration of Charles H. The new king rarely lived in the palace, but the building was improved and it again became the residence of the heir to the throne. James, Duke of York, lived there during the greater part of his brother's reign and held a small and separate Court, which was said to be more dignified and stately than the Court of Whitehall. At St. James's his many children were born, but only the Princesses Mary and Anne, who both afterwards ascended the throne, and Prince • Herbert, op. a'f., p. 195. ^ Ibid., p. 199. 264 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND James Edward survived beyond infancy or early childhood. The Roman Catholic chapel was restored by Charles IL for Queen Catherine of Braganza. The services and music of the queen's chapel were a source of much curiosity to the Englishmen of the Court. Pepys went there many times, and also visited the Capuchin friary which was established at St. James's. The Park filled an important part in the life of the Court and owed much of its beauty to Charles IL He walked there daily, often unattended, feeding the fowls or playing with his dogs, and this indolent amusement " made the common People adore him, and consequently overlook in him what, in a Prince of a different Temper, they might have been out of humour at." ^ In 1677 Princess Mary, the eldest daughter of the Duke of York, was married at St. James's to the Prince of Orange. She seems to have been a most unwiUing bride. " The Duke of York din'd at Whitehall ; after dinner returned to Saint James', took Lady Mary into her closet, and told her of the marriage designed between her and the Prince of Orange ; whereupon her highness wept all that afternoon and the following day."^ The day after, October 22, the Council "at 5 o'clock came to St. James' to compliment her highnesse, the Lord Chancellor Finch making a short congratulatory speech." ^ The marriage took place in the princess's bed-chamber on November 4, at nine o'clock, the king giving her away in great spirits. There was much rejoicing in the city, but Mary was still as unreconciled as ever to leaving her own country. Princess Anne was ill with smallpox at the palace, and this naturally added to the grief of her sister, who was forced to be content ^ Apology for the Life of Mr. Colley Cibber, ed. 1889, i., 30. 2 Diary of Dr. Edward Lake (Camden Soc), p. 5. 3 Ibid., p. 5-6, ST. JAMES'S PALACE 265 with leaving two letters of farewell. Mar}' still wept when she embarked from Whitehall, and was little comforted by the consolations offered by Queen Catherine. Mary of Modcna was particularly attached to St. James's Palace, although James II. preferred Whitehall and held his Court there after his accession. Queen Mary moved to St. James's before the birth of Prince James Edward. The prince was born on June 10, 1688, and there was great rejoicing in the palace. " The news of the Prince's birth on Sunday last was dispersed by extraordinary posts into all parts of the kingdom, and great has been the publick joy of this place on so solemn an occasion. The infant prince was on Monday somewhat indisposed, but is now well, and a great crowd of ladies flock to St. James's daily to see him." ^ He was born at an inauspicious time, when the kingdom was seething with discontent at the arbitrary measures of the king, and the birth of an heir to the throne, certain to be brought up in his father's religion, urged on the Whigs to rebellion. All sorts of stories were spread, that the child was not the son of the queen, the most well known being that a child had been carried into the queen's bed-chamber concealed in a warming-pan, and was then passed off as the Prince of Wales. There was no truth in the stories, but they were believed all over England at the time, and earned for the prince his best-known title, " the Old Pretender," The clouds thickened over the Court of James II., and the rumours of the coming of the Prince ot Orange became more and more insistent. The little Prince of Wales was carried from St. James's to Portsmouth, to remove him from danger. Before he actually left England with the queen he was ' Hist. MSS. Cow. Rep., xii., App. 5, p. 119. 266 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND again brought back to London, but the final escape was made from Whitehall. The Prince of Orange landed in the west of England, where he met with constant success; his father-in-law was deserted by one supporter after another, and finally determined on flight. His first attempt failed, for he was turned back at Faversham. He sent Lord Feversham to the prince, inviting him to come to St. James's Palace, but the messenger received rough treatment and was made prisoner. The Prince of Orange finally agreed to enter London, but only on condition that the king should with- draw once more from Whitehall. "The Prince comes to St. James's, and fills Whitehall with Dutch guards. A Council of Peers meet about an expedient to call a Parlia- ment ; adjourn to the House of Lords . . . All the world goes to see the Prince at St. James's, where there is a great Court. There I saw him, and several of my acquaintance who came over with him. He is very stately, serious, and reserved. The English soldiers sent out of town to disband them ; not well pleased." ^ Such is Evelyn's short account of the arrival of the prince ; Sir John Reresby gives a few more details. " Then the prince came to St. James's, where he was compli- mented and attended by a great many of the nobility ; and the night was spent in ringing of bells, bonfires and other expressions of joy by the rabble ; but thinking men of the City seemed displeased at the King being forced to withdraw himself a second time." ^ The Prince of Orange remained at St. James's during the negotiations that followed his arrival, until the crown was finally offered jointly to him and to the Princess of Orange at Whitehall. William spent little of ' Evelyn : Diary, December 13, 1688. ^ Memoirs 0/ Sir John Reresby (1878), p. 425. ST. JAMES'S PALACE 267 his reign in London, but after the fire at Whitehall in 1698 St. James's was used on State occasions. With the accession of Queen Anne, St. James's Palace became the official residence of the English Court, and it was also the scene of some of the chief events in the life of the new queen. She had not been in cordial relations with William and Mary, but the king made overtures to her, after her sister's death, and she and her husband took up their residence at St. James's. Her son, the Duke of Gloucester, the only one of her many children who survived infancy, died there in 1700, on the day after his eleventh birthday. Two years later William IIL died, and the Princess of Denmark succeeded him. Burnet, the Bishop of Salisbury, rushed to St. James's Palace to acquaint her with the news " as soon as the breath was out of King William." The change of sovereign made a great difference at Court, since Queen Anne spent much of her time either at Kensington or St. James's. Although the real power at Court lay successively in the hands of her favourites, the Duchess of Marlborough and Mrs. Masham, the queen herself was strict in matters of ceremonial and etiquette. Lord Chesterfield describes her Court as dull. ''Her Drawing Rooms were more respect- able than agreeable, and had more of the air of solemn places of worship than the gaiety of a Court." ^ Among the many favours that the Duke of Marlborough received at the hands of Anne during the supremacy of the duchess, one of the most important was the grant of a piece of land in the precincts of the palace, on which Marlborough House was built. The Union of England and Scotland, one of the greatest events of the reign, was completed at St. James's. ' Cit., Stanhope : History of England, 1701-1713, p. 566. 268 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND The Earl of Mar, one of the Scottish commissioners, described the final ceremony that took place on July 25, 1706. " You cannot immagine how agreeable it was to every body here our concluding the Treatie and delivering of it to the Queen, which was done very solemnlie. She summond us to meet at the Council chamber at St. James. We walkt throw the rooms from that to the room her Majesty was in to receave us, where were all the ladys and the court and forrayine imbassdors. One of us and one of the English walkt togither, and so on ; we on the left hand as we walkt but we were on the Queen's right hand. The Keeper and our Chancellor made a speech when they delivered the books, and then the Queen made a speech to us. People in the city were beginning to wager on the Union's pro- ceeding or not, but the odds went on the first. This was thought undecent, therfore it is discharg'd." ^ In 1708 the Prince of Denmark died at Kensington Palace, and about two hours afterwards the queen, urged by the Duchess of Marlborough, drove to St. James's. Even at such a time the rivalry between the duchess and Mrs. Masham was not dropped for a moment. " When we came to St. James's, I carried her privately through my lodging into her green closet, and gave her a cup of broth, and afterwards she eat a very good dinner, and at night I found her at a table again, where she had been eating, and Mrs. Masham very close to her, who went out of the room as soon as I came in, but with an air of insolence and anger, and not in the humble manner she had sometimes affected of bedchamber woman." ^ During the queen's last illness, which took place at Kensington, the Whigs won their final victory. The accession of George I. 1 Mar and Kellie MSS., p. 271 (Hist. MSS. Com.). '■^ Private Correspondence of Sarah Duchess 0/ Marlborough, i., 415. ST. JAMES'S PALACE 269 was assured, and two days after his arrival in England he was conducted with great ceremony to St. James's Palace, and took up his residence there, keeping but little state. He was joined for a short time by the Prince and Princess of Wales, and the manner and appearance of the new royal family and their German attendants were of course unpopular. " The Princess came in a chariot to St. James's at five this evening, with four or five coaches and some guards, the women were rendered very disagreeable by their headdress such as I never saw, sort of night clothes." ^ Her arrival in London was thus described by Richard Barrett, but he had the grace to add that the princess's children were " the finest." A French visitor to England has left an interesting description of the Hanoverian Court towards the close of the reign of George L " On the Sunday following my arrival a friend asked me to accompany him to Court, and at mid-day we went together to St. James's Palace . . . Knowing there was a gallery leading to the chapel thro' which the Court must pass, we posted ourselves on it, and had not long to wait. Six Yeomen appeared at the head of the procession ; they reminded me much of the Swiss Guard at Versailles, being dressed in the same quaint fashion. They carried halberds on their shoulders, and walked two and two. These Yeomen were followed by several gentlemen of the Court, by the Duke of Grafton, the King's chamberlain, and by the Duke of Dorset, Master of the King's Household, each carrying a long white wand of office. Two sergeants- at-arms, or mace-bearers followed, carrying their maces on their shoulders, these being of silver-gilt, surmounted by crowns of the same precious metal. A nobleman of the ^ Hist. MSS. Com. Rep., xiii., App. 4, p. 367. 270 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND Court followed, carrying the sword of state. This weapon is very long and broad ; the scabbard is of crimson velvet, the hilt of massive gold, enriched with some precious stones. The King then appeared, followed by the three young Princesses who reside with him in the Palace ; they are the Prince of Wales's three eldest daughters. Each of these young Princesses was escorted by her squire, the train of her dress being carried by pages. About ten Gentlemen Pen- sioners closed the march. These gentlemen compose the King's special bodyguard, and consist of about forty persons with their officers ; their dress is of scarlet, with braidings and lacings of gold. They carry small axes or halberds, covered with crimson velvet, and ornamented with big silver- gilt nails. They mount guard on Sundays and on certain weekdays, only half their number being habitually on duty. These places can be purchased, and bring in about one hundred pounds sterling. I was surprised to see every one making a profound reverence or bow as the King went by, which he in his turn acknowledged by a slight inclination of the head. The English do not consider their King to be so very much above them that they dare not salute him, as in France ; they respect him and are faithful to him, and often sincerely attached to him. I speak, of course, of those who favour the reigning family, for there are in England many different political parties. ... At about two o'clock we returned to the chamber called the circle or drawing-room, and found it already filled with ladies and gentlemen. On leaving chapel the King appeared with the three young Princesses ; he was immediately surrounded ,by a circle of persons all standing up, there being no chairs in the room lest any one should be guilty of seating themselves. The King went to the end of the room and talked with the foreign ministers for a few ST. JAMES'S PALACE 271 minutes. Three ladies were then presented to His Majesty; he kissed them all affectionately on the lips. . . . The Prince and Princess of Wales arrived soon after the King ; I was surprised at this, for I know that the King and the Prince his son are not on good terms. The Prince and Princess together with Prince William, their youngest son, and the two youngest Princesses, live in a mansion belonging to Lord Leicester, and which they rent from him. As soon as the Princess of Wales entered the drawing-room the King went to greet her, treated her most graciously, and conversed with her for some time, but he did not speak to the Prince, and even avoided going near him." ^ The quarrel between the king and the Prince of Wales here referred to lasted throughout the reign of George L Its actual origin is not known exactly, but it broke out seriously, when the question of the regency was mooted, on the king's going to Hanover. The prince was excluded from the regency and the quarrel grew gradually worse, until the final point was reached at the christening of Prince George William, the son of the Prince of Wales, at St. James's Palace. Horace Walpole obtained a description of the scene from Lady Suffolk. " The exordium thus duly prepared, you must suppose, ladies, that the second act opens with a royal christening. The Princess of Wales had been delivered [1717] of a second son. The prince had intended his uncle, the Duke of York, Bishop of Osnaburg, should with his Majesty be godfathers. Nothing could equal the indignation of his Royal Highness when the King named the Duke of Newcastle for second sponsor, and would hear of no other. The christening took place as usual in the Princess bed-chamber. Lady Suffolk, then in * De Saussure : A Foreign View of England in the Reigns of George I. and George 11., ed. 1902, pp. 38-44. 272 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND waiting as woman of the bed-chamber, and of most accurate memory, painted the scene to me exactly. On one side of the bed stood the godfathers and godmother ; on the other the Prince and Princess's ladies. No sooner had the Bishop closed the ceremony, than the Prince, crossing the feet of the bed in a rage, stepped up to the Duke of Newcastle, and, holding up his hand and forefinger in a menacing attitude, said ' You are a rascal, but I shall find you ; ' meaning, in broken English, * I shall find a time to be revenged'."^ The prince was put under arrest, but after inquiries conducted by the Dukes of Roxburghe, Kent, and Kingston, by order of the king, he was released. He was, however, forbidden to appear at Court and was ordered to leave his apartments at St. James's. This order did not include the Princess of Wales, but she insisted on accom- panying her husband, and they departed immediately to the house of her chamberlain, the Earl of Grantham, in Albe- marle Street. Afterwards they established their household at Leicester House, which became the centre of all opposi- tion to the Government. George I. retained the custody of the three eldest princesses, and in spite of many attempts on the part of the princess, she was forbidden to see them. The disgrace of the Prince of Wales was further intensified by its notification to all the Courts of Europe, while in England no guard or mark of distinction was allowed him, and all visitors at Leicester House were forbidden the king's Court at St. James's. The quarrel, having reached these lengths, became a public scandal, and Walpole made great efforts to bring about a reconciliation. Lady Cowper, the princess's lady-in-waiting, kept a diary at this time, and its ^ Horace Walpole : Letters, ed. 1891, i., cxvii. vST. JAMES'S PALACE 273 pages are full of the protracted negotiations. Finally it was agreed that the princess might see her children and with the prince return to live at St. James's, after he had written a humble letter to the king. The prince and princess did not return to the palace, neither side really wishing it, and the recon- ciliation was hollow in the extreme. Lady Cowper describes the first public meeting of the king and his son in her diary. " The King spoke not to the Prince nor none of his Friends but the Duchess of Shrewsbury, who spoke once in vain ; but the second Time she said, whingeing, ' Je suis venue. Sire, pour faire ma cour, et je la veux faire.' It happened Lady Essex Robartes was in the Circle when our Folks came in, so they all kept at the Bottom of the Room, for fear of her, which made the whole Thing look like two Armies drawn up in Battle array ; for the King's Court was all at the Top of the Room, behind the King, and the Prince's Court behind him. The Prince looked down, and behaved prodigious well. The King cast an angry Look that Way every now and then ; and One could not help thinking 't was like a little Dog and a Cat — whenever the Dog stirs a Foot, the Cat sets up her Back, and is ready to fly at him. Such a Crowd was never seen, for not only Curiosity but Interest had brought it together. It had been used to keep the Drawing-rooms so empty for some Time, there was hardly six Women at once, to show the Neces- sity of a Reconciliation, and that the People were disgusted."^ Just before George I. left England for the last time, Horace Walpole was taken as a little boy to the apartments of the Countess of Walsingham, which opened out of those belong- ing to her aunt the Duchess of Kendal, and was there presented to George I. Years afterwards he wrote his 1 Diary of Lady Cowper, ed. 1865, p. 1 51-153. R.P. T 274 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND impression of the appearance of the old king : " It was that of an elderly man, rather pale, and exactly like his pictures and coins ; not tall ; of an aspect rather good than august ; with a dark tie-wig, a plain coat, waistcoat, and breeches of snuff- coloured cloth, with stockings of the same colour, and a blue ribbon over all." ^ George I. died in Hanover, and the day after the news arrived, his son George II. was proclaimed king ; " a proclamation was read in the two towns of West- minster and London. It was done in this fashion : First appeared a company of Grenadiers on horseback, with their officers at their head, and a band of musicians with haut- boys, fife, bassoon, and trumpets. Four Heralds-at-arms followed, magnificently mounted and clad in their coat- armour, a sort of overcoat on which the arms of England are stamped in colours. These four heralds followed each other in single file, and on either side of them rode a sergeant-at- arms, or mace-bearer, wearing a silver collar, in shape like an interlaced double-S. Eight men on foot carried the silver-gilt mace on their shoulders, and walked next to the sergeant-at-arms. The march was closed by a company of Horse Guards, preceded by its officers and by its kettledrums and trumpets. Stopping in front of St. James's Palace, the first herald read a long declaration informing the people of the death of George I. . . . and of the accession of his only son, King George II., . . . "^ George II., with Queen Caroline, had come to London immediately on hearing the news of his father's death from Sir Robert Walpole. " Crowds of people acclaimed them, and they alighted at the palace of St. James, where they were met by numerous lords and ladies who were waiting for them, and who paid them homage on their knees ^ Horace Walpole : Letters, ed. 1891, i., xcix. ^ De Saussure, p. 231-2. ST. JAMES'S PALACE 275 and kissed their hands. "^ "On the following Sunday, a recep- tion was held at the Court of St. James's, the drawing-room or circle being crowded."^ The accession of George II. made a great change at Court, which was more fully attended than in his father's time, while every corner of St. James's Palace was in requisition for the accommodation of the king and queen with their family and household. Queen Caroline departed from the practice of the last three reigns, when politics alone were of interest in the royal circle, and gathered together a varied collection of men at her levees, which " were a strange picture of the motley character and manners of a queen and learned woman. She received com- pany while at her toilet ; prayers, and sometimes a sermon, were read ; learned men and divines were intermixed with courtiers and ladies of the household : the conversation turned upon metaphysical subjects, blended with repartees, sallies of mirth, and the tittle-tattle of a drawing-room."^ Lord Hervey has preserved in his Memoirs a gossiping account of the first years of the reign of George II., and from him and from other memoirs much can be learned of the habits of the Court. Both king and queen were devoted card-players. "The Queen, at St. James's, passed her common evenings just as she had done at Kensington — that is, in her private apartment at quadrille with her lady-in-waiting, Mrs. Schutz and Lady Charlotte de Roussie ; whilst the Princess Caroline, Miss Dives (one of her maids of honour), and Lord Hervey played pools at cribbage ; and the Duke, Princess Emily, and the rest of the chance-comers ^ De Saussure, p. 229. ' Ibid., p. 231. * Coxe : Memoirs 0/ Sir R. Walpolc, i., 274. T 2 276 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND of the family played at basset. " ^ The king when in England played with great regularity, but, like his father, he preferred Hanover to England and spent much of his time there. The rest of the royal family, however, remained in England, and St. James's was the scene of many royal marriages both in this and the succeeding reigns. In 1734 the Princess Royal married the Prince of Orange, the ceremony taking place in the Lutheran Chapel,^ and two years later Frederick, Prince of Wales, received his bride, the Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, at the gates of the park and led her into the palace, where he presented her to the king and queen and the other members of the royal family. They were married in the Chapel Royal, with much state, but the peace of the Court was disturbed as in the preceding reign by the quarrel between the king and his eldest son, which became still more violent after the marriage. It seems to have arisen before the accession of George II., since on his son's arrival in England in 1727, the prince was received at St. James's with coolness by both the king and queen. He was excluded from the regency in 1732, and after the debate in the House of Commons over the prince's demand for an increase in his income, the efforts of Sir Robert Walpole alone prevented his expulsion from St. James's. This last measure was, however, taken after the birth of his eldest daughter in 1737. " It was not till within a month of the time for the event that the Prince of Wales officially announced to his father, on the best possible autho- rity, the probability of the prospect of the birth of a lineal heir to the Throne. Caroline appears at once to have ' Lord Hervey : Memoirs of the Reign of George II., ed. 1884, iii., 6-7. ^ The old Roman Catholic chapel had been converted for the use of the German Protestants in London. ST. JAMES'S PALACE 277 disbelieved the announcement. She was so desirous of the succession falhng to her second son, William. Queen Caroline determined to be present when the event took place. " These suspicions, of which the Queen made no secret, were of course well known to her son. He was offended by them — offended that the birth of the heir should take place in Hampton Court Palace. Accordingly, twice he brought the Princess to London and twice returned with her to Hampton Court. One evening the Prince and Princess, after dining with the King and Queen, took leave of them for the night and w^ithdrew to their apartments. Tokens of a super- vening change came on during the night, and the Prince at once prepared for action. He ordered his coach to be got ready and brought round to a side entrance of the Palace. The lights were extinguished, and the coach set off for St. James' Palace." ^ On their arrival, nothing was prepared for the princess, and " no sheets being to be come at, Her Royal Highness was put to bed between two table cloths." Less than an hour later, " At a quarter before eleven she was delivered of a little rat of a girl, about the bigness of a good large toothpick case." ^ The queen did not hear of the depar- ture of the prince and princess at once, but when the news was brought, she started to follow them, reaching St. James's at four in the morning. She saw the princess and the child, but did not exchange a word with the prince. On leaving the palace he " gave her his hand, and led her into the street to her coach, still dumb ; but a crowd being assembled at the gate, he kneeled down in the dirt and humbly kissed her Majesty's hand. Her indignation must have shrunk into * Lord Hervey : Memoirs, iii., 167-8. ^ Cit., Sheppard : Memorials 0/ St. James's Palace, ii., 19-20. 278 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND contempt." On her return to Hampton Court she found two letters from the prince, which she had not seen before her hurried departure, but they in no ways lessened the indignation of both king and queen. George wrote to his son, indignantly, charging him " with concealing from the King and Queen the condition of the Princess, with removing her from the place of the King's residence, concealing the birth of the young Princess, and again removing the Princess and her child from Hampton Court. These actions, and the Prince's conduct for a considerable time, compel the King to order him to leave St. James's with all his family, till he withdraws his confidence from those by whose instigation he is encouraged in such behaviour." ^ The queen again visited the Princess of Wales at St. James's, but so soon as was possible the prince and princess left their apartments at the palace and removed to Kew. Queen Caroline died in St. James's the year following her son's departure. Throughout her illness she was attended by the king and her children, with the exception of the Prince of Wales. He and his household came to London, but were sternly forbidden not only to see the queen but to come near the palace. The latter order, according to Lord Hervey, was partially evaded. " During this time the Prince's family had by little and little, under pretence first of inquiring after the Queen's health, as from the Prince or Princess, and afterwards for themselves, got into possession of coming every day and all daj^ to St. James's. . . . "^ Queen Caroline died on November 20, 1737. " About'ten o'clock on Sunday night .... the Queen began to rattle in the throat ; . . . . All she said before she died, was, ' I have now got an asthma. Open the window.' ^ Hist. MSS. Com. Rep., xv., App. 6, p. 186. ^ Lord Hervey : Memoirs, iii., 324. ST. JAMES'S PALACE 279 Then she said * Pray,' Upon which Princess Emily began to read some prayers, of which she scarce heard ten words before the Queen expired." ^ The queen's death produced a great change at St. James's, the king being less frequently in residence. The quarrel with the Prince of Wales never ceased till the death of the latter, but the king was reconciled to the widowed Princess of Wales. " The King and the Princess arc grown as fond as if they had never been of different parties, or rather as people who always had been of different. She discountenances all opposition, and he all ambition. Prince George, who with his two eldest brothers is to be lodged at St. James's, is speedily to be created Prince of Wales." ^ Prince George succeeded his grandfather in 1760 and removed to the palace from Savile House, where he was living at the time of the death of George II. He was little known to his subjects, but he quickly won approval and popularity in the country and the Court. " For the King himself, he seems all good- nature, and wishing to satisfy everybody. All his speeches obliging. I saw him again yesterday, and was surprised to find the levee-room had lost so entirely the air of the lion's den. This young man don't stand in one spot, with his eyes fixed royally on the ground, and dropping bits of German news ; he walks about, and speaks to everybody." ^ The marriage of the young king naturally became a subject of much import- ance, and various propositions were made, when George III. suddenly summoned the Council to St. James's and there announced his impending marriage with Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. The new queen landed at Harwich ^ Lord Hervey : Memoirs, iii., 344-5. "^ Horace Walpole : Letters, iii., 43. * Ihid., iv., 445. 28o ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND and arrived in London on September 8, 1761, coming straight to St. James's. " When first she saw the palace she trembled. The Duchess of Hamilton smiled. The Queen said, * You may laugh; you have been married twice; but it is no joke to me. ' The King received her in the garden of St. James's ; she would have kneeled, but he raised and embraced her, and led her to the Princess, where they and Lady Augusta dined together. Between nine and ten at night they went to chapel. The Duke of Cumberland gave her away, and after the ceremony they appeared for a few minutes in the drawing-room, and then went to supper." ^ The marriage took place in the German chapel. " At about ten o'clock the procession entered the Royal Chapel, the Princess being led to the altar by the Duke of York and Prince William. The Archbishop of Canterbury performed the ceremony, the bride being given away by the Duke of Cumberland. Ten bridesmaids attended her, who carried her train, which was of purple velvet, lined with ermine, the rest of her dress being of white satin and silver gau2e. . . .^ " The ceremony of the marriage being ended and the State attendants of the Queen having all been introduced to her in public, their Majesties nov/ returned to the apartments on their way to the grand supper which had been prepared for all the wedding company. This the bridal Queen from excessive fatigue, requested that she might be excused from attending. The King consented wiHingly, but led her to the table, as it were, to welcome the guests, and then back to her dressing-room, to be disencumbered of the brilliant parts of her dress, while a supper was prepared in a private room * Horace Walpole: Memoirs of Reign of George III. (1894), i., 56. ^ Mrs. Papendiek: Journals, i., 11. ST. JAMES'S PALACE 281 for the King and Queen alone "^ George III. and Queen Charlotte were, however, but little at St. James's Palace ; in the same year as their marriage Buckingham House was purchased for the queen, and there the king and queen, as well as subsequent sovereigns, generally resided when in London, only using St. James's on state occasions. This was necessitated in later reigns owing to a disastrous fire that burnt down much of St. James's Palace in i8og. The east wing of the inner courtyard was entirely destroyed, and with it were lost many of the most valuable pictures and other works of art that the palace contained. The state apartments were, however, untouched. Madame d'Arblay describes on several occasions how Queen Charlotte and her ladies used to drive to London from Kew for the drawing rooms. " This being a Court day," she wrote on July 27, 1786, " we went to town. The Queen dresses her head at Kew, and puts on her drawing-room apparel at St. James's. Her new attendant dresses all at Kew, except tippet and long ruffles, which she carries in paper, to save from dusty roads." ^ In the same year an attempt on the life of the king was made just as he was alighting at the garden gate of St. James's. A woman named Margaret Nicholson, who was afterwards found to be insane, presented a petition to the king, and struck him with a knife as he was taking it. The knife broke, and thus the king escaped, the woman being seized on the point of making a second attempt. Although the king and queen lived but little at the palace, most of their children were born there, the eldest, afterwards King George IV., being born on August 12, 1762. While Prince of Wales, his marriage with Princess * Mrs. Papendiek : Journals, i., 13. " Diary, ed. 1904, ii., 404. 282 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND Caroline of Brunswick was celebrated in the Chapel Royal. The prince, on first seeing his bride, had taken an intense personal dislike to her, which was visible to all those present at the marriage. " The princess looked dignified and com- posed, but the prince agitated to the greatest degree. He was like a man in despair, half crazy. He held so fast by the queen's hand she could not remove it. When the arch- bishop called on those to come forward who knew any impediment, his manner of doing it shook the prince and made me shudder. The Duke of Gloucester assured me the prince was quite drunk, and that after dinner he went out and drunk twelve glasses of Maraschino." The later sequel to this marriage has no connection with St. James's Palace, but the only daughter of the Prince and Princess of Wales, the Princess Charlotte, was baptized there in 1796. Both as regent and afterwards as king, George IV. rarely came to St. James's Palace, except for Court ceremonies and func- tions. Towards the close of the reign of George IIL the Allied Sovereigns visited England and were received in much state by the regent. The Emperor Alexander, however, did not occupy the apartments prepared for him at St. James's, except on State occasions, while the King of Prussia with his sons took up their residence at Clarence House. The hero of the occasion was Marshal Bliicher, who came in the suite of the Prussian king, and was lodged in the kitchen court of St. James's. He arrived there, " followed by an immense multitude, some got into the Carriage with him. The Crowd remained in the Court-yard till dark, huzzaing, and the gallant General frequently showing himself at the window to gratify them." ^ The prince regent also ^ Morning Chronicle June 8, 1814. Cit., Ashton : Social Life under the Regency, ed. 1889, p. 154. ST. JAMES'vS PALACE 283 received the two sovereigns in much state at St. James's Palace. The Duke of Clarence, who became the heir to the throne on the death of Princess Charlotte, had apartments in St. James's during the reign of George IV., and there his two daughters were born, both of whom, however, died in infancy. After his accession to the Throne as William IV., he with Queen Adelaide removed to St. James's Palace. The coronation procession, shorn of most of its splendour, was formed at St. James's, where the king had held his first levee, but three weeks before. Queen Victoria only used the Palace for State functions, and after 1865 the custom of holding drawing rooms there was given up, but the levees have always been and still are held in St. James's Palace. The most important ceremony that took place at St. James's during her reign was the queen's marriage with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg. " February 10. This day the marriage of the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty with Field-Marshal His Royal Highness Francis Albert Augustus Charles Emanuel, Duke of Saxe, Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, K.G., was solemnized at the Chapel Royal, St. James's. "A breakfast was provided at Buckingham Palace for the royal family and their immediate attendants, and for her Majesty's Ministers. " Prince Albert, attended by his suite, proceeded from the Palace about half-past eleven o'clock, to St. James's Palace, . . . " Her Majesty, attended by her Royal Household, accom- panied by her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent, proceeded at twelve o'clock, from Buckingham Palace to St. James's Palace, . . , 284 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND " The illustrious personages, and others composing the Procession, then assembled in the Throne-room, and having been called over by Garter Principal King of Arms, the Processions moved in the following order to the Chapel Royal." The prince's procession left the throne-room first. " On arrival at the Chapel, the Drums and Trumpets filed off in the Ante-Chapel, and, the Procession advancing, his Royal Highness was conducted to the seat provided for him on the left hand of the altar. His supporters, the reigning Duke of Saxe Coburg and Gotha, and the Hereditary Prince, with the officers of their suite, occupied seats near the Prince. The Master of the Ceremonies and the officers of the Bride- groom stood near the person of His Royal Highness. "The Lord Chamberlain and Vice-Chamberlain, with the two Heralds, preceded by the Drums and Trumpets, returned to attend Her Majesty." On the arrival of the queen's pro- cession "at the entrance of the Chapel the drums and trumpets filed off: the Gentlemen-at-Arms remained in the Ante-Chapel during the ceremony, and the Yeomen of the Guard at the foot of the staircase of the Ante-Chapel. Her Majesty's Gentlemen Ushers conducted the respective persons composing the Procession to the places provided for them ; the Princes and Princesses of the Blood Royal to the seats prepared for them on the haut-pas ; and the several ladies attendant on the Queen to the seats provided near her Majesty. " Her Majesty, on reaching the haut-pas, took her seat in the chair of state provided for the occasion on the right of the altar, attended by the Ladies bearing her Majesty's train. " Her Majesty the Queen Dowager was present during the Solemnity on the left of the altar, attended by the Countess Mayo and Lady Clinton, Ladies in Waiting ; Earl ST. JAMl'S'S 1MLACI-: 2.S5 Howe, G.C.IL, Lord Chamberlain ; the Earl of Denbij^h, G.C.H., Master of the Horse; the Hon. William Ashley, Vice-Chamberlain and Treasurer; Colonel Sir Horace Seymour, K.C.H., Equerry ; and J. G. C. Desbrowc and J. G. T. Sinclair, esqs.. Pages of Honour. " The Service was then commenced by the Archbishop of Canterbury, having on his right the Archbishop of York, and on his left the Bishop of London, who assisted as Dean of the Chapel Royal. The Duke of Sussex gave away his Royal Niece ; and at that part of the Service where the Arch- bishop of Canterbury read the words, ' I pronounce that they be man and wife together,' the Park and Tower guns fired. At the conclusion of the service, the procession returned, that of the Bridegroom preceding as before, excepting that Prince Albert conducted Her Majesty from the Chapel Royal to the Throne-room, where the registry of the Marriage was attested with the usual formahties. Her Majesty and the Prince proceeded the same afternoon to Windsor Castle. A banquet, at which the Earl of ErroU presided as Lord Steward of the Household, was given at St. James's Palace ; and honoured by the presence of the Duchess of Kent, the Reigning Duke and Hereditary Prince of Saxe Coburg, and by all the members of her Majesty's Household. . . . The day was universally kept as a holiday throughout the country, and in the evening there were very splendid illuminations in the metropolis and in all the principal towns." ^ Two more weddings during the reign of Queen Victoria, were celebrated in the Chapel Royal, St. James's. The queen's eldest daughter was married to Prince Frederick William of Prussia on January 25, 1858. Great preparations for the ceremony ' GentUman's Magazine (New Series), xiii., 308-311. 286 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND had been made at St. James's, so that the chapel became " a more fitting scene for a state marriage than it was when Queen Victoria appeared there as a bride eighteen years ago." There seems to have been a desire in some quarters in Berlin that the marriage should take place in Germany, but, as the queen wrote to Lord Clarendon, " Whatever may be the usual practice of Prussian Princes, it is not every day that one marries the eldest daughter of the Queen of Eng- land."^ Lastly, in 1893, King George and Queen Mary were married in the Chapel Royal, and afterwards took up their residence in the apartments in St. James's Palace, known by the name of York House, which had been occupied previously, first by the King of Hanover, and then by the Duchess of Cambridge until her death in i88g. ^ Letters of Queen Victoria, iii., 321. (^Keneing^ott (paface. IN the south-west corner of Kensington Gardens, with- drawn from the busy highway of the old Kensington Road, " mid groves and avenues of ancient elms," stands the quiet, sombre, brick-built palace which, after being neglected and well-nigh forgotten for many years, is once more receiving some of the attention which it deserves. Its outside appearance is not imposing, and upon the whole is rendered incongruous and unsatisfactory by the sharp contrasts which it presents between a well-proportioned building, skilfully, if plainly, designed and carried out in good material, and one in which poor material has been worked up into a commonplace pile without any originality of design or regard for harmony. In spite of these obvious disadvantages, the building (partly on account of its situation, with the park on three sides and the green on the other) still fulfils its original intention in that it has about it an old-world air of quiet comfort and peaceful retirement. The south-west is the oldest part of the palace, and the lower portion of the south front in deep crimson brick to the left remains to-day probably much as it was in 1691, when it had been altered and improved by Sir Christopher Wren for King William III. and Queen Mary. The loftier portion to the right in bright red brick with its gallery " end " to the 288 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND left of the east front is a specimen of Wren's idea of a "gallery building," an abiding reproach to the rest of the east front joined on to it some thirty years later by Kent. This block unfortunately occupies the most commanding position at the present time, facing the Broad Walk and overlooking the Round Pond, and in its blatant inferiority well deserves to be called extremely ugly. To the north- west of this the older part of the palace is again visible, with two main storeys in deep russet brick, and on the first floor the fifteen uniform windows of the principal rooms occupied by Queen Mary and Queen Anne. Quite at the north end, beneath an ugly Georgian portico, is the public entrance through a plain oak doorway which opens on to the queen's staircase leading to the state apartments. It is reached directly from the Bayswater Road by a side pathway in Kensington Gardens, which skirts the meadow to the rear of Kensington Palace Gardens. The principal entrance is on the west side of the palace facing the green, and leads beneath an archway into an old- fashioned quadrangle called Clock Court, whence numerous entrances lead to the various private suites of apartments. The early history of the house which afterwards became Kensington Palace is obscure. In 1578 only six persons were rated in the overseer's books as living in the whole of Kensington and Knightsbridge. There is some reason to believe that a house adjoining the White Hart, with fields abutting on Hyde Park and a large kitchen garden to the north, the descent of which can be traced between the years i6ig and 1631 from Sir Henry Rich (afterwards Lord Kensington and the first Lord Holland) through his father- in-law. Sir Walter Cope, of Cope's Castle (better known as Holland House) to the Coppin family, may be the same one Kl-XSIXOTOX PALACl-: 289 from which Ann, the dauj,'htcr of Sir Hencage Finch, formerly Recorder of London, was married in Kensington parish church in 1651. No deed, however, has yet been found to definitely prove how or when their house at Kensington came into the possession of the Finches ; but when Hyde Park was sold by Cromwell in 1653 and 1654 several parcels of the park were described as being bounded by Mr. Finch's house and lands. There is a notice in the parish books of Kensington for 1656 of a burial which took place from Lady Finch's house. Solicitor-General Sir Heneage Finch, son of the Recorder, purchased the estate in 1661 from his younger brother, Sir John, who was a noted physician in his day. Later in the same year Sir Heneage obtained a grant from Charles H. of the ditch and fence dividing his lands from Hyde Park " from the south highway leading to the town of Kensington to the north highway leading to the town of Acton." On June 14, 1664, Pepys went to Kensington to see Lady Sandwich ; on which occasion he visited Sir Heneage Finch's garden and saw the fountain, and, says he, " a mighty cool place it is, with a great laver of water in the middle." In 1681 Sir Heneage was created Earl of Nottingham, and his house at Kensington became generally known as Notting- ham House. His son Daniel, the second earl, supported the cause of William HL and became Lord Chancellor and chief adviser to Queen Mary, when her husband was absent on the Continent. The king, who suffered from asthma, wished to find a house amid healthy surroundings, yet within easy reach of Parliament, where he could breathe purer air than was possible at Whitehall. He seems to have hesitated for a R.P. U 290 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND time between Holland House and Nottingham House, but eventually purchased the latter from its owner for 18,000 guineas, subsequently to July 4, 1689, at which date it is still referred to in the State Papers as Lord Nottingham's house at Kensington. Thus " the black, funereal Finches, a clever, on the whole, a worthy race, but melancholy," gave place before this strong, persistent man, whose statue in bronze — " a gift from the Kaiser William to King Edward VII. for the British nation " — confronts the onlooker from the middle of the gravel walk leading to the main entrance on the south front of the palace, upon which he has left the impress of his own " Dutch solidity." The transaction was completed before September 19, 1689, for on that date Sir Christopher Wren, surveyor- general of works to William and Mary (as he had previously been both to Charles II. and James II.), applied to the Lords of the Treasury for an allowance of ;^5oo towards the building at Kensington, praying them to take into consideration the ordinary allowance for the repairs of the king's houses. .The actual work of repairing and rebuilding appears to have been commenced on October i, judging from the enrolled accounts of Thomas Lloyd, paymaster, in the Public Record Office, which were made up from the work- men's weekly pay-books, and together cover a period of six and a half years. On October 12 Simon de Brienne and his wife were appointed, by letters patent, housekeeper and wardrobe- keeper at Kensington Palace, and during this month the king and queen took up their abode at Holland House, pending the alterations. Queen Mary disliked Holland KENSINGTON PALACE 291 House and hurried on the work at Kensington as much as possible, and in spite of an accident which occurred in November, when a new apartment, where she had been but a short time before, collapsed and killed some of the work- men, it was sufficiently advanced for the move to be made before the end of the year. On February 25, 1690, Evelyn writes : " I went to Kensington, which King William had bought of Lord Nottingham and altered, but was yet a patched-up building; but with the gardens, however, it is a verj' neat villa." During the three months in 1690 when King William was in Ireland, the queen found some relief from her anxiety for his safety and from the difficulties which beset her in an unsettled realm by spending a few quiet hours now and again at Kensington. Her letters to him at this time contain several references to the progress of the new building, in which they both took so much interest. When the news of his expected return arrived, she hastened to Kensington " to put things in order there." During the greater part of 1691 William was away on campaign in Flanders, but the end of October in that year found Mary rejoicing in the return of her husband, the convenience of her house, and the neatness of her furniture. This peaceful state of things did not continue long, as a fire occurred at 3.30 a.m. on November 9, which burnt one side of the house, since there were no appliances at hand to extinguish it, and it was six o'clock before a fire-engine arrived from St. James's. Among the Earl of Denbigh's MSS. there is a short but graphic account by an eye-witness of the early morning scene in the garden, where all the members of the household had gathered for safety. The king and queen are described U 2 292 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND as laughing heartily at the ladies of the Court, who were rushing about en chemise with needless alarm. " The king was walking about looking at the bundles of goods which had been packed up by each person and was especially amused at a heap of Dutch cheese, bottles and bread which some-one had got together as if to withstand a siege." Another letter written at the time tells how the queen, fearing that the fire might have been only an excuse to make the king leave at night, persuaded him not to go to Whitehall, as he had thought of doing between four and five in the morning. For, throughout their reign, to add to their other troubles, they had constantly to guard against the likelihood of assassination. The cost of the restoration and rebuilding at Kensington Palace to this time, when Mary thought that she " had done with the workmen there," had been nearly ;^6o,ooo, of which £8,000 had been expended on making a new road to it through Hyde Park. Carpenters were paid at the rate of 3s. and 2s. 8^. a day, masons and bricklayers at 3s., 2S. ^d., and IS. M., plasterers at 2s. 6d., is. 8^^., and is., while labourers received 2S., is. M., and is. a day. Gravel was " laid solid in the square for coaches," and a large clock and bell were erected, which cost with weights, pulleys, and ropes £()7 js. 6d. There is a good view of these, with the sundial beneath, from the windows of Queen Caroline's drawing-room in the state apartments. The work done for Queen Mary during this period by Sir Christopher Wren, with Nicholas Hawkesmore as his clerk of works, included the decorative door in the east wall, round the corner from the public entrance, built to give access to the staircase leading to her gallery. The fine stone carving above it bears the initials W. M. R. on a central shield. KENSINGTON PALACE 293 The staircase itself in its plain oaken severity, with its wainscotting of deep reddish-brown, every panel of which has been fitted to its appropriate place with the fine sense of proportion which Wren possessed in such a pre-eminent degree, and the landing windows intact with panes and mouldings of the size and thickness which were part of his plan, forms an admirable introduction to the beautiful gallery above. It is most restful to sit on one of the low oak window- seats in this room, now as it was two centuries ago, and enjoy the quiet sense of pleasure which the low-coved ceiling, the oak panelling of the same rich colour as the wainscotting of the staircase, the rich carving of the cornice and doorway brackets, and the unspoiled windows with their pleasant outlook, all combine to impart. The chimney- piece on the right is the original one designed by Wren, the other is copied from it ; the looking-glasses with the fantastic gilding above them testify to the good workman- ship of Gerard Johnson, cabinet-maker, and Robert Streeter, serjeant-painter, in that they have survived a century and a half of neglect. The two next rooms are more immediately connected with Queen Anne, but Queen Mary's privy chamber, the ceiling of which is also coved, was finished for her as it appears to-day, the initials W. and M. occurring in the carved oak cornice, but the oak panelling which still covered the walls at the beginning of the last century is missing. Two specimens of the " neat furniture " of this queen show how beautifully it must have harmonised with her rooms, the writing and work tables which she constantly used. Queen Mary was interested in gardening as well as in 294 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND architecture, and the palace grounds were laid out in the Dutch style as far as the highway on the south and also on the east, extending northwards to the fine red-brick piers supporting vases of carved Portland stone which at the present time, face the north-end of Queen Anne's orangery. Large sums of money were expended in statues, stone vases, urns, chairs and arbours, and other ornamental work, as well as for levelling, planting, and gravelling. There was a terrace by the bowling green, and the gravel walks were distinguished by such names as the West End Walk, the Little Walk to the wood, the Brazen-Face Walk, the Elm- tree Walk. A contemporary account describes these gardens as " not great, nor abounding with fine plants. The orange, lemon, myrtle, and what other trees they had there in summer, were all removed to Mr. London's and Mr. Wise's greenhouse at Brompton Park, a little mile from them. But the walks and grass laid very fine, and they were digging up a flat of four or five acres to enlarge the garden." The next two years, as her memoirs show, were very trying ones for Mary. The fear of invasion in 1692 ; the inaction of the Fleet under Admiral Russell, at length relieved by the battle of La Hogue ; the enforced absence of King William in Flanders for six months and the ill- success of the war, coupled with treachery and family complications at home, induced her during the summer to try a health cure at Kensington. " When," she writes, " I reflect on the nineteen days of folly I spent there, I hate myself for it ; yet then I persuaded myself it was necessary ; for I was to drink Spa waters, and with that one must for one's health neglect all things else." It was in this year that the Duchess of Marlborough, seeing that no notice had been taken by the king and queen KENSINGTON I'ALACF. 295 of her husband's treasonous correspondence with the Court at St. Germain, and that the Princess Anne was entirely under her own influence, attended the Court at Kensington as if nothing had occurred. Queen Mary promptly forbade the repetition of this intrusion, and an angry correspondence followed, but, on the return of King William, the Earl of Marlborough was abruptly dismissed from his office as lord of the bed-chamber. Since Anne persisted in retaining her favourite against the express wishes both of William and her sister Mary, the coolness which had existed for some time between the two sisters ripened into an open breach. The only member of her family who afforded Queen Mary real pleasure at this time was the little Duke of Gloucester, Anne's only surviving child, who usually lived at Campden House, close to Kensington Palace, and every day when his aunt was in residence there the boy was taken to see her. King William also took a great deal of interest in him, for, although delicate, he was spirited, outspoken, and full of promise. " One day before the king's departure for the campaign in 1694 the little duke had a grand field-day in Kensington Gardens, for by way of encouraging military tastes in his heir. King William had given him a troop of boys to exercise as soldiers, and on this occasion condescended to review them. . . . The child very affectionately promised his Majesty the assistance of himself and his regiment for the Flemish war; then turning to the queen, he said eagerly, ' My mamma once had guards as well as you ; why does she not have them now ?'.... King William presented the duke's drummer, on the spot, with two guineas, as a reward for the loudness of his music, which proved a seasonable diversion to the awkward question." 296 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND On December ig Queen Mary was taken ill at Kensing- ton Palace, and the next day, with a premonition of the end, she sat up all night in her private room, burning and destroy- ing papers. Her illness developed into smallpox, and when dangerous symptoms showed themselves, William is said to have " remained with her night and day, while she struggled between life and death." ** However the king's general character might have appeared to savour of the stoic, yet his heart could be moved to the most tender emotions ; for whilst her Majesty lay upon the bed of death, he repeatedly fainted, so overwhelming was his grief." He paid her the tribute of saying " that during their whole wedlock he had never known one single fault in his queen." She died on December 28, " beloved by all who knew her personally, and honoured and respected by all but the partisans of the bigoted and frivolous Court of Versailles." Two portraits of her hang in the queen's gallery, one when she was Princess of Orange, painted by Wissing for her father, the original of several copies ; the other in royal robes, facing the companion portrait of her husband at the other end of the gallery. William III. was so pleased with these portraits that he knighted Kneller for painting them. Sir Godfrey Kneller, the favourite artist, and Radcliffe, the eccentric Jacobite physician of this period, were great friends and lived next door to one another at Kensington. For, as Bowack writes in his Antiquities of Middlesex, " Kensington, being the place King William was pleased to fix upon for his residence, was during the course of his reign filled with persons of honour and distinction, and grew extremely in building and pleasant retreats." So great was their friendship that an entrance was made leading from one garden to the other. This gave rise to a domestic disturbance KENSINGTON PALACF. 297 on one occasion, when Kneller exclaimed, " I shall take the door away and brick up the aperture." " Take it and do what you like with it, except paint it," observed Radcliffe. " I am willing to take anything from you, except physic," retorted Kneller. The rebuilding at Kensington Palace after the fire in i6gi cost about £b,ooo, and during the next five years over ^^35,000 was laid out in further alterations and improve- ments. " The great court and the highway before the house " were paved with ragstone for £s^-\ 4^- Si. and Gabriel Gibber, statuary, was paid ^^787 5s. for four great flower pots of Portland stone, richly carved, probably those surmounting the four pilasters of the same stone which form the decorative work in the south front. For it was at this time that Wren designed and built the king's gallery in this part of the building and the staircase leading to it. These are reached through the state rooms belonging to a later period and have been greatly changed by the decorative art which was then applied to them. The ceiling of the gallery was originally plain and the walls oak-panelled to correspond with the oak cornice and doors, which Mr. Law says " are among the finest specimens any- where existing of Wren's decorative art." Grinling Gibbons, carver, received for work done in this room and elsewhere in the " new gallery building " . . . " and other places about the palace £"839 os. ^d." Although the original chimneypiece has been removed, part of the overmantel remains with the old map and dial made for King William by Robert Norden and Thomas Colliston. The map supplied him with the names of the towns and other information for his campaigns in Flanders ; the dial showed him at a glance from which quarter the wind 298 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND was blowing by an ingenious contrivance which connected the dial-hand to a vane above the roof. The vane was fitted up and painted by Isaac Thompson for ^^54 8s. ^d. Thus this room, which is chiefly connected with William III., throws an interesting sidelight on the warlike turn of his energetic mind, the asthmatical infirmity from which he suffered, and the desire which constantly impelled him to leave England for Holland. A pleasant anecdote, showing William's love for children, has been handed down by the secretary in attendance on the occasion when Lord Buckhurst, the little son of the Earl of Dorset, then Lord Chamberlain, knocked at the door of the king's gallery. When asked what he wanted, " You," he replied, " to be a horse to my coach. I've wanted you a long time ! " William turned to his little friend with a smile, such as his secretary had never seen on his face before, and, taking the string of the coach, dragged it up and down the long gallery, till his playfellow was satisfied. Evelyn paid a second visit to Kensington Palace on April 23, i6g6. The entry in his diary runs, " I went to see the king's house at Kensington. It is very noble, but not great. The gallery furnished with the best pictures from all the houses, Titian, Raphael, Correggio, Holbein, Julio Romano, Bassan, Vandyke, Tintoret, and others ; a great collection of porcelain ; and a pretty private library. The gardens about it very delicious." There is a catalogue of the pictures to which Evelyn refers in the British Museum, dated 1700. After the death of Queen Mary, a formal reconciliation had taken place between King William and the Princess Anne, but, as Burnet writes, " the king did not bring her into any share in business ; nor did he order his ministers to wait upon her and give her any account of affairs." KENSINGTON PALACE 299 He continued, however, to be interested in the young Duke of Gloucester, who was taken one day in state to Kensington Palace by his father, Prince George of Denmark, to be invested with the Order of the Garter. William " buckled it with his own hands, an office usually performed by one of the Knights Companions at the mandate of the sovereign." An historic ceremony in connection with the same Order took place in May, i6g8, in the presence chamber, another of Wren's rooms which was considerably altered at the same time as the king's gallery, when William III. gave an audience to Count de Bonde, Ambassador Extraordinary from the Court of Sweden. He brought with him the insignia of the Order belonging to his late master, King Charles XI., and, after a long oration, he handed them to the sovereign, who redelivered them to the Bishop of Salisbury, then Chancellor of the Order. On this occasion the Knights Companions were assembled " in their mantles, caps, and feathers, attended by the officers of the Order in their mantles, and the heralds in their coats." Czar Peter the Great, " one of the most extraordinary men who figures in the history of any age or country," in the course of his long stay in England in 1698, paid several visits to William III. at Kensington Palace. He liked to see without being seen, and, when a ball was given in honour of the Princess Anne on her birthday, viewed the dancers in the king's gallery from a small gallery erected for the pur- pose. The portrait of the Czar which Kneller painted for William HI. ranks as one of the best still extant. It hangs in Queen Mary's privy chamber, revealing a striking figure in armour, which commands attention because it shows the man as he then was in his twenty-seventh year ; restless, inscrutable, with the Tartar strain visibly stamped upon him. 300 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND Another contemporary portrait in this room is that of Matthew Prior, the poet, who owed his introduction at Court to his patron, the Earl of Dorset. He wrote the following lines in appreciation of William III. : — Little Will, the scourge of France, No godhead, but the first of men. This king "exacted the utmost regularity in every depart- ment of his palace and sometimes by means ungracious ; for latterly he became hasty, which growing by indulgence into peevishness, betrayed him into acts unworthy his exalted rank, even to the using severe and bitter language to his inferior attendants, whom he not unfrequently in his splenetic fits, chastised with the cane." The young Duke of Gloucester died in 1700, a few days after his eleventh birthday, "to the great grief of all concerned in him " ; and William became more determined than ever in his efforts against France. In the midst of his plans to thwart the ambition of Louis XIV., " in a critical time for his own glory," he met with the accident in Hampton Court Park which eventually cost him his life. Against the advice of his surgeons, he insisted on driving the same night to Kensington Palace, where dangerous symptoms soon showed themselves. The last fortnight of William's life was spent in maturing the Grand Alliance to form a powerful coalition against France. In spite of severe suffering, his strong sense of duty, coupled with " his characteristic decision and firmness, his enlarged and comprehensive mind and businesslike habits," enabled him to carry out his purpose with " a cool, deliberate foresight and presence of mind that surprised all about him." KENSINGTON PALACE 301 The two faithful friends who had followed William from Holland, Bentinck, Lord Portland, and Kcppel, Earl of Albemarle, were with him at the last. " Je tire vers ma fin," he quietly said to Albemarle, who had hurried to his bedside from the seat of war ; " I must submit," to the physician in attendance. When no longer able to speak, he took Bentinck's hand and pressed it tenderly to his heart. The body lay in state in the "little bed-chamber," watched day and night by servants, from March 8 to April 12, when the funeral procession left Kensington for W^estminster Abbey. Sir Christopher Wren and Nicholas Hawkesmore retained under Queen Anne the offices which they had held under her predecessor. At her accession there was a debt of over j^4,ooo on Kensington Palace, and only a few trifling addi-" tions were made to it during her reign. Expense, however, was not spared on the gardens, which were considerably enlarged and improved under the direction of Wise and London, whom Addison describes in No. 477 of the Spectator as " the heroic poets of gardening." Bowack, writing in 1705, says, "There is a noble collection of foreign plants and fine neat greens, which makes it pleasant all the year, and the contrivance, variety, and disposition of the whole is extremely pleasing. . . . Her Majesty has been pleased lately to plant near thirty acres more towards the north, separated from the rest by a stately green-house, not yet finished : upon this spot is near one hundred men daily at work, and so great is the progress they have made, that in less than nine months the whole is levelled, laid out, and planted, and when finished will be very fine." A very good idea of the result can be obtained from the engraving of Kensington Palace in Queen Anne's time in Kip's Britannia Illustrata. 302 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND Bowack's " stately greenhouse," Queen Anne's orangery, was erected for her by Sir Christopher Wren, a unique specimen of the combination of the useful with the beautiful in the hands of a true artist. A detailed, appreciative de- scription of both the interior and exterior of this interesting building, " one of the most beautiful examples of the art of the Renaissance in London, if not in England," with minute particulars of the cost of its erection, are given in Mr. Law's Guide to Kensington Palace. Wren also built the alcove for Queen Anne which was placed facing the orangery at the end of the gravel walk leading from the south front, against the wall which used to shut in the palace grounds from the Kensington highway. Anne enlarged the park of Kensington Palace, commonly known as Kensington Gardens, by enclosing about one hundred acres from Hyde Park, and formed a paddock " stocked with fine deer and antelopes." The names of Buck Hill Gate and Buck Hill Walk still survive to mark the whereabouts of this paddock. Queen Anne was very fond of Kensington Palace and usually lived there when she was not at Windsor. She and her husband. Prince George of Denmark, occupied the wing to which the queen's staircase leads, and in consequence these have sometimes been called the Denmark wing and staircase. Two of the state rooms bear her name. Queen Anne's closet and private dining-room. The little room was formerly oak-panelled and corresponded to the larger one in which Wren's handiwork remains still unspoiled, conveying a picturesque air of comfort from the coved ceiling carried behind the oak cornice to the two charming recesses and the beautiful protruding doorway. The pictures are all of the time of Queen Anne ; her KENSINGTON PALACE 303 husband and son, both in armour, look down from the walls. Here also are John Churchill, first Duke of Marlborough, about twenty-three years of age, handsome and graceful, his renown as a military leader still in the future ; and William, Earl Cowper, Lord Chancellor at the time of Dr. Sacheverell's trial, who is almost hidden behind the large cabinet in the deep recess. Queen Anne herself figures in two interesting functions, in one of which the celebrated Sarah is in attendance in her office as Mistress of the Robes. In the second year of her reign Queen Anne received a visit from Charles of Austria, who was then on his way to Spain to take possession of the crown which England helped him to secure against the French claimant, at such great cost, in the war of the Spanish succession. " When he dined in public with the queen, he attracted the admiration of all ranks, who crowded to Windsor in great numbers to see him." At the commencement of this meal, Charles presented his sword to the Duke of Marlborough with Spanish courtliness, saying " that he had nothing worthier of his acceptance, for he was poor, and had little more than his sword and his mantle." " At the end of the meal he, with elaborate compliments, prevailed on the duchess to give him the napkin, which it was her office to present to the queen, and he held it for her Majesty, when she washed her hands. At the moment of giving back the napkin to the duchess, he presented her with a superb diamond ring." The portrait of this Spanish king, who afterwards became Charles VI. of Austria, father to the great Empress Maria Theresa, and whose " engaging manners, noble appearance and superior accomplishments" made a great impression in England, hangs in the queen's galler}- in Kensington Palace. For painting this portrait KncUer was created a 304 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND knight of the Roman Empire by the Emperor Leopold, the father of Charles. Next it hangs the interesting portrait of Mrs. Elliott, wife of one of the gentlemen of the bed-chamber to Charles IL, the work of John Riley, a good portrait painter of the time of Charles II. and James IL Anne was holding her Court at Kensington in 1707 when the negotiations were concluded for the union of England and Scotland. On this occasion the Duke of Hamilton, the Lord High Commissioner for settling the union, was created a peer of England and received a pension of £3,000 a year. In 1708 Anne withdrew to Kensington as frequently as possible to nurse her sick husband, who was suffering from violent and distressing fits of asthma, in quiet and good air. Prince George, called " est-il possible" by his father-in-law, James IL, was a man of few words, dull and heavy, though of proved valour, who left absolutely no impression on English political life. He had been a good husband to Anne, who tended him in the declining months of his life with the utmost devotion. In these wifely cares she was assisted by Abigail Masham, who was in constant attendance upon her. It was at this time that the Duchess of Marlborough, informed of " the grand apartments in which her cousin Masham received company, whenever her friends visited her at Kensington Palace," came to the conclusion that these were some which had been fitted up for Keppel by King William, and allotted to herself but never used. She hastened to Kensington to protest, and three stormy inter- views ensued, " in the last of which the insolence of the duchess broke the last hold on the affections of Anne." KENSINGTON PALACE 305 When the Prince lay dying on October 28, she intruded as Mistress of the Robes into the room. " Withdraw," commanded the heart-broken wife. Sarah had the grace to retire, but only into the background. " I was in the room," she wrote, "when he died and led her into her closet at Kensington." Shortly afterwards she carried Anne off in her private carriage to St. James's. The rupture which had taken place in the friendship of Mrs. Morley and Mrs. Freeman was never healed, and the final interview between them, on April 6, 1710, occurred at Kensington Palace, it is said, in Queen Anne's private dining-room. Sarah had written the following letter to the queen : — " I am glad that your Majesty is going to Kensington to make use of the fresh air, and to take care of your health. I will follow you thither and wait every day till it is convenient to you to see me, as what I have to say is of such a nature as to require no answer." " I followed my letter to Kensington so soon that her Majesty could not write another harsh letter, which I found she intended. I sent a page of the backstairs to acquaint her Majesty I was there." At the interview which ensued, " she . . . repeated the same thing over and over again that I might put what I had to say in writing. ' You said you desire no answ'er and I shall give you none.' Sarah : ' I was confident her Majesty would suffer for such an instance of inhumanity.' The queen answered, ' That will be to myself.' And thus ended," says the duchess, " this remarkable conversation, the last I ever had with her Majesty." After this Queen Anne, "jealous of again being subject to the dominion of a single favourite, which had been so severely exercised by the Duchess of Marlborough, now divided her R.P. X 3o6 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND confidence betwixt Mrs. Masham, the patroness of the Tories, and the Duchess of Somerset, who was inclined towards the opposite faction, and with the petty craft of a weak mind, amused herself by balancing the strength of contending parties against each other, in order that both might be sensible of their dependence on her personal favour." Of the writers of that time who were visitors at Kensington Palace, Addison and Steele ranked among the Whigs; Swift, Prior, and Bolingbroke among the Tories. Swift describes Anne as sitting " in a circle of twenty visitors with her fan in her mouth, saying about three words once a minute to those near her, and then, upon hearing that dinner was ready, going out." For Anne was much addicted to the pleasures of the table, and both she and her husband are said to have become restless if ministers lingered after six, their customary dinner-hour. She had beautiful hands and a sweet voice, but her mind was without cultivation ; her one accomplishment was music ; her favourite recreation, cards. A card-table of hers, rescued from a lumber-room at Hampton Court Palace, where care- less hands used the inside of it for a palette, now stands in Queen Mary's prixy chamber. It is considered to be of old Dutch workmanship, from the white flowers introduced into the decorative work on the outside ; and the six legs, two of which can be closed or opened out as required, are beautifully turned. On August 4, 1713, there took place at Kensington Palace the installation of the Knights of the Garter, among whom Harley was one, which was the last Chapter of the Order held by Queen Anne. A representation of it by Peter Angelis hangs over the mantelpiece in her private dining- room. KENSINGTON PALACr: -■;'7 In the following year the queen's health was breaking visibly. " She had had her day, one long day of warfare, and as it faded into the gloaming there was still the din of strife, come so near that it raged around her very walls." In July she came to Kensington, hoping by the dismissal of Harley to put an end to the perpetual quarrels which took place between him and Bolingbroke. This gave rise to fresh dissension. " Who would succeed Oxford ? " At the Council "the factions railed at each other, indifferent to the presence of the broken woman, haggard and bowed with illness, who heard in silence . . . still the clamour raged. To Bolingbroke the chance of life had come, and for all of them he was a match in a contest of wits, their match in spirit and endurance. The summer night wore on. But night and day were the same to the reckless gentleman who dominated the Board, unconscious that his royal mistress was dying before his eyes. The clock chimed one . . • then two. The queen's eyes were bent imploringly upon them. If only they would desist. . . . But what cared they ? . . . The room faded from her vision. The angry faces, the voices were far away. And Anne lay in a swoon at the feet of her unruly councillors."^ " Gentle hands carried the queen to her bed-chamber to die." As she neared her last moments the Council was again assembled at Kensington Palace. The Dukes of Somerset and Argyll broke into the Council Chamber, without a summons, and disconcerted the measures of the Tories. The whole party proceeded to the queen's bed-chamber. She was sensible, though very weak, and, at the recommenda- tion of the lords, gave the white staff to Shrewsbury, bidding him use it for the good of her people. * Ryan : Queen Anne and her Court, 714. X 2 3o8 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND The administration of the government was invested in seven regents until the arrival of George I. ** In achieving his mastery Bolingbroke effected his own ruin, assured the ruin of the Stuarts and laid the queen upon her death-bed." " When she died a packet was found upon her pillow. It was perhaps the precious document which enshrined her wishes. But its only influence upon the destiny of England was the slender column of smoke, which ascended from the grate of the Council Chamber, as the regents solemnly burnt to ashes its unrecorded message." Thus, as Thackeray has vividly portrayed in Esmond, was Kensington Palace " the last serious battle-ground of the Stuart cause." Anne died on August i, and her body lay in state for three weeks before it was removed, beneath a purple canopy, for burial. Leigh Hunt describes her successor as " a short, round- featured, ease-loving, selfish, dull man ; not ill-natured, where not thwarted, but capable of hating stubbornly." He " could not speak English, never cared to learn it ; cared in fact for nothing but his ease and his German division." George, when in England, lived at Kensington Palace with his German favourites, but was scarcely ever seen, so secluded was the life which he led. He was no patron of Wren, who was driven from his office as surveyor-general in 1718 by the underhand influence of those who were intriguing against him. The work of erecting a further suite of state rooms at Kensington Palace was entrusted about 1721 to William Kent. During the next two years or so he built the three large rooms known as Queen Caroline's drawing-room, the cube room, and the king's drawing-room. These are sandwiched in between KENSINGTON PALACE 309 Wren's earlier and later work for William III. and form a good specimen of the style of building and decoration which came into vogue in England under the first two Georges. " Kent was then the only oracle ; and such was his reputation, that he was applied to by all who were emulous for distinction, by an ostentatious display of their conse- quence or wealth. He not only projected alterations in their mansions, and metamorphised their pleasure-grounds and gardens, but changed the fashions of their chairs and tables and gave new designs for picture and glass frames and other furniture; he new-modelled their plate, and even ladies of rank consulted his tasteful fancy for the design of their court-dresses."^ The ceilings of these rooms were also painted by Kent between 1722 and 1725. It seems that, in virtue of his office as serjeant-painter. Sir James Thornhill was entitled to undertake this work, and from a " Memorial of Sir Thomas Hewett, Surveyor-General," to the Lords of the Treasury', dated February 14, 1722-23, it was evidently King George's first intention to have employed him. Negotiations went so far that Hewett ordered a model to be made for the ceiling of the great square room which Thornhill painted and of which the king approved. In all these gaudy ceilings Kent shows himself at his very worst, for as an artist his powers seem to have been essen- tially mediocre, especially in pictorial painting. Some of the plainer decorative work which is introduced now and again is much more satisfactory. For painting and gilding the sides of the cube room Kent received the sum of £344 2S. 7d. Pyne : Kensington Palace, 34. 3IO ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND The ceiling of the presence chamber was also painted by Kent in 1724, in bright reds and blues with gilding on a white ground, in preference to the plain light colouring which it no doubt previously had. The doors and windows in this room are also Kent's, and the great contrast between his work and Wren's in these details is especially apparent in this smaller room. The hand of Wren is still visible, how- ever, in the chimneypiece and overmantel (though the Gibbons carving has had to be painted over to preserve it), in the beautiful carved oak cornice and the panelled dado. The king's gallery was a favourite sitting-room with George I., as it had been with Queen Anne and Prince George, and his Majesty commanded the Lords of the Treasury to give the order for painting its ceiling with those of the great and httle closets and the staircase to William Kent. At the same time, September 30, 1725, a letter was forwarded, addressed by James Thornhill to the Commis- sioners of Works, stating that he was informed that they had received instructions to employ some improper person to do the gilding on the wainscot in the gallery at Ken- sington. As gilding had always been done by his pre- decessors and himself, he thinks that it is a great encroach- ment on their office, as well as on his patent, and those who shall succeed him. An entry in the Treasury Minute Book under the date of October 5 runs : " The gilding on the wainscot is to be performed by Sir James Thorn- hill, king's painter, whose office it is to perform works of that nature." So the ceiling was painted by Kent, as it appears now, with his usual rich colouring and gilding and poorness of design and ornamentation ; and the beautiful carving over KENSINGTON PALACE 311 the doorways and on the cornices was gilded over, to remain so for a hundred and seventy-four years. The king's grand staircase is a further example of Wren's work, on which Kent's decorative hand has lain heavily. The staircase itself with its beautiful proportions ; the black marble steps ; the black and white chequered marble land- ings ; Tijou's wrought-iron balustrade, painted blue, with its oak rail, are now as when they were finished by Wren about 1696. The arcade under the landing leading to the king's gallery, the windows, the painted walls and ceiling, were completed for George I. by Kent about 1726. As usual, the effect of the colour decoration is rich and sumptuous, but the subject treatment does not bear inspection ; and the purely decorative work, which sho\vs Kent at his best, on the arcade and on the walls beside the first flight of stairs and landing cannot now be seen to advantage by the ordinary visitor. The gardens at Kensington were carefully looked after under George I. and became a great source of interest to Addison, who married Charlotte, the widow of the sixth Earl of Holland, in 1716, and lived at Holland House until his death in 1719. Macky notes in his Journey Through England, published in 1722, that " Kensington was a small poor village until the Court came there ; but now it is become a large town, and in its square are houses fit for the entertainment of the greatest quality. The gardens of this palace are very fine, and charmingly kept." During this reign commenced the fashionable promenade in Kensington Gardens which became a feature of the next three reigns. The Court of Prince George and Princess Caroline included "the most promising of young lords and gentlemen and the prettiest and livehest of young ladies." 312 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND These apparently set the fashion of which Tickell, the friend of Addison, writes : — The dames of Britain oft in crowds repair To groves and lawns, and unpolluted air, Here, while the town in damps and darkness lies, They breathe in sunshine, and see azure skies. On the accession of George IL in 1727 Kensington Palace became the favourite summer residence of the king and queen. Their portraits hang in Queen Mary's gallery and in her privy chamber. He, "shorter than his short father, smart, strut- ting, decided-looking, with higher features and an under- hanging jaw, was fond of being seen." He was the "same petty German martinet" as his father had been, "less dull, but hardly better informed." Caroline was " a fine-looking woman with red and white complexion and popular manners." " Her voice was melodious, her hands beautifully formed, her actions graceful." Resolute, serene and dignified, yet gay at heart and with a ready appreciation of humour and marked conversational abilities, her mental qualifications were above the average. " As soon as ever the prince became king," writes Lord Hervey, the Boswell of the Court of George II. and Queen Caroline minus his good nature, " the whole world began to find out that her will was the sole spring on which every movement in Court turned : and though his Majesty lost no opportunity to declare that the queen never meddled with his business, yet nobody was simple enough to believe it . . . Her power was unrivalled and unbounded." ^ " She always at first gave into all his notions, though never so extravagant, and made him imagine any change she wrought in them to 1 Hervey: Memoirs (ed. 1848), i., 59. KENSINGTON PALACE 313 be an afterthought of his own. To contradict his will direct, was always the way to strengthen it ; and to labour to convert was to confirm him." ^ Of Frederick, Prince of Wales, little need be said. " He had disagreed with the king and queen," says Horace Walpole, " early after coming to England ; not entirely by his own fault. The king had refused to pay his debts in Hanover, and it ran a little in the blood of the family to hate the eldest son." ..." The queen had exerted more authority, joined to a narrow prying into his condition, than he liked ; and Princess Emily, who had been admitted into his greatest confidence, had not forfeited her duty to the queen by con- cealing any of his secrets that might do him prejudice." " One of his modes of annoying his mother at Kensington was by coming too late to chapel, and making his wife, instead of entering by another door, squeeze to her seat, between the queen and her prayer-book. . . . Looking out, one day, from a window in Kensington Palace, and seeing the title-hunter, Bubb Doddington, go by, he said, ' That man is reckoned one of the most sensible men in England ; and yet, with all his cleverness, I have just nicked him out of ;^5,ooo.' " 2 The daughters of George II., whose portraits as children find their place near those of their father and mother, are Anne, Princess Royal, and the Princess Emily or Amelia. It was the misfortune of the former princess " to be vain without cause, imperious without being dignified, and to be ambitious without the means of gratifying this passion." The Princess Amelia had good intellectual powers, and was extremely popular as a girl, but her character appears to 1 Hervey: Memoirs (ed. 1848), i., 59. "^ Leigh Hunt : Old Court Suburb, ii., 126, 127 (cd. 1902). 314 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND have deteriorated in the cramped atmosphere of the Court, and she is said to have become inquisitive, gossiping, and impertinent. George I. had left the business of the State almost entirely in the hands of Sir Robert Walpole ; and with the consistent support of Queen Caroline, this strong statesman (whose portrait hangs in Queen Mary's gallery) was able to leave the impression of his common sense on the policy of England for the first fifteen years of the reign of George IL Much manoeuvring was required on the part of the queen and the minister to humour the king, whose temper could never be depended upon for any length of time, and in consequence Kensington Palace was the scene of many diplomatic interviews. Queen Caroline was fond of philosophical discussions, and three portraits in Queen Mary's privy chamber are remi- niscent of her taste in this respect— those of John Locke, Robert Boyle, and Sir Isaac Newton. Kneller's portrait of John Locke, painted in the later years of the philosopher's life, when he suffered much from asthma, ranks as one of the artist's best works. Boyle devoted his life to the advance of scientific research and to the promotion of the Christian religion. He was one of the original members of the Royal Society and the founder of the Boyle Lectures. Sir Isaac Newton lived in Kensington in his old age, and Queen Caroline often conversed with him for hours together. She said that she thought it a happiness to have lived at the same time with and to have known so great a man. Handel was music-master to the Princess Royal, and both the king and queen gave him their patronage, often going to the Haymarket to hear his music, the king subscribing £i,ooo a year towards its performance in public. KENSINGTON IWLACE 315 The poets Pope and Gay were familiar with the Court at Kensington. The latter wrote his fables for the instruction of the youncj Duke of Cumberland. In his " Welcome from Greece," addressed to Pope, he refers to many of the Court ladies by name. Ah, those are Wortley's eyes, Now to my heart the glance of Howard flies. Now Hervey, fair of face, I mark full well With thee, Youth's youngest daughter, sweet Lepell. For among these ladies were Lady Mary Wortley Montague, Mrs. Howard, later Duchess of Suffolk, and Mary Lepell, who afterwards married Lord Hervey, one of the victims of Pope's merciless satire. Other well-known ladieswere Margaret and Mary Bellenden, the latter of whom reproved the king for his avarice, and Anne Pitt, the sister of Lord Chatham. Yonder I see the cheerful Duchess stand, For friendship, zeal and blithe humours known. When Gay lost the queen's favour by seeking the patronage of the Duchess of Suffolk, his friend the Duchess of Queens- bury collected subscriptions for his Beggar s Opera at Court, and even asked the king for one. For this she was forbidden to appear at Court, and wrote to say that she had never received " so agreeable a command as to stay from Court, where she never came for diversion, but to bestow a great civility on the king and queen." Pope congratulated Gay on his release from Court favour, as " happily rid of many . . . ills and vicious habits, of which few or no men escape the infection who are hackneyed . . . in the ways of a Court. Princes, indeed, and peers (the lackeys of princes) and ladies (the fools of peers) will smile on 3i6 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND you the less, but men of worth and real friends will look on you the better." Kensington Gardens were open to the public on Saturdays, when the Court was at Richmond, and saw " all the vicissitudes of wigs, coats, cocked-hats, hoop petticoats." " Head-dresses rose and fell in all the fluctuations ofpiled-up and flowing hair ; of ringlets, plain and powdered ; of lappets, laces, ribbons, feathers, commodes, hoods, bonnets and mob- caps. Their colours were of the brightest and most blooming kind. The fan was in constant requisition ; and muffs increased from small to great " . . . " flounce and furbelow," "spots and patches," "the great glory . . . was the hoop." ^ " They are coming up the great high roadstead of Kensington Gardens between Bayswater and the town ; the gentlemen beholders dying by hundreds in their swords and perriwigs, with their hats under their arms. . . . They are of all the colours of the rainbow . . . and Pope, who is looking from one of the palace windows with Dr. Mead, sees the spirits of his ' Rape ' fillip the jewels in their ears to make them tremble in the sun." It seems to have been under the influence of Kent, " the father of modern landscape gardening," and later under that of Bridgman and other fashionable gardeners of the day, that the grounds round Kensington Palace assumed their present bare and uninteresting appearance. The greater part of these alterations was carried out between the years 1727 and 1730, during which period Bridgman received upwards of £5,000 for "works in the paddock and gardens at Kensington." Tigers, civet cats, and East Indian birds were kept in the paddock by George I., but the wild animals were ^ There are two prints in the Jerningham Collection: "Taste a la Mode," 1735; "View of the Mall," 1752. KENSINGTON PALACE 317 afterwards removed to the Tower, when a two years' bill for meat supplied to them was owing to Henry Lowman, butcher. The great basin, now called the Round Pond, covering about nine acres, was filled with water from Midsummer, 1728. Queen Caroline was keenly interested in the craze for planning and "improving" gardens, and it was at her direction that the whole of the ground between the palace gardens and Hyde Park, and possibly a further enclosure from the park itself, was laid out with plantations of elms, divided by gravel walks and grassy vistas, which still remain a feature of Kensington Garden. The fosse or ha-ha was constructed close to Hyde Park, and the Serpen- tine formed between 1730 and 1733, by the union of six ponds left by the West Bourne in its meanderings towards the Thames. All these works were carried out by Charles Bridgman, gardener to the king. Queen Caroline possessed fine taste in art, and she was fond of arranging and rearranging the pictures in the state rooms at Kensington Palace. In 1728 she found in a bureau in the king's great closet a number of drawings and prints, including some of Holbein's drawings of the people of his day, most of which were named at the back in an old court- hand. It is not known how they came to be there, but they once belonged to King Charles I. and were given by Lord Pembroke to the Earl of Arundel, whose collection became dispersed after his death. There are two lists of these drawings in the British Museum, in one of which those delivered for the queen's use are marked with a cross. These were hung up by her orders in her dressing-room and closet. Meanwhile the Court life at Kensington Palace went on in the accustomed round. Lord Hervey wrote to Mrs. Clayton, 3i8 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND afterwards Lady Sundon, on July 31, 1733 : " No mill- horse ever went in a more constant track, or in a more unchanging circle, so that by the assistance of an almanack for the day of the week and a watch for the hour of the day, you may inform yourself fully, without any other intelligence but your memory, of every transaction within the verge of the Court. Walking, chaises, levees and audiences fill the morning ; and at night the king plays at commerce and backgammon and the queen at quadrille, where poor Lady Charlotte [governess to the younger children of George II.] runs her usual nightly gauntlet — the queen pulling her hood . . . and the Princess Royal rapping her knuckles, all at a time."^ It was from Kensington that the king usually took his departure for Hanover, and in his absence the queen held a Court at the palace every Sunday. During his passage in 1733 a dreadful storm raged, and the queen and the royal family waited in suspense for several days, before hearing of his safe arrival at Helvoetsluys. The bearer of good tidings was pre- sented with a purse containing sixty guineas, and the queen received congratulations at Kensington from the nobility, gentry, and public bodies. In 1734 the Princess Royal, who had been married in the previous year to the Prince of Orange (of whom Princess Emily said that nothing on earth should have induced her to marry the monster), paid a long visit to her family at Ken- sington Palace. " The queen was miost unaffectedly con- cerned to part with her daughter," and she was found later with the Princess Caroline, who seems to have been of a more amiable disposition than her elder sisters, "drinking chocolate, ^ Sundon: Memoirs, ii., 231. KENSINGTON PALACE 319 drowned in tears and choked with si^^hs." A day or two later the Princess of Oranf^e returned to Kcnsinj^ton, on receipt of letters from The Hague, and ** the queen received her with a thousand kisses and tears of joy, the king with smiles and open arms." In the summer of this year some North American Indians, consisting of " two war captains, three chiefs, the queen and a boy," were received by the king in the room next the guard-room ; by the queen in the long gallery, attended by all the ladies at Court ; by the Prince of Wales and the princesses in their respective apartments. Walcot relates how Dr. Wilson, the apostolic-minded Bishop of Sodor and Man, came for the last time to England in 1735, when over seventy years of age, and was presented to the king at Kensington. "He entered the royal chamber with a small black coif on his head, his hair flowing and silvery, his shoes unbuckled, and fastened with thongs of leather. So venerable did he seem that the king moved forth instinctively from the glittering circle of courtiers, and taking the bishop's hand, begged his prayers. Queen Caroline would have forced a wealthy bishopric upon him. 'Nay, please your Majesty,' replied he, * in my old age, should I leave my first love because she is poor.' " When the king was in a bad temper, as frequently happened, and notably on his return from Hanover in 1735, scenes such as the following would take place. " Next morning he stayed about five minutes in the gallery, snubbed the queen, who was drinking chocolate, for being always stuffing ; Princess Emily for not hearing him ; Princess Caroline for being grown fat ; the duke [of Cumberland] for standing awkwardly ; Lord Hervey for not knowing what relation the Prince of Sultzbach was to the Elector Palatine, and then carried the 320 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND queen to walk and be re-snubbed in the garden." "The king, instead of answering Lord Hervey, then turned to the queen and with a good deal of vehemence, poured out an unin- telligible torrent of German, to which the queen made not one word of reply, but knotted on till she tangled her thread, then snuffed the candles that stood on the table before her, and snuffed one of them out ; upon which the king in English began a new dissertation upon her Majesty, and took her awkwardness for his text." Queen Caroline died in 1737, much regretted by the nation at large and by those who knew her intimately. In spite of the utterly selfish way in which he treated her, no one ever succeeded in gaining over her husband the influence which she had exerted. This gave rise to the popular adage : You may strut, dapper George, but 'twill all be in vain ; We know 'tis Queen Caroline, not you, that reign. He lived on quietly after the death of his queen in much the same way as he had done before. When the news reached Kensington of the landing of the Pretender, " Is it so, my lords and gentlemen," said he, "take care of your- selves, but for me, it is my resolution to live and die King of England." George II., in his old age, is the monarch to whom Thackeray sends George Warrington to pay his respects at Kensington Palace, on which occasion George is also introduced to the Duke of Cumberland, the hero of Culloden. On October 25, 1760, the king " seemed as usual, drank some chocolate, enquired about the wind, as if anxious for the arrival of the mails . . . said he would walk in the garden." Later a heavy fall brought his attendants to his side. On being carried to his bed, he rallied sufficiently to y. c y. > ki<:nsington pai.aci-: 321 ask for the Princess Amelia, but before she could reach him he had passed away. With the accession of George III. Kensington Palace lost the splendour which it had acquired as one of the favourite residences of the reigning monarch. For the sixty years of his reign the state rooms remained unoccupied, but other- wise much as they had done in the time of Queen Caroline, with the same pictures still on the walls, which visitors came from time to time to see, as Pyne's illustrations serve to show. The pictures which now hang in the state drawing-rooms, being mostly illustrative of George III., his family and contemporaries, seem on that account to have no vital connection with the rooms themselves. They serve, how- ever, to bridge the historical gap between George II. and Victoria. One or two show good work, as, for instance, those of Madame de Pompadour and Marianne, Duchess of Bourbon, but most of them gain their attraction only from being portraits of historical personages. The collection of West's pictures forms a striking illustration of the style in art which gained for him in his day the liberal patronage of his king, the plaudits of the public, and the esteem of his fellow artists. His portraits, however open they may be to criticism from a modern standpoint, are still interesting in themselves. There is a portrait painted for King George III., which hangs in Queen Mary's gallery, of Mrs. Delany in her old age. She, once the lively and attractive Mary Granville, whose memoirs give an amusing and interesting picture the society of her time, had a wonderful capacity for making friends, which secured for her the firm friendship of Queen Charlotte. In reference to this picture, Horace R.P. Y 322 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND Walpole writes in one of his letters of " a new genius, one Opie, a Cornish lad, who had taught himself to colour in a strong, bold, masterly manner. He has done a head of Mrs. Delany for the King — oui, vraiment — it is pronounced like Rembrandt ; but as I told her, it does not look older than she is, but older than she does." Another writer says of it, " It is a beautiful and expressive old face, that we see framed in its neat cap and black silk hood, and bears the sweet and placid impress of a fine old age. You say to yourself, as you gaze at it, ' How very like it must have been.' " Although the presence of the Court at Kensington Palace no longer occasioned the lamps placed at equal distances on each side of the grand avenue leading to it from St. James's through Hyde Park to be lighted up at night, with a magnificence which has impressed more than one writer, Kensington Gardens still continued to attract the fashionable world. Under certain regulations, they were now opened to the public every day. "We may still fancy all that was brilliant and fashionable, or in any manner distinguished, good or bad, in the successive generations of the last half of the eighteenth century and the first two decades of the nineteenth, making its first appear- ance as such in Kensington Great Walk, delighting the scientific eyes of drapers and mantua-makers, and attracting crowds of adorers from the city." The French Revolution brought to Kensington a number of the emigrSs, some of whom are said to have obtained leave to hold religious services in Queen Anne's alcove. The more distinguished of them were frequently seen in the gardens, " and none of them know what to make of ex-bishop Talleyrand, who represents all parties by turns." " In 179 1 there may have been seen in one day Wilkes KENSINGTON PALACE 323 and Wilberforce ; Burke, Warren Hastings and Thomas Paine ; Horace Walpole and Hannah More ; Mrs. Barbauld, Mrs. Trimmer, and Emma Harte." So great was the crush at the only entrance which gave access to the favoured gardens from Hyde Park that The Times of March 28, 1794, comments : " The ladies fre- quently have their clothes torn to pieces ; and are much hurt by the crowd passing different ways." "Two ladies were lucky enough to escape through the gate of Kensington Gardens on Sunday last with only a broken arm each." The suggestion given by the great newspaper, that there should be separate entrances for admission and departure, was adopted by the ranger of Hyde Park during the next season, and the improvement commented upon in the issue of May 4, 1795. " The fashion, with the exception of an occasional broad- brimmed hat, worn both by gentlemen and ladies, comprised the ugliest ever seen. Head-dresses became monstrous compounds of pasteboard, flowers, feathers and pomatum ; the hoop degenerated into little panniers, and about 1770, a set of travelled fops came up, calling themselves Macaronis . . . who wore ridiculous little hats, large pigtails, and tight- fitting clothes of striped colours."^ Previously to 1801 a private suite of apartments was assigned at Kensington Place to Edward, Duke of Kent, the fourth son of George HI. Among the MSS. of the Earl of Dartmouth are several letters from the duke to Lord Dart- mouth between the years 180 1 and 1805, which are dated from this palace ; one is in reference to the payment of the accounts for furniture supplied for the duke's apartments there. * There is a coloured print, " Monstrosities of 1822," on one of the screens in the Jerningham Collection in the king's privy chamber. Y 2 324 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND In 1810 Caroline of Brunswick, the unfortunate Princess of Wales, came to live at Kensington Palace and occupied her private rooms there until 1814. " The princess," writes one of her ladies, " often does the most extraordinary things, apparently for no other purpose than to make her attendants stare. Very frequently she will take one of her ladies with her to walk in Kensington Gardens, . . . dressed [it may be] in a costume very unsuitable to the public highway ; and all of a sudden she will bolt out of one of the smaller gates and walk all over Bayswater and along the Paddington Canal, at the risk of being insulted, or if known, mobbed ; enjoying the terror of the unfortunate attendant, who may be destined to walk after her." The princess entertained a great deal, giving balls and parties at which there were " good people and very bad ones, fine ladies and fine gentlemen, humdrums and clever people." Lady Brownlow remembered her at this time as fat and somewhat shapeless in figure, with well-formed nose, good complexion and bright blue eyes, a face that had probably been pretty in youth, but which was bold in expression, partly caiused by the quantity of rouge which she wore. " Her fair hair hung in masses of curls on each side of her throat, like a lion's mane." " Her gowns were generally ornamented with gold or silver spangles and her satin boots were also embroidered with them. Sometimes she wore a scarlet mantle with gold trimming, hanging from the shoulders ; and as she swam, so attired, down an English dance, with no regard to figures, the effect was rather strange." In 1810 a suite of rooms at Kensington Palace were also set aside for the use of the Duke of Sussex, the sixth son of George III.; and by 1816 various alterations had KENSINGTON PALACE 325 been slowly effected there for the suitable and increased accommodation of those members of the royal family, to whom the right of residence had been granted. In 1S15 the Duke of Kent was obliged to leave England owing to pecuniary embarrassment. From the time of his sojourn in Hanover in his youth, when his conduct seems to have been misrepresented to his parents, an insufficient allowance had been given him by his father which caused him much difficulty all through his life. Mr. Holmes writes in his Life of Queen Victoria, " as in the discharge of public duties he set an example of care and diligence, so in private life he was a pattern of regularity and temperance." He was " not a favourite with his own family, but he was the most popular of his brothers outside the royal circle." He had served with his regiment at Gibraltar and in Canada, and had gained the reputation of a stern disciplinarian, but ill-health compelled him to give up the profession to which he was devoted. Of enlightened opinions and generous in disposition, he con- stantly took the chair at public meetings on behalf of progress and charity. In iSiS the Duke of Kent married the Princess of Leiningen, the sister of Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, who was quietly devoting herself to the education of her young son, the Prince of Leiningen, and of her daughter, the Princess Feodore. After their marriage the royal couple lived chiefly in Germany, from motives of economy ; but in March of the following year, as the duchess herself later said, " The Duke of Kent, at much inconvenience, and I at great personal risk, returned to England that our child should be born and bred a Briton." They settled down at Kensington Palace, and there, two 326 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND months later, was born the little girl who was one day to become the good, great, and glorious Queen and Empress Victoria. At the time of the first Jubilee a brass plate was put up in the room beneath the king's privy chamber, bearing these words : In this room Queen Victoria was horn, May 24th, i8ig. On June 24 the royal golden font from the Tower was fitted up in the grand saloon at Kensington Palace, now known as the cupola or cube room, with crimson velvet coverings from the Chapel Royal, St. James's Palace. The Archbishop of Canterbury baptized the infant princess, giving her the names of Alexandrina Victoria, the fact being recorded at the close of the ceremony by the Bishop of London in the register book of the Chapel Royal. It was at first intended that the child should be named Georgiana, after the Prince Regent, who was one of her sponsors. The name of her mother, Victoria, was substituted on the prince's refusal to allow his name to stand second to that of Alexander, the reigning Czar, who was also sponsor (by proxy). It is perhaps interesting to note that the Princess Victoria was the first member of the royal family to be vaccinated, instead of being inoculated. The Duke of Kent was very fond of his little daughter, and never seems to have regretted that she was not a son, but was " decidedly of opinion," as he himself wrote, " that the decrees of Providence are at all times wisest and best." Baron Stockmar notes in his Memoirs that the Duke constantly showed her to his intimate friends, with the words "Take care of her, for she will be Queen of England." From the first the English people took a great deal of KENSINGTON PALACE 327 interest in their future queen. On fine evenings the duke and his wife would often walk up and down in front of the palace beneath the nursery windows ; and on Sunday evenings especially, numbers of people would stand and watch with pleasure the smiles and infant gestures of the babe as she caught sight of her parents below. This domestic happiness was clouded over by the sudden death of the Duke of Kent, when his little daughter was but eight months old, from the effects of a chill at Sidmouth. His wife, for the second time a widow, returned to Kensington Palace to devote herself to the great duty of rearing the future sovereign. An address of condolence from the House of Commons was presented to her. In the course of her reply she said " my beloved husband's memory will be preserved in this country ; now, I am proud to say, become mine by affection and inclination." As the sister of Prince Leopold, husband of the lamented Princess Charlotte, she had been well received in England, and Faulkner, who was writing his History of Kensington about this time, refers to her as " this illustrious lady, whose exemplary life and amiable and unassuming manners have deservedly gained for her the warm regard and respect of the British nation." The king's great drawing-room with apartments on the same floor (including no doubt the nursery, ante-room, and bed-room, which attract the greater number of visitors to Kensington Palace at the present time) were added to those of the Duchess of Kent, which were in the south-eastern part of the palace beneath the king's gallery. It was probably when this change was made that the great gallery was divided into three compartments, in one of which the Princess Victoria was later on accustomed to keep her toys, 328 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND among them those in the glass cases in the rooms in which so many hours of her childhood and youth were passed. Queen Victoria herself recorded the earliest reminiscences of her childhood as " crawling on a yellow carpet spread out for that purpose — and being told that if I cried and was naughty my uncle Sussex would hear me and punish me, for which reason I always screamed when I saw him." " I had a horror of bishops on account of their wigs and aprons. This was partly got over in the case of the then Bishop of Salisbury (Dr. Fisher . . . ), by his kneeling down and letting me play with his badge of Chancellor of the Order of the Garter." Wilberforce was living in Kensington in 1820, and writes to Hannah More on July 21 : " In consequence of a very civil message from the Duchess of Kent, I waited on her this morning. She received me with her fine, animated child on the floor, by her side, with its playthings, of which I soon became one." The great delight of the little princess's earliest childhood was a donkey presented to her by her uncle, the Duke of York, and she would often refuse to dismount and have a run, until she was told that the donkey must be tired. She was a bright, active little girl with pretty, sociable ways ; and quiet people, sitting in Kensington Gardens, would love to watch her and be included in her play. The home-life by which she was surrounded was quiet, regular, and orderly ; breakfast at eight, in summer, when fine, served on the lawn at the rear of the palace ; dinner at two, when the Duchess of Kent had her lunch ; and at dinner a plain supper was laid for the princess by her mother's side. Bed- time came at nine o'clock, when she slept in a bed close to her mother's in the plain, pleasant room overlooking the KENSINGTON PALACE 329 Round Pond and the distant vistas, from which there is at all seasons of the year one of the prettiest views in Kensington Gardens. The Princess Victoria did not have any regular lessons until she had entered her fifth year, by the wise counsel of her maternal grandmother, the Dowager-Duchess of Saxe- Coburg. As time went on she proved an apt pupil with good mental abilities, which were carefully developed under the general direction of Dr. Davys and Madame Lehzen. The latter kept a daily record of studies, which was presented once a month to Prince Leopold, who kept a watchful eye over the progress of his niece and was to her as a second father. The following anecdote shows that she was not unco' good, and that there were occasions when her strong will asserted itself against that of her instructors : — " During a pianoforte lesson . . . when scales and exercises had proved rather too much for the patience of the little pupil, Mr. Sale happened to remark that there was no royal road to music, and that princesses must practise like other children. Whereupon the little autocrat quietly locked the piano, and slipping the key into her pocket, answered sedately, * There you see ! There is no must in the matter.' " ^ In the king's gallery there arc two cases full of books, consisting chiefly of those used by Queen Victoria in her childhood and youth. Some are interesting specimens of " Books for Children " in the first quarter of the nineteenth century. There are two or three of Mrs. Trimmer's " Steps " ; " Rhymes for the Nursery" ; " Little Plays for Children " ; " Winter Evenings : Tales of Travellers " ; " Pleasing Tales * Knight : Victoria, her Life and Reign, 26. 330 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND to promote Good Manners." In the second case from the king's staircase is the first account-book given by the Duchess of Kent to her httle daughter on her ninth birthday, with her first regular allowance. The entries opposite it show that the mother's advice was promptly acted upon. " It is in our power," she had said, " by order and regularity, to assist others consistently with what we are required to do for ourselves." The duchess had herself learned the lesson of economy, coupled with generosity, which she wrote down for her daughter's perusal. The resources at her disposal were limited to a jointure of -^6,000 a year and an allowance of ■£"3,000 made to her by her brother. In 1825 ^^ annuity of ;^6,ooo was voted by Parliament towards the support and education of her daughter Victoria. Her elder daughter, Feodore, who had hitherto lived with her mother and the little Victoria, was married in 1828 to Prince Hohenlohe-Langenburg. In the loss of this home companion (for in spite of the difference in their ages the sisters were devoted to one another) the warm-hearted Victoria experienced her first sorrow. Both sisters felt the lack of intercourse with friends of their own age in their rather solitary life. The queen, writing to King Leopold from Claremont in 1842, referred to her visits there as " the happy days of my otherwise dull childhood." Princess Feodore in a letter to the queen, who was staying at Claremont in 1843, says : " Claremont is a dear, quiet place ; to me also the recollection of the few pleasant days I spent during my youth. I always left Claremont with tears for Kensington Palace. When I look back upon those years, which ought to have been the happiest in my life, from fourteen to twenty, I cannot help pitying myself. Not to KENSINGTON PALACE 331 have enjoyed the pleasures of youth is nothing, but to have been deprived of all intercourse, and not one cheerful thought in that dismal existence of ours, was very hard. My only happy time was going or driving out with you and Lehzen : then I could speak and look as I liked. I escaped some years of imprisonment, which you, my poor darling sister, had to endure after I was married." Leigh Hunt, Sir Walter Scott, and Charles Knight refer to glimpses which they had of the young " prisoner." To quote Knight : " I delighted to walk in Kensington Gardens. As I passed along the broad central walk, I saw a group on the lawn before the palace. The Duchess of Kent and her daughter, whose years then numbered nine, are break- fasting in the open air. . . . What a beautiful characteristic it seemed to me of the training of this royal girl, that she should not have been taught to shrink from the public eye, that she should not have been burdened with a premature conception of her probable high destiny ; that she should enjoy the freedom and simplicity of a child's nature ; that she should not be restrained when she starts up from the breakfast-table and runs to gather a flower in the adjoining pastures ; that her merry laugh should be as fearless as the notes of the thrush in the groves around her. I passed on and blessed her ; and I thank God that I have lived to see the golden fruits of such a training." A drawing room and juvenile ball, at which she was allowed to be present about this time, made a great impression on the little girl, and the wardrobe of her dolls underwent a complete revision in consequence. With the accession of William IV. the Princess Victoria became heir to the throne, and the Duchess of Kent was appointed to act as regent in the event of such a necessity, 332 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND and in the following year a further annuity of £10,000 was granted her by Parliament. This enabled her to travel about more, and a part of each year was spent in paying visits to historic houses and important towns, to give the princess insight into the social life of the nation. Kensington Palace continued to be their home, where the young girl's principal amusements were still her pets, walks and drives, and, during the spring and summer, riding. In 1833 she went out more into society and was more frequently seen in public. The Duchess of Kent was friendly with her sisters-in-law, the Princesses Augusta, Mary (Duchess of Gloucester), and Sophia, the surviving daughters of George IIL, and these amiable ladies were frequent visitors at the palace, and gained the love and respect of their young niece. The Duke of Sussex, whose apartments adjoined those of the duchess, devoted many years of his life to the formation of his famous library, which numbered over 50,000 books, and included, among other valuable works, many biblical MSS. In this he was assisted by Dr. Pettigrew, the Egyptologist, and the catalogues of the library, which were published at intervals between the years 1827 and 1839, still rank as standard works. In 1831 this library occupied some six apartments in the angle on the south-west of the palace, which its owner either added or had rebuilt for its accommodation. The books, however, were afterwards housed in one of the oldest parts of the building, the long corridor leading from the central gateway along Clock Court on the right, through which visitors to the state apartments were formerly admitted by way of the king's staircase. From the literary tastes of her uncle Queen Victoria derived her love of books, and the library KENSINGTON PALACE 333 at Windsor Castle was one of her first cares after her accession. The wife of the Duke of Sussex, Lady Ceciha Underwood, was also one of the queen's early friends. Several notable figures in the queen's reign were in the habit of visiting the Duchess of Kent from time to time at Kensington Palace — among others, the Duke of Wellington, Lord Palmerston and Lord Clarendon, and the keen-witted and eloquent political rivals, Lord Lyndhurst and Lord Brougham. On April 24, 1833, the duchess gave a dinner party at Kensington Palace, at which thirty guests were present, including the Dukes of Cumberland and Gloucester. The Princess Victoria did not dine, but went into the drawing- room before and after dinner. Her uncle Leopold had become king of the Belgians in 1831, but he kept up a close correspondence, and by his advice, both in personal matters and in reading, did much to form her character and mature her judgment. The young princess was confirmed July 30, 1834 ; two books were given to her by her mother on this occasion ; one on the day before, which is stamped as belonging to her Majesty's private library at Buckingham Palace. Both of these books are now in the cases in the king's gallery. She received her first Communion with her mother in the chapel at Kensington Palace, where they were accustomed to attend Divine service. This was conducted regularly by a chaplain to the household, and the public were admitted. The chapel was a small, plain room by the council chamber on the ground floor of the palace, to which the public gained access through Clock Court. It had been removed there at the instance of the Duchess of Kent to 334 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND give more room at the entrance to the staircase leading to her apartments. The old accounts in the Public Record Office show that Grinling Gibbons carved the king's arms supporting the Crown and Garter, and the rails and balustrade in this chapel. The communion plate included a flagon and chalice, with date marks of the years 1660 and 1664, which had been presented by Queen Anne ; a flagon given by William III., bearing his initials and the date 1692 ; a paten given by George I. in 1714, and a paten and alms- dish presented by George II. in 1736. There is an entry in the Lord Chamberlain's Warrant Book under date May 12, 1732, for Bibles and other books for the chapel at Kensington to cost ;^i56. Mrs. Ritchie makes her heroine in Old Kensington stand " in the strangers' great pew at Kensington Palace Chapel . . . opposite the great prayer-books with all the faded golden stamps of lions and unicorns." " Are royal chapels," queries Dolly, " only echoes and allegations ? Do people go there to pray real prayers, to long passionately with beating hearts ? Have dried-up tears ever fallen upon the big pages of the old books with their curling t's and florid s's? Books, in whose pages King George III. still rules over a shadowy realm and Queen Charlotte heads the royal family." " It is a quiet little place," says the same author, writing about 1872. *' The great square window admits a silent light ; there are high, old-fashioned pews on either side of the place, and opposite the communion table, and high up over the heads of the congregation, a great square curtained pew with the royal arms and a curtained gallery." The chapel was closed in 1901, and some beautifully printed Bibles, which were used in it between the years KENSINGTON PALACE 335 1717 and igoi, and a prayer-book dated 1760, may be seen in a case in the middle of the presence chamber. Dr. Davys, the queen's tutor, who became Bishop of Peterborough on her Majesty's accession, was accustomed to preach every Sunday morning in the chapel. " I like your sermons so much, Mr. Dean" (he was then Dean of Chester), the Duchess of Kent once said to him. A low bow from the dean, " Because," continued the duchess, " they are so short." In May, 1836, the Duke of Saxe-Coburg paid a visit to England with his two sons, Ernest and Albert, and stayed at Kensington Palace with the Duchess of Kent. There under her mother's roof the Princess Victoria, at the age of seventeen, met the cousin, for the first time, who was to be so much to her in the coming years. " We may never know," observes Mrs. Tytler in her Life of Queen Victoria " how the royal cousins met — whether the frank, kind, unconscious princess came down under the wing of the duchess as far as their entry into Clock Court, where there was a little dimness of agitation and laughing confusion, in spite of the partial secrecy, in two pairs of blue eyes which then encountered each other for the first time ; whether the Court company ascended in well-arranged file, or in a little friendly disorder." On June i Prince Albert wrote to his stepmother : " The day before yesterday, Monday, our aunt gave a brilliant ba here at Kensington Palace, at which the gentlemen appeared in uniform and the ladies in so-called fancy dresses. . . . Dear aunt is very kind to us and does everything she can to please us, and our cousin also is very amiable." On the morning when the Princess Victoria attained her majority, she was awakened by a serenade beneath her 336 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND windows and received many costly presents. The day was marked at Kensington by a general holiday. An address was received from the Corporation of London, to which the Duchess of Kent replied. In the course of her remarks she said : " I have never ceased to impress on my daughter her duties, so as to gain by her conduct the respect and affection of the people. This I have taught her, should be her first earthly duty as a constitutional sovereign." The princess made her own reply in these words: " I am very thankful for your kindness, and my mother has expressed all my feelings." King William marked his sense of the occasion by offering Princess Victoria a separate income, which she accepted ; but the matter was set aside owing to the king's illness. In his book on Queen Victoria, published recently (igo8), Fitzgerald Molloy writes of the next great event which oc- curred in her life in the following way : " The turret clock in Kensington Palace had not yet struck five on the morning of June 20, 1837, when a carriage covered with dust and drawn by horses flecked with foam drew up at its principal entrance. Already the sun had flashed signals of gold across wide spaces of skies ; but as yet the land slept ; silvery phantasmal mists hung above the surrounding garden's wide glades, the Round Pond, and grassy slopes. *' From the carriage stepped two men, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Marquis of Conyngham, bearers of important news — that His Majesty William IV. had died at twelve minutes past two o'clock that morning at Windsor Castle. This news they hastened to communicate to his successor, the only child of the late Duke of Kent, born May 24, i8ig, now in the first month of her nineteenth year, and up to this hour known as the Princess Victoria. Their violent ringing at the palace brought no immediate answer. KENSINGTON PALACE 337 It was only when it was repeated that bolts were slowly withdrawn, chains undone, and the door opened to show the surprised face of a sleepy half-dressed porter. To him was delivered a message to the personal attendants of the princess requesting that they would ask her to sec His Majesty's Chamberlain and the Archbishop of Canterbury with as little delay as possible. Having shown them into a sitting- room the porter hastened to obey an order the significance of which he understood. For many minutes they were left alone in this lofty apartment, with its oak panels, its polished floor and heavy furniture, the dull air of which contrasted with the growing splendour of the summer morning. Even- tually at the sound of an opening door they turned alert and expectant, only to see the princess's Hanoverian governess, Madame Lehzen, a woman stout and blond in appearance and authoritative in bearing, who with a self-important air assured them ' her charge was in such a sweet sleep she could not be disturbed.' Hearing this. Lord Conyngham told her sharply, * We have come on business of State to the Queen, and even her sleep must give way to that,' on which Madame Lehzen left. His words were repeated to the Duchess of Kent, who up to this time had always occupied the same room with the princess, whom she now woke. A few minutes later the young sovereign quietly entered the apart- ment where she was awaited, a shawl wrapped over her dressing-gown, her bare feet in slippers. A girl in appearance, she was rather low in stature, her large blue eyes bright with intelligence, her soft brown hair hanging about her shoulders. Lord Conyngham at once advanced to make known his errand, but no sooner did he utter the words ' Your Majesty ' than she instantly put out her hand that he might kiss it before proceeding further, which he did on bended knee. R.P. Z 338 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND She then presented it to the Archbishop. Having heard with calmness from the Chamberlain the news for which her uncle's condition had long prepared her, and listened without signs of impatience to ' a sort of pastoral charge,' which his Grace addressed to her, she made some inquiries about Queen Adelaide, then calmly bowed and retired. " In this way, in the silence of a summer morning, while her subjects slept, without ostentation and with a simplicity in accordance with her early life, the momentous news was made known to the princess that she had become Sovereign Queen of England's vast dominions." ^ The young queen met her first Council at Kensington Palace at eleven on the same day in the low pillared room immediately underneath the cube room. Greville describes the scene in his own inimitable way . " The queen entered, accompanied by her two uncles, who advanced to meet her. She bowed to the lords, took her seat, and then read her speech in a clear, distinct, and audible voice, and without any appearance of fear or embarrass- ment. She was quite plainly dressed, and in mourning. After she had read her speech and taken and signed the oath for the security of the Church of Scotland, the Privy Coun- cillors were sworn, the two royal dukes first, by themselves ; and as these two old men, her uncles, knelt before her, swearing allegiance and kissing her hand, I saw her blush up to the eyes, as if she felt the contrast between their civil and their natural relations, and this was the only sign of emotion which she evinced. Her manner to them was very graceful and engaging ; she kissed them both, and rose from her chair and moved towards the Duke of Sussex, who was farthest ' Molloy : Victoria Regina, 3-5. KENSINGTON PALACE 339 from her and too infirm to reach her. She seemed rather bewildered at the multitude of men who were sworn, and who came one after another to kiss her hand, but she did not speak to anybody, nor did she make the slightest difference in her manner, or show any in her countenance, to any individual of any rank, station, or party. I particularly watched her when Melbourne and the Duke of Wellington and Peel approached her. She went through the whole ceremony, occasionally looking at Melbourne for instruction when she had any doubt what to do, which hardly ever occurred, and with perfect calmness and self-possession, but at the same time with a graceful modesty and propriety par- ticularly interesting and ingratiating. When the business was done she retired as she had entered, and I could see that nobody was in the adjoining room." On July 13 the young queen left Kensington Palace with her mother to take up her residence at Buckingham Palace. On her wedding-day " at Kensington — the scene of Her Majesty's early youth, and her constant residence until she ascended the throne — the public enthusiasm knew no bounds ... at the commencement of High Street ... as you arrive at the entrance to Kensington Palace an immense triumphal arch was erected, formed of different kinds of evergreens and adorned with emblematic devices. Under this arch a band had stationed themselves, and they continued playing the most popular airs during the day." ^ The Duke of Sussex died at Kensington Palace in 1S43. During his long residence there he had been wont to entertain his friends with great hospitality. Mr. Rush, Ambassador from the United States to England between the years 1S19 * Queen Victoria, from Birth to Bridal, n '>'^'' J-- Z 2 340 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND and 1825, mentions that he " sat at the head of the table in true, old English style and was full of cordiality and conversa- tion." Always liberal in his views, he was fond of dwelling upon the blessings of free government. The Duke of Sussex at one time sat for his portrait to Solomon Hart. " The sittings were held at Kensington Palace in a big room with a high ceiling, long narrow windows, great bookcases, and a William and Mary chimney- piece, all of which formed accessories to the picture." The duke was friendly and pleasant. "You must forget the queen's uncle . . . and treat me as an ordinary person," said he. The sittings were carried on under difficulties. Perhaps, after the artist had walked from Gower Street to Kensington, the duke would send a message that he could not give him a sitting on that day. Generally when the sitter was secured, numerous interruptions would take place. A string of visitors would arrive, and the picture would be submitted to their criticism, or the duke's wife would come in and insist upon his taking some fresh air. As president, the Duke of Sussex was in the habit of giving receptions to the Royal Society at Kensington Palace, and he was ready to give a helping hand in the cause of science whenever it was possible for him to do so. After his death the famous library which he had collected at the palace, and which had become a byword in learned circles, was sold by auction and dispersed. His wife, who was created Duchess of Inverness by Queen Victoria in 1840, thus being enabled to assume one of her husband's titles, survived him for some thirty years and died at Kensington Palace in 1873. " I have often spent an evening," states the Hon. Amelia Murray in her Recollections, " in private with the Princess KENSINGTON PALACE 341 Sophia at Kensington Palace ; she was an example of unmur- muring, patient endurance, such as can be rarely met with." " I think her abilities were most superior. Blind and suffering, no complaint ever issued from her lips. She said that she did not like to have a resident lady, for, not being able to see, she should always fancy the lady sitting opposite to her looking wearied. Her literary acquirements were con- siderable ; she had four readers who came to her every day to read French, German, Italian, and English ; and as each was employed only for an hour, she observed, * the fatigue would not be too great for them ' ; and she was thus kept au courant du jour, while she tore paper into small bits to fill pillows, which she found were acceptable to invalids." "The last time I saw this amiable princess, in addition to her blindness, she was in some degree deaf, and could not move from her seat without being carried ; yet still she was as patient and kind and uncomplaining as ever." The Princess Sophia, who had frequently spent the evening with the Duchess of Kent during her residence at Kensington Palace, died there in her armchair, May 27, 1848. For many years there was not any royal resident at the old palace, which stood " blinking its sleepy windows across elmy vistas, or into tranquil courts," behind the high brown walls reaching along Kensington Gardens to its gate. The state apartments had been dismantled in the early days of the reign of William IV. ; the tapestries and pictures which adorned their walls had been removed and sent to Hampton Court and elsewhere. After being thus despoiled, they were left to another period of neglect and decay, during which other things, which could not be replaced, vanished. Thus the cube room lost the handsome chandeliers which were suspended from the ceiling, 342 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND and the gilded busts of Roman poets, which stood in the niches above the gilded statues. A large pier-glass adorned with wreaths of flowers, the work of Jean Baptiste Monnoyer, who had been brought over to England by the Duke of Montague to decorate his house, now the British Museum, used to hang between the windows in the presence chamber. It is said that while the artist painted this Queen Mary sat beside him, watching the progress of his work. Queen Anne's closet was used as a kitchen, and the chimneypiece replaced by a kitchen range. Probably most of the lost wainscotting gradually disappeared about the same time. Outside, the beautiful orangery was allowed gradually to sink into a state of utter ruin and decay, and a suggestion was once made that it should be pulled down and carted away as rubbish. Some of the high panelling was torn down and gardeners' stands were let into the walls ; just as the garden opposite was devoted to hideous glasshouses and forcing frames, in which the bedding-out stock for the park and gardens was reared.^ When the wall was removed in the early seventies from the back of the alcove which bears Queen Anne's initial, it was carried bodily away to the other end of the gardens. This " melancholy, stately, grandiose old pile," as Thackeray's daughter called it, " filling one with no little respect for the people who raised so stately a mansion to rest in for a moment," now stands on one side of a gravel walk, leading down near the fountains. It is utterly out of place, since it was built for the purpose of being erected at the end of a gravel walk and to face towards the north ; whereas now it does neither, with the consequence that it is completely overlooked by the passer-by. * These have all been removed now, and the ground has been laid out once more as a garden with a covered walk and ornamental water. KENSINGTON PALACE 343 In 1851 a proposal was made to build the National Gallery on the site of Kensington Palace. The queen offered to give every facility for the erection of the Gallery, but did not see why it should be placed exactly on the site of the present palace. The apartments of the Duchess of Kent were not inhabited for many years, but the Duchess of Teck occupied them for some time, and Princess May, the present Queen, was born in the "nursery" in 1867. After Queen Victoria's death they were assigned to the Princess Henry of Battenberg. The adjoining apartments belong to Her Royal Highness the Princess Louise and the Duke of Argyll, who lived there many years, but now make their home principally at Windsor. A few favoured individuals occupy private suites of apartments by special privilege. On June 28, 1893, Queen Victoria visited Kensington for the purpose of unveiling the statue of herself, the work of her daughter Princess Louise, which loyal Kensington had erected facing the Broad Walk in front of the palace where she was born. In 1898 an obdurate Treasury was at last prevailed upon to take steps for the restoration of the state rooms at Ken- sington Palace, and ;^23,ooo was voted by the House of Commons for that purpose. The queen announced her intention of opening them, after careful restoration, to the public, during her pleasure. The work was carried out in a spirit of true reverence, and no trouble was spared in care and ingenuity and attention to detail, to enable the historic past to speak to the listening ears of the present. From the day of the Great Queen's eightieth birthday it has been open to all who wish to study the result of the unique treatment which has been so lovingly bestowed upon Kensington Palace. (^ucftingpam (pahct BUCKINGHAM PALACE, the London residence of the greatest sovereign in the world, stands at the top of Constitution Hill. The east front of the palace facing the west of St. James's Park, where Buckingham Palace Road, the Mall, and Birdcage Walk may be said to converge, is the only part of it at all familiar to the public at large, for the south side presents merely a conglomeration of buildings so unimpressive and insignificant as to almost escape the notice of the passer-by. Even the first view of the east front is disappointing ; a more commonplace-looking building cannot well be imagined ; there is nothing grand or inspiring about it ; the attempts at decoration in the centre seem out of keeping with the remainder of the structure ; while its extreme length only serves to intensify the complete absence of dignity for which it is chiefly remarkable. Judging from this view it is not surprising to learn that Buckingham Palace has been strictured by experts as the ugliest royal residence in Europe. From the architectural standpoint it ranks as one of the greatest of the lost oppor- tunities of London, a subject for lasting regret that the skill and the ingenuity were not forthcoming for the erection of a palace worthy of the tradition of the nation and of the empire. a u 1^ BUCKINGHAM PALACI- 345 A better situation could scarcely have been chosen tor this purpose. The central, yet secluded, position of Buckingham Palace ensures convenience without sacrificing privacy, and its gardens are unsurpassed in the metropolis, both in beauty and extent. They consist of some forty acres of ground and contain a lake covering four acres of water. The compara- tively few who have enjoyed the privilege of admission, which has been but seldom accorded, have been united in their expressions of admiration. In the king's apartments, which overlook the grounds in the direction of Grosvenor Place, " the seclusion is so great that the thunder of the London traffic is heard only as a murmur from the distant streets." Strange to say, the histor}' of Buckingham Palace com- mences with that of a garden. In the early years of the reign of James I. public attention in England was directed to the cultivation of silkworms as a profitable investment, and a great stimulus was thereby given to the planting of mulberry trees in all promising localities. In 1609, by way of experi- ment, the king set apart a piece of ground near West- minster Palace, which was enclosed and planted with these trees, at a cost of £935. Thus the Mulberry Garden, of which William Stallenge was appointed the first keeper for a period of seven years, although it proved a failure as a lucrative source of revenue, became an established fact. In 1628 Charles I. appointed Walter, Lord Aston, a custodian and keeper of the Mulberry Garden near St. James's ..." and of the mulberries and silkworms there, and of all the houses and buildings to the same garden belonging." Four years later Lord Goring (the "wild George Goring" of Whytc-Meville's Hohnhy House) purchased 346 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND the post from Lord Aston for ;^8oo, and gave his name to the official residence.-^ Later on the garden became a place of public entertain- ment, and May lo, 1654, John Evelyn writes that " My Lady Gerrard treated us at the Mulberry Garden, now the only place of refreshment about town for persons of the best quality to be exceedingly cheated at, Cromwell and his partisans having shut up and seized on Spring Garden, which till now had been the usual rendezvous for the ladies and gallants at this season." It remained a place of fashionable resort for some years after the Restoration, and references are made by the writers of the period to its walks and arbours, the " wilderness," and the dining-room where, among other dainties, mulberry-tarts and cheese-cakes seem to have been in special demand. Here Charles II. is said to have broken the order forbidding the drinking of healths which he issued soon after his accession. Here, according to Sedley (one of whose plays is entitled The Mulberry Garden), " The country ladys for the first month take up their places in the Mulberry Gardens as early as a citizen's wife at a new play." The last scene of Wycherley's Love in a Wood is depicted in the dining- room, and Shadwell's Humourists contains the following dialogue : — Friske. " Once Madam ! Why does not your ladyship frequent the Mulberry Garden oft'ner ? I vow we had the pleasantest divertissement there last night." Striker. " Ay, I was there, and the garden was very full, Madam, of gentlemen and ladies that made love together till twelve o'clock at night." ^ In the British Museum there is an old water-colour drawing of Goring House at this period. DUCKIXOIIAM I'ALACl-: 347 A contemporary remembers " plain John Drydcn, before he paid his court with success to the great, in one uniform clothing of Norwich drugget," and adds, " I have ate tarts with him and Madame Reeve ^ at the Mulberry Garden, when our author [had] advanced to a sword and Chardreux wig ! " In 1668 Samuel Pepys found it " a very silly place, worse than Spring Garden, and but little company, only a wilder- ness that is somewhat pretty." In spite of this disparage- ment, however, he was not above being entertained there at another's expense, for, in the following year, he writes : " To the Mulberry Garden where Shere is to treat us with a Spanish olio ... he did do it mighty nobly and olio was indeed a very noble dish such as I never saw better or any more of. We left other good things which would keep till night for a collation and with much content took coach again," returning later with other company " to supper upon what was left at noon, and very good, and we mighty merry." The Mulberry Garden was closed to the public about 1675. Meanwhile Goring House, the first house that is known to have occupied part of the site of Buckingham Palace, had been appropriated during the Commonwealth by Speaker Lenthal. At the Restoration Lord Goring returned to it, but died within two years. On June 10, 1660, Pepys writes, " I put on my new silk suit, first that ever I wore in my life ... to a great wedding kept at Goring House with very great state, cost and noble company ! " The house was purchased from Goring's son and successor by Henry Bennet, better known as Lord Arlington, one of the Roman Catholic members of the well-known Cabal Ministry, who was living ' A popular actress of the period. 348 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND there in March, 1665, when Evelyn called it " ill-built but capable of being made a very pretty villa ! " In this year Lord Arlington imported to England from Holland one pound of tea at a cost of £^, so that in all probability tea was first drunk in this country at Goring House. In 1671 the second and last Lord Goring died, and next year the office of " Keeper of the Mulberries " was aboHshed, so that in 1673 Lord Arlington obtained a lease from Charles IL, for ninety-nine years at a nominal rent, of the grounds adjacent to his house. This he had furnished in the most sumptuous manner, the new dressing-room, which Evelyn describes April 17, 1673, containing " a bed, two glasses, silver jars and vases, cabinets and other so rich furniture, as I had seldom seen." On this occasion he cannot refrain from remarking, " to this excess of superfluity were we now arrived and that not only at Court but almost universally, even to wantonness and profusion." Eighteen months later he has this further record to make : " I went to see the great loss that Lord Arlington had sustained by fire at Goring House this night [September 20, 1674] consumed to the ground, with exceeding loss of hangings, plate, rare pictures and cabinets : hardly anything was saved of the best and most princely furniture that any subject had in England. My lord and lady were both absent at the Bath." Nothing discouraged by the loss which he had sustained. Lord Arlington appears to have commenced rebuilding at once ; and Goring House was replaced by another, called after its owner Arlington House. This was purchased in i6g8 by John Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham, who five years later obtained leave to have it pulled down. In its place Buckingham House was erected, which was built in brick and stone after the designs of a Dutch P,UCKIX(iIIAM PALACE 349 architect, Captain Wynne. It excited the admiration both of the duke, who wrote an elaborate description of his new house in a letter to the Earl of Shrewsbury, and also of his con- temporaries, who were almost as unstinted in their praise as the owner himself. Thus John Timbs, in his New View of London, published in 1708, speaks of Buckingham House, " now in the occupation of his Grace," as " a graceful palace, very commodious," "a seat notto be contemned by the greatest monarch." Again Macky in 1722 describes it as " one of the great beauties of London, both by reason of its situation and building . . . behind it a fine garden, a noble terrace (from whence, as well as from the apartments, you have a most delicious prospect) and a little park with a pretty canal. The courtyard which fronts the park is spacious, the offices are on each side divided from the palace by two arching galleries . . . and on the gate of the court (which is of iron) are finely cut out the coronet and cypher of his Grace, with the ensigns of the noble Order of the Garter ; and in the middle of the court is a round basin of water — wdth the figure of Neptune and the tridents in a water-work. The staircase is large and nobly painted ; and in the hall, before you ascend the stairs is a very fine statue of Cain slaying of Abel, in marble. The apartments are indeed very noble, the furniture rich and many very good pictures. The top of the palace is flat, on which one hath a full view of London and Westminster and the adjacent country ; and the four figures of Mercury, Secrecy, Equity and Liberty front the park ; and those of the Four Seasons, the gardens. His Grace hath also put inscriptions on the four parts of his palace . . . the inscrip- tions on the two fronts are very well adapted ; for on the front to the park, which is as delicious a situation as can be 350 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND imagined, sic siti laetantur lares, the household gods dehght in such a situation ; and fronting the garden rus in URBE, the country within a city, which may be properly said, for from that garden you can see nothing but an open country and an uninterrupted view, without seeing any part of the city, because the palace interrupts that prospect from the garden." ^ In the Jerningham Collection of old prints and engravings of the Royal Palaces and Parks in Kensington Palace there are some engravings of Buckingham House, as it appeared when this description was written. The Duke of Buckingham, who is described as " a noble- man of learning and good natural parts, but of no principles," died at Buckingham House in 1720-21, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. The house was left to his widow, who was a daughter of James II. by Catherine Sedley, Countess of Dorchester. She was noted in her day for her eccen- tricities and for her devotion to the House of Stuart. Horace Walpole, who dubbed her " Princess Buckingham," relates in his Reminiscences how she received Lord Hervey on the day of her grandfather's execution, " in the great drawing- room of Buckingham House, seated in a chair of state in deep mourning, attended by her women in like weeds, in memory of the royal martyr." On the death of the duchess in 1743, " her funeral was the subject of the town . . . her effigy in wax . . . dressed up in her coronation robes was placed under a canopy of state [the canopy in which she had evinced the greatest interest when on her death-bed] with two ladies of her bedchamber at her head and feet and drawn by six horses covered with black ^ Macky : Journey through England, 194, 195. BUCKINGHAM PALACI-: 351 velvet." ^ The effigy of the duchess and those of her two sons are still preserved at Westminster Abbey. She was succeeded in the ownership of Buckingham House by the duke's natural son, Charles Herbert Sheffield, on whom it had been entailed after the death of the young duke in 1735- In 1761 George HI. bought the house from Sir Charles Sheffield for ;{"2 1,000 and soon afterwards moved there from St. James's Palace. By 1772, according to Northouck, the appearance of the house, since it became a royal residence, had been changed, but not improved. " Originally this building had an air of elegant uniformity ; but though the front view is not yet damaged, so many irregular additions have been made on each side, as to inspire the spectator with the idea of a country parsonage-house to which every incumbent has added something, one a wash-house, another a stable, another a hen-roost . . . till the whole is made a mere jumble of patch-work." The statues had been removed from the roof, the inscriptions from the sides of the house, while inferior iron railings had been substituted for the handsome ironwork and gates which had formerly served for the purpose of enclosure. In 1775 by Act of Parliament Buckingham House was settled on Queen Charlotte for life, in exchange for Somerset House, after which it became generally known as the Queen's Palace. There are several views of it in the Jerningham Collection which can easily be compared with the earlier ones of Buckingham House. It continued to be the favourite residence both of George III. and of his queen ; it was the birthplace of all ' Gentleman's Magazine, 1743, p. 136. 352 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND their children, with the exception of the Prince of Wales, and the scene of many happy years of the quiet domestic life which they both loved, before the troubles of later days encompassed them with the shadows of anxiety and gloom. The royal children were brought up with almost Spartan severity, but that relaxations were not wanting is shown in the following reference to a juvenile ball given by the queen at Buckingham House, which occurs in a letter written to Hannah More : — " His Majesty minded only the little ones, whom he ranged and matched and was quite delighted with their performance; requiring the queen to come and see how well they danced." The evenings at the Queen's Palace were sometimes enlivened with readings by Mrs. Siddons. The saloon was used as a throne-room, where Queen Charlotte was accustomed to hold her drawing-rooms. The cartoons of Raphael, which are now in South Ken- sington Museum, found a temporary resting-place in her palace, but its greatest glory consisted in the fine library which George HI. collected within its walls, regularly appro- priating ;£'2,ooo a year for nearly sixty years to this object. Mr. Barnard, the king's librarian, was a friend of Dr. Johnson, so that the latter had free access to the library, and it was there that his personal interview with the king took place in 1767, of which a full account is given by Boswell. This library was presented to the nation by George IV. and is preserved in the British Museum as the King's Library. During the Gordon Riots in 1780 it was feared that the rioters would make their way to the Queen's Palace, and a large number of soldiers were stationed in the grounds for its protection. By some oversight no straw was provided for their accommodation at night, and so the king, having seen that everything was done for their comfort in other respects, HUCKIXGHAM PALACE 353 shared the long night watch with them, walking about and chatting with the easy affability which endeared him to the hearts of his subjects. On the marriage of the Prince of Wales a suite of rooms was magnificently fitted up, two of the lev^e rooms being hung with beautiful tapestry, " recently discovered with colours unfaded in an old chest at St. James's." Although her usual home was at Carlton House, it was from the Queen's Palace in 1816 that the Princess Charlotte, upon whom the nation's hopes were at that time centred, went forth in the heyday of her youth and beauty to her marriage with Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, afterwards King of the Belgians. Queen Charlotte died in 1818, and not many years after George IV. entrusted his favourite architect, Nash, with the task of pulling down and rebuilding almost the whole of Buckingham House. The new structure, afterw^ards dignified by the name of palace, was commenced in 1825, apparently in a very haphazard kind of way, without models or per- spective draw^ings. The original wings of the building met with such wholesale condemnation that they had to be removed, the architect owning that he did not think that they would look as they did, which naive but exasperating confession he also made with respect to the dome of the garden front, which was visible where he did not intend it to be. Nash's palace, the erection of which cost about ^^500,000, and which was not finished until 1837, showed, according to Leeds, " his utter incapacity for the task he had undertaken, the barrenness of his invention, the feebleness of his ideas, and the paltriness of his taste." The garden front is generally considered to be the most satisfactory part of his R.P. A A 354 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND work ; the basement is fronted by a raised terrace guarded by a balustrade, above which the elevation shows four- storied ; and the effect of the Corinthian towers from the shores of the lake, although wanting in grandeur, is not unpleasing. The Marble Arch, which was erected in 1827-28 from designs by Burton, stood in front of the central entrance to Buckingham Palace until its removal to its present position in 185 1, and bore the royal banner which is now displayed over the centre of the east front when the sovereign is in residence. George IV. never inhabited the building, upon which his character and reign have left an indelible impression. It is interesting to notice that William IV., who disliked Bucking- ham Palace and left it unused, at once offered it for the accommodation of Parliament when their Houses were burnt down in 1834, but this kindly proposal they did not see their way to accept. On the accession of Queen Victoria several alterations were made in the palace ; the objectionable dome was removed from the garden front, and new buildings were added to the south. The young sovereign took up her residence there July 13, 1837, and " had no sooner entered . . . than she set out to explore the great rooms and long corridors with the joyous curiosity of a bride examining her new home." Nearly a year later occurred the first of the long series of State pageants with which Buckingham Palace has since been associated. Her youth and sex and the retired life which she had hitherto led caused the nation to take an unprecedented interest in the coronation of their queen. The morning of June 28, although grey and threatening, saw thousands k ^ BUCKINGHAM PALACK 355 assembled to catch the first glimpse of her on this historic occasion. In the light of after events it is rather amusing that The Times' correspondent should have narrated at some length how the frequent hovering of a large goose over the palace caused the following prediction to be voiced among some elderly women in the crowd : — " Who'd have thought it, that a nasty, ugly, long-necked . . . goose should have been fated to mar the happy events of this day ! There will surely be some accident, or the poor dear soul, God bless her, will not long survive the ceremony." At eight o'clock it was raining heavily, but, " Two hours later, when the queen left Buckingham Palace and stepped into the state coach drawn by eight cream-coloured horses, the sun shone brilliantly on a scene radiant with the crimson and gold of uniforms, the glitter of cuirass and helmet, the multi-coloured hues of robe and gown, the blaze of jewels, and the splendour of the long line of gorgeously emblazoned coaches carr^ang foreign ambassadors and ministers extraordinary." Seven hours passed before the newly-crowned queen returned, and " the cheering which in the morning had been loud was now almost overpowering." The same evening Her Majesty gave a dinner party to one hundred guests, and later on she and her maids viewed the illuminations and the fireworks sent up from the Green Park from the roof of the palace. In November, 1839, the queen announced to over eighty members of her Privy Council assembled in the bow room at Buckingham Palace, " in a clear, sonorous, sweet-toned voice," her intention to ally herself in marriage with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. This, the second great change in her hitherto comparatively uneventful life, took place from Buckingham Palace on February 10, 1840, amid a general interest which no occurrence in connection with A A 2 356 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND the royal family had produced since the marriage of the loved and lamented Princess Charlotte. " The queen came back with the chosen companion of her life — her husband — by her side, who handed her from the carriage at the palace door." She " entered her own hall with an open and joyous counte- nance, acknowledging the loud and cordial cheers which rang through the apartment." " She walked up the grand staircase, in the presence of her Court, leaning on her husband's arm." After the wedding breakfast the royal pair "left Buckingham Palace in a carriage and four with out- riders in scarlet liveries and escorted by a party of light dragoons for Windsor Castle. . . . The sun, which had been hidden by clouds throughout the day, broke forth with the utmost splendour just as the royal cavalcade left the palace. There seemed to be as fresh an eagerness to see Her Majesty set out for Windsor as if it were the first event of the day." Although as time went on their mutual preference for the country made the queen and Prince Albert curtail their London visits as much as their State duties allowed, some time in each year of their married life was necessarily spent in Buckingham Palace, and King Edward VII. and most of his brothers and sisters were born there. In London the queen took her customary morning walk with her husband in the palace gardens, when it was a great amusement to the latter to watch and feed the aquatic birds which were kept there at his suggestion. Once, when the lake was frozen over, the prince was figuring gracefully on the ice, while the queen, with one of her ladies, watched him from the bank, when, to adopt his own account, " he fell plump into the water, and had to swim for two or three minutes in order to get out." In 1843 the public attention had been drawn to the use of BUCKINGHAM PALACE 357 fresco for decorative purposes by the exhibition of the cartoons for the new Houses of Parhament. The queen and the Prince Consort showed their personal interest by erecting a paviHon in the grounds of Buckingham Palace on an artificial mound near the lake, in which this method of treatment was illustrated in three distinct styles under the superintendence of Griiner. Eastlake, Landseer, Maclise, Uwins, and other artists of the day executed the lunettes from Comus, in which the al fresco idea is predominant ; scenes from the poems and novels of Scott create in another room the atmosphere of romance ; while yet a third room is Pompeian in the minutest details of furniture and fittings. The finished scheme can be studied in a beautiful book of engravings, with an introduction by Mrs. Jameson, which Griiner published by command of the queen in 1846. In May, 1842, there took place at Buckingham Palace the great historic fete known as the "Queen's Plantagenet Ball," which had been organised chiefly with a view to helping the depressed trades of London, the orders for the robes of the queen and prince being executed in Spitalfields. At the appointed time King Edward escorted Queen Philippa to her throne, and they awaited with their Court the arrival of Anne of Brittany, who, led by Louis XII. and accompanied by a suite of one hundred and twenty courtiers from France, Italy, and Spain, was to be presented before them. About half-past ten, marshalled by the heralds, the procession marched up the grand white marble staircase, through the gilded state rooms with their reflecting mirrors and glittering chandeliers, to the throne-room. The meeting of the two Courts formed a magnificent living picture of one of the most interesting periods in modern history, portrayed by the highest, the wealthiest, the loveliest, and the most honourable in the land. 358 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND Three years later the palace was the scene of another notable ball, at which the guests wore costumes of the Georgian period between 1740 and 1750. The diplomatic corps and foreigners of distinction adopted the uniform of their respective nations within the prescribed dates, while the nobility and gentry in many cases copied from family portraits the dress of their ancestors. The ladies wore their quaint dress with as much variety as possible in rich brocades, raised velvets, and gold and silver tissues, with rare lace and " the greatest magnificence of embroidered and jewelled decoration consistent with propriety." In a letter to Sir Robert Peel, dated February 10, 1845, the queen refers to the total want of accommodation for a growing family at Buckingham Palace, together with the urgent need for repairs and improvements. These were com- menced in 1847 under the superintendence of Mr. Blore, at an estimated cost of .^150,000, to include the erection of the present east front and the state ball-room. The grand saloon, in which three hundred guests can be seated on the occasion of a State concert, had previously served as a ball-room, but it was quite inadequate for this purpose, necessitating the additional use of the throne-room, after the presentations to the queen had been made. In 1852 an additional ;^5o,ooo was secured for the enlargement and improvement of the palace from the sale of the Royal Pavilion and its grounds at Brighton. It was probably about this time that a carpet merchant, whose men were laying down new carpets in the state apart- ments, being a connoisseur in art, put on a workman's smock and made his way to the picture gallery, where there is a fine collection of Dutch and Flemish pictures, purchased by George IV. from Sir Francis Baring. While he was quietly BUCKINGHAM PALACK 359 inspecting them, the queen, very plainly dressed, came in and asked, " Pray, can you tell me when the carpet will be put down in the Privy Council Chamber ? " " Really, madam, I cannot tell, but I will inquire," said the disguised carpet merchant. " Stay," said Her Majesty abruptly, but not unkindly, " who are you ? I perceive that you are not one of the workmen." Blushing and stammering, he confessed that his love of art had led him into this deception. The queen was much amused, readily forgave him, and added with a smile, " I knew for all your dress that you were a gentleman, because you did not 'Your Majesty' me. Pray look at the pictures as long as you will. Good morning." ^ The royal children (some of whom had run in after their mother on this occasion), though strictly brought up, enjoyed many and varied amusements, and even at Buckingham Palace felt no lack of home delights. Of the many " treats " given them perhaps the grandest was the juvenile ball at Buckingham Palace on Prince Arthur's birthday in 1845, ^t which two hundred children were present. A few grown-up guests helped to make the young folks happy, among whom was the then Premier, Lord Aberdeen, to whom the following graceful invitation had been sent : — " Though the queen cannot send Lord Aberdeen a card for a child's ball, perhaps he may not disdain coming for a short while to see a number of happy little people, including some of his grandchildren, enjoy themselves." A few years later Buckingham Palace served as a back- ground for two incidents in connection with the Crimean War. One was the march past of the Guards on the morn- ing of their departure from England in 1854, after which Partly quoted from Knight : Life and Reign of Queen Victoria, 184. 36o ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND Queen Victoria wrote to her uncle, King Leopold : " We stood on the balcony to see them. . . . They formed line, presented arms, and then cheered us very heartily and went off cheering. It was a touching and beautiful sight." The other was the march past of those who returned at the end of the campaign, after more than two years' absence. " Early in January, 1858, elaborate and splendid prepara- tions were made for the marriage of the Princess Royal. By the 19th Buckingham Palace was crowded with guests. . . . Incessant bustle and joyous confusion filled the palace from morning till daybreak. . . . The tall and handsome bridegroom did not arrive until the 23rd, when he looked pale and nervous. He was met in the great hall by the queen and the whole Court, and at the top of the stairs by his bride-elect and the Princess Alice. Then came the wedding-day, January 25, which Her Majesty spoke of as *the second most eventful day in my life as regards feelings. I felt as if I were being married over again myself.' . . . The morning was clear and bright, and as the procession of state carriages, attended by glittering escorts, left Buckingham Palace . . . bells rang, thousands cheered, and the flourish of trumpets electrified the air. . . . After the wedding breakfast the young couple started for Windsor. " With heavy regret Her Majesty and the Prince Consort parted from their eldest daughter. The whole scene at Buckingham Palace was melancholy, for not only the queen and prince were overcome, but the whole household were in tears. The departure of the bride and bridegroom, February 2, 1858, took place in a blinding snowstorm."^ 1 MoUoy : Victoria Regina, 590, 591. BUCKINGHAM PALACE 361 After the lamented death of the Prince Consort, the queen came less and less to London, and the palace was more and more deserted, except at the rare intervals of the proverbial three days' visit. It awoke to temporary splendour in 1873, when it was placed at the disposal of the Shah, Nasr-ed-Din, during his visit to England in the summer of that year. But the one great event of national importance in thirty years, which served as a magnet to direct the thoughts of all to the presence of their queen in Buckingham Palace, was the occasion of her Jubilee in 1887. On the morning of June 21 she looked out from a side window on the vast crowd assembled in the full fervour of anticipation, and a tremendous shout of welcome went up. " In the almost absolute silence which ensued . . . the strains of the National Anthem were distinctly audible, and at last the fateful moment came." The pent-up voice of the people could no longer be restrained, and when the famous cream-coloured horses came into full view the rich and tumultuous chorus of loyalty and affection pealed forth in unabated strength. Two years later, July 27, 1889, amid every demonstration of popular enthusiasm, the marriage of the Princess Louise of Wales, now Princess Royal, with the Duke of Fife took place in the chapel at Buckingham Palace. This chapel, which was consecrated in 1843, was not originally designed for ecclesiastical purposes. " It is not a spacious room . . . the middle space is bare. Round all the sides, except that which is occupied by the altar, is a colonnade of Corinthian pillars, broken by a wreath in the middle and profusely gilded, the bases of which rest upon green and red marble. The roof and walls are coloured with a great diversity of tints, and around the top are windows, not ecclesiastical but oblong, filled with ground glass to which there is a purple 362 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND border. . . . The chapel, in fact, may be interesting as a type of architecture, but in itself is far from beautiful. It is not without objects of real charm. Over the altar is an exquisite piece of Gobelin tapestry representing the Baptism of our Saviour ; on each side is a triptych, the work of Henri de Bles, that to the right representing the Descent from the Cross, while that to the left is believed to portray the Adoration of the Magi." ^ Reaching Buckingham Palace, the bridal party passed along the spacious corridor leading to the bow drawing- room. This pleasant room, so called from its rounded corners, overlooks the gardens and contains a priceless collection of china, including the most celebrated specimen of Sevres in the world. Leaving to the right the Forty-four room, with its mementoes of the queen's visit to France, where the signing of the register was to take place later, they reached the Fifty-five room. On its walls are pictures by Thomas of the presentation of the Crimean medals and portraits of the Emperor Napoleon III. and of the Empress Eugenie, Passing through another room, they entered the chapel, the gay colouring of which had been toned down by the skilful arrangement of the floral decorations. " Festoons of roses hung in graceful curves from pillar to pillar ; spiral wreaths of roses were twined round each column." The roses were all of the softest pink, the flowers on the altar of the purest white, while hydrangeas of the most delicate shades, white lilies, and rose sprays were intermingled with green foliage to form the imposing but graceful structures which stood outside the altar rails on either side. ^ Times, July 25, 1889. 1 ^ <. ^ i i <»^ 5 5^ .5 •; •* 5 > ■<: S N ■^ > "• f * V ■< C V N « - ; ^ J ^ ^ ; ^ >5 ^ 5 5 -^ X^ ; y. ^ . BUCKINGHAM PALACE 363 On July 22, 1896, the king's youngest daughter, Princess Maud, was also married at Buckingham Palace to her cousin, Prince Charles of Denmark, now better known as Haakon, the popular King of Norway. Of her it was said, " Never has a more charming and graceful bride issued from an English home, and never has a royal princess looked happier upon her wedding-day than Princess Maud of Wales " ; while the bearing of the bridegroom was such as to call forth the quotation, " to give the world assurance of a man." Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee was celebrated on June 22, 1897, " throughout her Empire with an enthusiasm, a popular accord and a splendour which are without parallel in the history of this or any other nation." Before leaving Buckingham Palace on her way to the solemn thanksgiving service in front of St. Paul's the queen pressed the button which caused the transmission of her gracious message to the whole Empire : " From my heart I thank my beloved people. May God bless them ! " Of her return to the palace Theodore Cook wrote, " The queen looked verj' tired, and as she entered both her companions were leaning forward to speak to her, and the hand of the Princess of Wales held the hand of the Queen. All three showed visible traces of the emotion inevitable in so great a ceremony. And if Her Majesty wept, it must have been with joy that all her people had so brilliantly recognised her sovereignty, with the high feeling too of motherhood to all this mighty nation that had acclaimed her Queen. . . . I had now moved out into the forecourt of the palace, when a cheer from the people just behind the railings warned me to look back. And then it was that I realised the full significance of the one piece of decoration on the palace front. Above the gold and crimson of the centre balcony, the nurses of the Duchess 364 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND of York were seen opening the window. Her two children came out into the sunHght, in plain white frocks with blue sashes ; behind them was the slight form of a tinier still. As the eldest child heard the cheering of the crowd, he raised his little arm above his eyes and saluted. The people's enthusiasm burst all bounds. They broke past the police, they rushed beneath the horses' heads, they clambered to the very railings of the palace gate. The child seemed to recognise that something more was required of him. And while his little brother stamped with glee and waved his arms, the latest heir of Queen Victoria saluted with both hands at once." ^ Buckingham Palace once more received the queen at a time when popular enthusiasm ran high. In March, igoo, the recent news of the relief of Ladysmith caused a violent reaction to the first anxious months of the South African War, and each night of her stay the people assembled in their thousands outside Buckingham Palace, and in the fitful glare of red lights serenaded the queen until a late hour. On the night of the 9th she appeared again at the now historic window to acknowledge the ovation of twenty to thirty thousand people who had marched from Trafalgar Square, and on the following day reviewed two thousand of the Guards, who were leaving for the seat of war, in the forecourt of the palace. Thus in old age, as in early womanhood, some of the most eventful days of Queen Victoria form a large part of the history of Buckingham Palace. For this reason the immense space in front is being utilised for the National Memorial under the direction of Sir Aston Webb. The base in course 1 Daily Chronicle, June 23, 1897. BUCKINGHAM PALACE 365 of erection is to hold the central monument with the statue by Thomas Brock which is to be " a record of the gathered years and weighted meditations and crowning wisdom of the great queen." Shortly after the accession of King Edward VII. it was stated in The Times that the Office of Works would effect the necessary alterations and repairs required to enable the king and queen to take up their residence in Buckingham Palace as soon as possible. " Although it covers a considerable area of ground, the palace is by no means as commodious as its outside appearance would suggest." The move from Marl- borough House was effected in due course, and King Edward held his first Court in Buckingham Palace on March 14, 1902, at ten o'clock in the evening, an innovation which met with general approval on the part of those concerned. On June 23 the king arrived in London for his coronation amid " a people full of joy and hope, a nation overflowing in passionate w'elcome and loyalty." Next day a rumour began to spread among the serried crowds in the streets that the central figure of their rejoicing was lying dangerously ill at Buckingham Palace. The first bulletin issued by the king's surgeons, announcing the contemplated operation and the consequent postponement of the coronation, was posted about one o'clock near the western gate of the forecourt yard. Before it the ever-arriving crowd were made to pass in single file, and as they realised what had happened, the hearts of all were moved to pity. The bulletins were anxiously awaited, and for the first three nights numbers of people lingered for hours outside the palace, reading and discussing the latest one issued. All the incidents of the illness and its suddenness ; the king's desire to goon with the ceremonv of the coronation, even at a great personal risk; 3 66 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND the queen's anxiety — all appealed to the chivalric sense of the Empire, and the manifestations of public sympathy and sorrow were innumerable. Happily the king's recovery was practically unchecked from the time that the operation was performed by Sir Frederick Treves, and on July 15 he left Buckingham Palace for the Solent, the last bulletin posted outside the palace being issued two days later. On August 6 King Edward returned to London and was received all along the route from Victoria by the greetings of a people rejoicing in his restoration to health. Outside Buckingham Palace the crowd had assumed enormous pro- portions, which were scarcely increased on the great day itself (August 9) when their Majesties set out in full state for the great ceremony of their coronation. " Their final entrance between the gates of Buckingham Palace was very effective indeed, and then most men feared that all was over. But there was a red cloth spread over the central balcony, which gave room for the hope that their Majesties would appear once more before the people. . . . They appeared on the balcony in their crowns, the king first and the queen, clearly by his invitation, later ; and then indeed there was a storm of cheers. It was a memorable moment. There are few occasions indeed in a nation's history in which the emotions of the people have been so stirred and have been of so intense and varied a character." ^ King Edward and Queen Alexandra made frequent visits to their metropolis, and many royal guests were entertained at Buckingham Palace during their reign, including most of the crowned heads of Europe. The glorious art treasures, including Oriental porcelain, bronze candelabra, and beautiful furniture, which it contains in almost countless profusion ' Times, August 11, 1902. BUCKINGHAM PALACE 367 (some of which were described in the Magazine of Art for the years 1899 and 1900 by permission of the late queen), were, in consequence, used frequently for the purpose for which they were originally intended. The royal owner and his queen gathered around them a representative Court, and so great was their popularity that the domestic history of their London home, spurious or authentic, was constantly being kept up to date in the most minute details. For, comments a modern writer, " The palace, its inhabitants, its satellites and their doings are the favourite themes of small-talk and speculation, in the very humblest circles in the remotest parts of the provinces or of the Empire." ^ It was fitting that Buckingham Palace, the birthplace of King Edward and the royal residence which he had made peculiarly his own, should have been also the scene of his last days. There, with the characteristic courage that never failed him, he met death face to face for the third and last time. " Unconcerned for his own estate," true to the purpose which he kept steadily before him from the first moment of his accession, " he could not be persuaded to lie down or to leave anything undone which, with fast failing strength, he still could force himself to finish." " As he received so he gave — nothing grudged, nought denying, Not even the last gasp of his breath, when he strove for us dying."* Worn out at last with the ceaseless toil which " none but the few behind the scenes ever see and know and recognise," he lay down with the memorable words upon his lips, " No, I will not give up — I will go on — I will work to the end." These proved to be his last words. From that time he never ^ Escott : A'(«^ Edward VII. and his Court, 55. * Rudyard Kipling : The Dead King. 368 ROYAL PALACES OF ENGLAND rallied, but passed peacefully away as the last hour of Friday, May 6, igio, drew towards its close, while yet only com- paratively few of his subjects had even realised that he was seriously ill. On the day after his death the members of his household and his personal friends were admitted to offer their last tribute of affection, as he lay at rest. A week later the Throne-room at Buckingham Palace, which in the meanwhile had been converted into a temporary chapel, received the bier on its first stage to its final resting- place in the royal vault beneath St. George's Chapel, Windsor. Here daily prayers were offered, and the highest in the land thronged to render their latest act of homage to the dead king. On the following Tuesday, May 17, the doors of Buck- ingham Palace opened once more in the service of King Edward, when, escorted by his Grenadier Guards and followed by the incense of innumerable prayers, the funeral procession passed with royal military honours, amid the touching silence of the serried lines of mourning subjects, to the public lying-in-state at Westminster Hall. Jnb^r Aberdeen, Earl of. See Gordon. Adda, d', Archbishop of Amasia, 154 Addison, Joseph, 306, 311 Adelaide, Queen of William IV., 164, 283 Adelicia of Louvaine, Queen of Henry I.. 81 Aidan, Saint, 11 Albemarle, Duke of. See Monk. Albert, Prince Consort, 166, 283, 335, 356 Albini, William de, Earl of Arundel, 83 Alcred. King of Northumbria, n Alencon, Duke of. See Francis. Alexander III. of Scotland, 88, 366 Duke of Fife, 361 Alphonso, son of Edward I., 91 Amasia, Archbishop of. See Adda, d'. Amelia (Emily). Princess, 313 Amorie Elizabeth d", 47 Anjou, Duke of. See Francis. Anne Boleyn, Queen of Henry VHI., 8, 121, 125, 175, 214 of Bohemia, Queen of Richard II., 6, 32, loi of Cleves, Queen of Henry VIII.. 55, 62, 66 of Denmark, Queen of James I., 39. 59. 74. 139. 186, 223 Princess, 267, 276, 305 Queen, 4, 72, 156, 157, 159. 197, 221, 244, 264, 267. 302, 305. 308 Annesley, Sir John, 31 R.P. Argyll, Duke of. See Campbell. Arlington House, 348 Earl of. See Bennet. Arran, Earl of. See Hamilton. Arthur, King, 2 Artois, Robert, Count d', 93 Arundel, Earls of. See Albini, de ; Fitz-Alan. Ascham, Roger, 134 Audeley, Thomas, 214 Augusta, Princess of Sa.\e-Gotha, 276 Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex, 332. 339 Bacon, Sir Francis, 227 Balliol, Devorguilla (wife of John), 15 Edward. 13 John, King of Scotland, 12 Bamburgh (Dinquaroy) Castle, 11, 15 Bamfield, Colonel, 257, 258 Barenten, Hugh de, Constable of Windsor, 8g Bassompierre, Marquis de, 187, 229 Battenburg, Princess Henry of, 343 Baynards Castle, 40 Beaton, David, Cardinal Archbishop of St. Andrews, 56 Beauchamp, Richard, Bishop of Salisbury, 116 Beaufort, Lady Joanna. 108, 113 Bebba, wife of Ethelfrith the Destroyer, 11 B B 370 INDEX Beche, Nicholas de la, Constable of the Tower, i8 Bedford, Duke of. See John. Bek, Anthony, Bishop of Durham, 48 Bennet, Henry, Earl of Arlington, 347. 348 Berkeley Castle, 92 Black Friars of Holborn, The, 211 Blanche, daughter of Henry, Duke of Lancaster, 37 Blore, Mr., 358 Bliicher, Marshal, 282 Bonde, Count de, Swedish Ambas- sador, 299 Booth, George, Lord Delamere, 244 Boreman, Sir William, 59 Braose, Maud de, 84 William de, 28, 84 Bray, Sir Reginald, iig Bridgman, Charles, 317 Brienne, Simon de, 290 Brouncker, Henry, 74 Bruger, Louis de. Seigneur de la Gruthwyse, 115 Buckingham, Dukes of. See Shef- field, Stafford. House. See Bucking- ham Palace. Palace, 40, 281, 344, 349,351,353 Queen's Plan- tagenet ball at. 357 rebuilding, 353 Burgh, Hubert de, 17, 46, 211 Burghley, Lord. See Cecil. Burgundy, Duchess of. See Margaret, Duke of. See Philip. Burnet, Gilbert, Bishop of Salisbury, 267 Burnham, John, 49 Campbell, John, Duke of Argyll, 343 Campeggio, Cardinal, 53 Canterbury, Archbishop of. See Chicheley, Islip, Langton. Canute, 24 Capel, Sir Henry, 64 Carey, Sir Edmund, 137 Carlton House, 353 Caroline of Anspach, Queen of George IL, 63, 275— 9, 312, 317, 320 Brunswick, Queen of George IV., 324 Cary, Mr., 69 Casimer, Duke, 220 Cassilis, Earl of. See Kennedy. Castlemaine, Lady, 149, 192 Cecil, Robert, Earl of Salisbury, 67, 76 William, Lord Burghley, 136 Chancellor, Richard, 57 Charles I., 73, 77, 187—8, 228, 233, 254—5, 259. 261 II., 4, 74, 75, 77, 141, 148, 239, 242 III. of Spain, 157 V. of Spain, 61 VI. of Austria, 303 Prince of Denmark, 363 Charlotte, of Mecklenburgh Strelitz, Queen of George III., 277, 279, 281, 351—3 Princess, 363 Chaucer, Geoffrey, 33, 102 Chesney, Robert, Bishop of Lincoln, 67 Chesterfield, Earl of. See Dormer. Chicheley, Henry, Archbishop of Canterbury, no Christian IV. of Denmark, 138 Churchill, John, Duke of Marl- borough, 70 Sarah, Duchess of Marl- borough, 294, 304 Cigoinny, Engelard de, 4 Clarence House, 282 Clarendon, Lord Chancellor, 191 INDEX 371 Claypole, Elizabeth, daughter of Oliver Cromwell, 191 Cleveland, Duchess of. See Palmer. Cobham, Dame Eleanor, Duchess of Gloucester, 1 14 Lord. See Oldcastle. Colliston, Thomas, 297 Conway, Edward, Lord, 255 Cope, Sir Walter, 288 Cope's Castle. See Holland House. Corfe Castle, 85 Cornish, Master William. 50. Cornwall, Earl of. See Gaveston. Coucy, Madame de, 105 Courtney, Joan de, 100 Cranmer, Thomas, Archbishop of Canterbury, 177, 215 Creighton, Mrs., 203 Cromwell, Mary, 191 Oliver, 188, 191, 237, 263, 289 Richard, 238 Thomas, 74, 248 D. Dartford Priory, 66 David n. of Scotland, 6, 13 Davys, George, Bishop of Peter- borough, 329, 335 Delamere, Lord. See Booth. Delany, Mrs. (Mary Granville), 321 Denham, Sir John, 150 Denmark House. See Somerset House. Denny, Sir Anthony, 215 Depedene, John, 49 Despenser, Hugh, 5 Lady, 107 De Vere, Edward, Earl of Oxford, 45 Dinquaroy. See Bamburgh Castle. Dorchester, Countess of. See Sedley. Dormer, Jane, 250 Dormer, Philip, Earl of Chesterfield, 198 Dorset, Marquess of. See Grey. Douglas, Archibald, 13 Dover Castle. 85 Drake, Sir Francis, 58 Dudley, Robert, Earl of I-eicester. 133. 251 Durham, Bishops of. See Bek, Pudsey. Dutch House at Kew, The, 65 Dymock, Sir John, 33 Eadric, the traitor, 24 Edmund of Langley, Duke of York. 15 of Woodstock, 3 son of Edward HI., 75 Edward L, 8, 12, 17, 87 IL, 7. 18, 29, 30, 91, 92 IIL, 9, 18, 30, 48, 91, 92 IV., 20, 47, 50 v., 20 VI., 21,38,56, 178, 179 Duke of Kent, 326, 327 York, 105 Prince (son of George HI.), 323. 325 the Black Prince, 19, 47, 100 the Confessor, 24, 41, 79 the Goldsmith, 25, 26 Eleanor of Castile, Queen of Edward I-.5 of Guinne, Queen of Henry n., 83 of Provence, Queen of Henry III.. 87 Elizabeth, daughter of Charles I , 260 — I daughter of James I., 64, 225 B B 2 372 INDEX Elizabeth, of York, Queen of Henry VII., 21, 34, 52 Queen, 38, 51, 58, 64, 69, 70, 76, 131, 181— 4, 217, 220 Woodville, Queen of Edward IV., 117 Elsynge Hall, 70 Eltham Palace, 48 Ely, Bishop of, 76. See also Long- champ. Enfield Manor, 70 Park, 76 Eric, King of Sweden, 62, 133 Eslington, John de, 12 Ethelfrith the Destroyer, 11 Eugenius IV., Pope, 115 F. Fairfax, Sir Thomas, 143 Falconbridge, Lord, 191 Fawkes, Guy, 222 Feodore, Princess, 330 Ferrers, George, 56 Feversham, Lord, 155, 266 Fife, Duke of. See Alexander. Finch, Daniel, Earl of Nottingham, 289 Heneage, Earl of Nottingham, 289 Sir John, 289 Finland, Duke of. See John. Fitz-Alan, Henry, Earl of Arundel, 72 Fitz Other, Walter, 79 Fitzroy, Henry, Duke of Grafton, 75 Fog, Captain, 142 Forster, Claudius, 15 Sir John, 15 Forthey, Samuel, 65 Fotheringhay Castle, 15 Fox, George, 191 Francis, Duke of Alengon, 62 Duke of Anjou, 48, 219 Frederica, Princess (of Hanover), 203 Frederick, Elector of Saxony, 127 Prince of Wales, 64, 201, 313 the Count Palatine, 225 William, Prince of Prussia, 285 Gaveston, Piers, Earl of Cornwall, 91 Gay, John, 315 George I., 159, 198, 269, 308, 310 II., 159, 200, 274, 312, 319 IIL, 65, 159, 163, 279, 281,351 IV., 281,353 Prince of Denmark, 153, 159, 244 Glasgow, Bishop of. See Wyshart. Gloucester, Dukes of. See Hum- phrey, Richard, William Henry. Gordon, George, Earl of Aberdeen, 359 Goring, George, Lord, 345, 347 House. See Arlington House. Grafton, Duke of. See Fitzroy. Manor, 75 Grandison, George, Lord, 74 Granville, Mary. See Delany, Mrs. Gray, Lady Mary, 134 Greenwich Hospital, 60 Palace, 51 Grey, Lady Georgina, 203 Lady Jane, 22 Sir Ralph, 14 — — Thomas, Marquis of Dorset, 75 Walter de, Archbishop of York, 211 H. Halkett, Anne, Lady, 257 Hamilton, James, Earl of Arran, 51, i8i INDEX 373 Hampton Court, Manor of, 169 Palace, 169 John, 115 Hangiers, Sir Charles de, 44 Harold, King, 4, 42 Harrison, Major-General. 144, 259 Hatefelde, James, 50 Hatfield House, 76 Havering-atte-Bower Palace, 41, 45 Hawkesmore, Nicholas, 301 Hengham, Roger de, 28 Henrietta Maria, Queen of Charles I., 39. 73. 74. 192, 228, 255, 256 Henry, Duke of Gloucester, son of Charles I., 74, 261 I., 67, 80, 8r H.. 2, 8, 12, 25, 82 HI., 5, 12, 17, 25, 48, 86 IV., 49, 51, 70, 103, 105, 106, 107 v., 109 VI.,20,40, 51,60, 112, 114, 115 — vn., 21, 41, 50, 61, 118 Vin., I. 35, 50, 53,61, 65, 72, 74 — 6, 128, 170, 205, 213 Duke of Lancaster, 37 Earl of Huntingdon, 11 of St. Albans, 169 (note) son of James I., 252 Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, 41 Mr., 231, 259 Sir Philip, 223 Hohenlohe-Langenburg, Prince, 330 Holland House, 288, 290, 311 Horsley, Roger de, 12 Huddleston, Father, 242 Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, 40, 51 Huntingdon, Earl of. Set Henry. Hyde Park, 289 I. Ida, King of Northumbria, 11 Isabel de Valoise, Queen of Richard n., 43 Isabella of France, Queen of Edward II., 5, 92 Islip, Simon, Archbishop oi Canter- bury, 96 J. James I., 22, 39, 72, 74. 76, 137, 184, 221, 252 II.. 153. 196, 243. 263 I. of Scotland, 108 Edward, Prince of Wales (Elder Pretender). 154, 265 Jane Seymour, Queen of Henry VIII., 126, 175, 176 Jeffreys, Judge, 153 Jermyn, Henry, Earl of St. Albans, 75 Joan of Navarre, Queen of Henry IV., 44 Queen of Scots, 42 John, Duke of Bedford, 112 Duke of Finland, 133 King, 4, 7, 12, 17, 83, 85 of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, 37. 103 Jourdemain, Margery, witch of Eye, "3 Juxon, William, Bishop of London, 145, 232 K. Katherine of Aragon, Queen of Henry VIII.. 16, 170 of Braganza, Queen of Charles II., 39, 191 Howard, Queen of Henry VIII., 127, 177 Parr, Queen of Henry VIII.. 178 Katrington. Thomas, 31 Kempton Park, 46 Kennedy, Gilbert, Earl of Cassilis, 56 374 INDEX Kensington Palace, 287 Chapel, 334 Gardens, 294, 302 library, 332 rebuilding, 297 Kent, Duke of. See Edward. William, 64, 308 — 11 Kew Palace, 64 Keys, Henry, 134 Killigrew, William, 47 Kilvington, Hugh, 13 King's Langley Palace, 75 Kneller, Sir Godfrey, 296 Knights Hospitallers, The, 169 L. Labrech, Sir Charles de, 44 Lacy, Henry de, 28 Lancaster, Dukes of. See Henry, John. Langton, Stephen, Archbishop of Canterbury, 17 Lehzen, Madame, 329 Leicester, Earls of. See Dudley, Montfort. House, 272 Leiningen, Princess of, 325 Leo, King of Armenia, 49 Lewer, Robert, 5 Lewes, Battle of, 89 Lincoln, Bishop of. See Chesney. Lisle, Brian de, 36 London, Bishop of. Ses Juxon. Tower of, 16 Longchamp, William, Bishop of Ely, 82 Louis Vin., of France, 17 son of Philippe Augustus, King of France, 85 Louise, Princess, Duchess of Argyll, 343 of Wales, 361 M. Mac Gregor, Lady, 203 Malcolm II. of Scotland, 81 Mandeville, Geoffrey de, 16 Manners, Henry, Earl of Rutland, 71 Marble Arch, the, 354 March, Earl of. See Mortimer. Marche, Thomas de la, 31 Margaret of Anjou, Queen of Henry VI., 6 of France, Queen of Edward I., 43 Duchess of Burgundy, 52 Marie de Medici, Queen, 156 Marlborough, Duchess of. See Churchill. Duke of. See Churchill. Mary, daughter of Charles I., 230 Duchess of Teck, 343 of Modena, Queen of James II., 265 Queen, 22, 53, 54, 57, 64, 180, 248, 250 of Scots, 16 of William III., 60, 193—5. 293, 295—6 Masham, Abigail, 304 Maud, Princess of Wales, 363 Middlemore, Henry, 71 Miraflores, Castle of, 52 Monk, George, Duke of Albemarle, 39. 77. 148, 263 Montagu, Edward, Earl of Sandwich, 148 Montfichet, Richard de, 42 Montfort, Simon de, Earl of Leicester, 88—9 Mont Joux, Hospital of, 36 Moor, The, in Hertfordshire, 115 Mordaunt, Lord, 151 Mornington, Lady, 203 Morrison, Sir Charles, 76 Mortain, Earl of. See Robert. INDEX 375 Mortimer, Edmund de, Earl of March, 107 Roger, of Wigmorc, 18 Mountjoy, Charles, Lord, 16 Mowbray, Robert de, Earl of North- umberland, So Mulberry Garden, Westminster, 345—6 N. Napier. Lady, 203 Nash, architect, 353 Nasr-ed-Din, 361 Neville, Cecily. 15 — 16 Newn, Colonel, 142 Nicholas I. of Russia, 166 Nicholson, Margaret, 2S1 Noailles, Mons. de, 217 Nonesuch Palace, 72 Norden, Robert, 297 Northumberland, Earls of. See Mow- bray, Percy. Nottingham, Earls of. See Finch. House, 289, 290 O. Oatlands Palace, 74, 177 Observants' Church, Greenwich, 53 Odiham Castle, 4. 6 Odo, the Goldsmith of Westminster, 25 Oldcastle, Sir John (Lord Cobham), 109, no Oxford, Earl of. See De Vera. Palmer, Barbara, Duchess of Cleve- land, 74, 192 Parke, Colonel, 158 Payne, Thomas, 108 Pembroke. Earls of. See Herbert, Philip. Eleanor, Countess of, 5 Penda, 1 1 Penn, Sibell, 178 Percy, Henry, Earl of Northumber- land, 13 Peter the Great. 299 Peterborough, Bishop of. See Davys. Pevensey Castle, 107, 108 Philip, Archduke of Austria, 120 Duke of Burgundy, 41, 61 Earl of Pembroke, 71 Philippa, Queen of Edward HI., 6, 43. 68, 99 Pirgo, 42, 46 Pius II., Pop«, it6 Pope, Alexander, 315 Portchester Castle, 6, 8 Pudsey. Hugh, Bishop of Durham, 82 R. Radcliffe, John, 296 Randolf, Friar John, 44 Rede, John, 74 Richard II., 19, 33, 43, 49. 102 III., 117 Duke of Gloucester. 10, 41 Duke of York, 15, 41 Richmond Palace, 60 Robert, Count dWrtois, 93 Earl of Mortain, 46 Earl of Sahsbur>', 67 Roger, Bishop of Salisbury. 67 Rosamund's bower at Woodstock, 67 Rothernale, Sir John, 49 Rubens, Peter Paul, 208 Rupert, Prince, 148. 150, 152 Rutland, Earl of. Sec Manners. Sadler, Sir Ralph. 56 St. Albans, Earl of. See Jermyn. 376 INDEX St. Andrews, Archbishop of. See Beaton. St. Ermin, William de, 42 St. James's Palace, 247 St. John, John, of Basing, 5 St. Sauveur le Vicomte, Castle of, 31 St. Valery, Walter de, 169 (note) Sale, Mr., 329 Salisbury, Bishops of. See Beau- champ, Burnet, Roger. Earls of. See Cecil, Robert. Sandwich, Earl of. See Montagu. Savoy Bernard de, 87 Palace, 36 Peter of, 36 Sedley, Catharine, Countess of Dor- chester, 350 Seymour, Anne, widow of Protector Somerset, 39, 47 Edward, Lord Protector Somerset, 38, 39, 130, 179 Shaw, Sir John, 51 Sheffield, Charles Herbert, 351 John, Duke of Buckingham, 348 Shene Priory, 52 Sheridan, Mrs. Thomas, 203 Sidney, Algernon, 74 Sigismund, Emperor of Germany, 49, III Smithfield, tournament at, 19 Sodor and Man, Bishop of. See Wilson. Somerset (Denmark) House, 38, 256, 351 Lord Protector. See Sey- mour. Stafford, Edward, Duke of Bucking- ham, 123 Henry, Duke of Bucking- ham, 70 Lady Anne, 107 Stallenge, William, 345 Stephen, King, 16, 24 Strathfieldsaye, Manor of, 159 Suffolk, Earl of. See Pole. Sussex. Duchess of. See Underwood. Duke of. See Augustus. Tandridge, Manor of, 74 Teck, Duchess of. See Mary. Theobalds, 76 Thomas, Count of Flanders, 87 Thompson, Isaac, 298 Thornhill, Sir James, 309, 310 Throckmorton, Sir Nicholas, 134 Tichborne, Sir Benjamin, 3 Tomlinson, Colonel, 230, 262 Torrington, Earl of. See Herbert. Tyler, Wat, 100 U. Underwood, Cecilia, Duchess of Sussex, 333 Urswick, Dr. Christopher, 120 Uvedale, Sir William, 8 Valeran, Lord, Earl of St. Paul's, 100 Vanburgh, Sir John, 70 Vere, Lady Susan, 223 Victoria, Queen, 63, 165, 283, 326, 333. 337, 354. 363 Visconti, John de, 31 W. Waller, Sir William, 3—4, 143 Wallop, Matthew, 2 Walpole, Sir Robert, 95, 314 Walsingham, William de, 30 INDEX 377 Warenne, John of, 28 Waterman, Roger. 25 Waynflete, William, 115 Westbury, William, 116 Westminster Abbey, 79 Westminster Palace, 23 duels at, 31 repairs at. Whalley, Colonel, 188 Whitchcott, Colonel. 145 Whitehall, 29, 205 banqueting hall, 245 Chapel Royal. 245 playhouse at, 242 Whitelock. Bulstrode, 147 White (Stone) Lodge, 63 William I., 24, 79 II., 24 III., 193, 196, 300 IV., 164, 283, 354 Henry, Duke of Gloucester. 194 of Bolton, 13 Prince of Orange, 155 the Lion, King of Scotland, 8 Wilson, Thomas, Bishop of Sodor and Man, 319 Winchester, Bishop of. See Wyke- ham. Castle, 2, 4 Windsor (Windelsore, Wyndisore; Castle, 78 Witchcott. Colonel. 145 Wolseley, Field- Marshal Lord, 203 Wolsey, Thomas, Cardinal, G2. 1O9 — 70, 205, 212 Woodstock, G7, 158 Wren, Sir Christopher, 150, 194, 200, 301 Wulfnoth, Abbot of Westminster. 24 Wyatville, Sir Jeffrey, 163 Wychwood Forest, 67 Wykeham, William, Bishop of Win- chester, 98 Wynne, Captain, architect, 349 Wyshart. Robert, Bishop of Glas- gow, 7 Y. York, Archbishop of. See Grey. Castle, 8 Dukes of. See Edmund, Ric- hard. Palace. See Whitehall. Z. ZoucHE. Alan la, 28 BRADBURY, AGNEW, & CO. LD., PRINTERS LONDON AND TONBRIDGK R.P C C \ *o THE LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Santa Barbara THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW. Series 9482 «F„^.9^^""'^ Rf GIONAI LIBRARY I AA 000 330 588