Hampton Court:
Before I came to London I had no idea what Hampton court was, but after learning about it I gained a new appreciation in my understanding. Hampton court is King Henry's favorite house. It's not a palace or a political building, it truly is a house.. A big one!
King Henry VIII had 6 different wives. His first marriage lasted 20 years and was to a woman named Katherine. When she was in her 40s and had yet to produce a son, the king wanted a divorce. She was only able to produce one daughter, Mary. He wrote the Pope, but the Pope refused not believing in divorce. That is where the Church of England came about. The King, wanting a divorce, went about it and did it anyway. From this came the Church of England, of protestant belief. England did away with Catholicism and things began to change in England. But this was not the intention of King Henry, only the result of his lust for women and desire for an heir.
A woman named Anne Boleyn caught the kings eye. She was on the royal court, and refused to be intimate with the king until they were married. Boys have not changed over the years...even back then "the chase" worked great. After his divorce, he married Anne and tried to have children. But after years of trying and pregnancies, Anne only produced a daughter, Elizabeth I. Anne was accused of adultery, tried, thrown into jail and eventually beheaded at the Tower of London. He then went on to marry several more women including Jane Seymour who finally, after years of trying, gave him a son, Edward. She died in childbirth, but with his heir in place, King Henry was satisfied.
After Henry died, his young son Edward was made king for only 5 years before his death. He focused on improving the Church of England and making the country entirely Protestant. When Edward died, the next heir in line was Mary. They called her Bloody Mary because she decided to make the country Catholic once again and go against her father's ideas for the Church of England. She killed many Protestants and many religious changes were made. After her death, next in line was Elizabeth, the daughter of Anne came to power.
I think it is so interesting how King Henry, a tyrant and a lustful man focused his whole life on having a male heir. He only got Edward, and he only ended up reigning 5 years. His two daughters were the ones to make huge changes and be powerful rulers over England until the end of the "Tutor" line with the death of Elizabeth I.
Hampton Court had many different sections to it including bedrooms, kithens and the winery. There were apartments where not only the King slept and lived, but separate ones for his daughters other political leaders at the time. My very favorite part was seeing the acres and acres of gardens behind the house. We walked through the gardens for a long time and took tons of fun photos with the group we were with!
Next we headed to Charles darwin's home. I am not in the literature class here, but those that are read about Charles and
his wife Emma. They had a much greater appreciation for the home, but it was still neat to see where he lived and worked. We also got to see a ton of information on his theories as well.
We got on the bus exhausted from the day and slept the entire way home. It is amazing how traveling makes you so tired, and the roll of the bus puts you right to sleep...well we got home and decided to lay low and enjoy a night at home even though it was a Friday night. As you can tell...the festivities didn't last long and it was early to bed!
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