Every time I walk in there, I catch my breath. What's your favourite part of Hampton Court? ![]() It is the finest example of Tudor craftsmanship, but also Tudor confidence. And you really feel like you're stepping back into the court of King Henry VIII. It's the largest, best-surviving Tudor palace in the world. There's no place better than Hampton Court. Where would you send a visitor to London who wants to learn more about the Tudor era? It's a very self-confident age, a very formative age. It's the age of Shakespeare and overseas exploration. You have King Henry VIII, who married six times you have the Virgin Queen, Elizabeth I. There's been a lot of criticism lately in the press around, "Why are we all so obsessed with the Tudors?" I think, "For good reason!" It's such a dramatic period, full of larger-than-life characters. Yes, that's the period I always come back to. You've written about so many different eras of British history, but you seem to be a particular fan of the Tudors. People think you've got to have some association with the Tower to come, but you don't. And you're experiencing history when you're taking part in these in these services that generations of Tower residents have before. It means you've got the Tower to yourself. As a top tip to visitors, that means you can actually attend services there before the Tower opens to the public. ![]() So is St John's Chapel, this beautiful Romanesque chapel inside the White Tower. I wrote a book about Thomas Cromwell and he's buried there and I just thought, "Yeah, I need to get married here." Particularly during the Tudor period, this is a busy chapel. Three queens of England – Anne Boleyn, Katherine Howard and Lady Jane Grey – were all buried there. It's been called the "saddest spot on Earth" because it's where all the traitors were buried. ![]() The Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula – the tower chapel. It makes it real.Īnd there's another less-known corner of the Tower that you have a particularly personal connection to… For me, it's like touching history when you see marks left behind by one of the accused lovers of Anne Boleyn, who carved her falcon emblem into the stone. It's there that some high-status prisoners were kept, and where they left graffiti. My top recommendation is always the Beauchamp Tower – visitors often just walk past because it doesn't look like much from the outside. Even today, it has an important part to play it's also home to the Crown Jewels. The Tower begins with the Norman Conquest of 1066 – William the Conqueror has to subdue England somehow, so he builds this mighty fortress – and it continues to be at the heart of affairs well into the 1600s. But I was actually writing about England, because so many national events took place at the Tower that changed history. With that book, I thought I was writing about the Tower. You called the story of the Tower "the story of England". ![]() Let's start with the Tower of London – such a popular site for visitors, and one you've written a whole book about. Here, she shares fascinating tips and tricks for getting the most out of London's royal sites, including where (and why) to seek out the city's "lost" palaces, why only seeing the Crown Jewels at the Tower should be "treason", and the best way to travel in Tudor footsteps… not to mention how she chose to get married at the "saddest spot on Earth" (and why it's worth a visit). There may be no better person to ask than Tracy Borman, historian, joint chief curator for Historic Royal Palaces and author of numerous books about, and inspired by, England's royals, from England's first Queen, Matilda, to famed Tudor King Henry VIII. London has been home for England's monarchs for more than 1,000 years – and while the British capital has changed significantly over the last centuries, it remains rich with historic royal sites, from palaces and parks to museums and churches.
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