TWP: Hampton Court Palace

Each week, the students select 3 activites or locations that are related to their academic and personal interests.  We call these activities "TOURIST WITH A PURPOSE" or TWP for short.

Below is Laura's TWP write up of Hampton Court Palace



On Monday, July 11th, I went to Hampton Court palace; this is where Henry VIII lived. Henry was king of England from 1509 until 1547, and he is the most well known and controversial king that England has ever had. 

The experience was amazing from beginning to end. As soon as I set a foot past the gate I could see a royal guard all dressed up like he had been taken out of the XVI century. A little after, I got to bow down to his majesty King Henry himself, as well as his wife (one of them) Queen Katherine Parr. My favorite part of meeting them was that they were true representations of how royals and servants would behave, and expect others to behave, and they never, ever broke character.

Plays and reenactments were taking place all over the palace. It was mind-blowing to sit there and think about all the royals and politicians that have stayed at the palace, and all the world-changing events that took place in those very rooms I was walking through. I kept thinking, If I stood here and turned back time maybe I could hear King Henry saying that if the pope didn't grant him his divorce from Queen Katherine of Aragon, he would declare himself as the head of the church of England and get an annulment by other means; this little thought went on to become the reformation of the church that would change the world forever.

Hampton Court Palace was also a true learning experience. The Tudor court numbered around 1,000 individuals who lived at the palace; such a large household demanded a great deal of organization and planning. Many systems were developed to have all areas and personnel of the palace work well together, as one big well-oiled machine.

The kitchen, for example, was divided into areas where a specific type of food would be made. Rooms to store and prepare fish, pies, meats, soups, and so on, each having its own section, but all inside the kitchen. Once the food was prepared, it was placed on top of a half-wall, kind of like the ones in restaurants now-a-days, and then a bell (an actual bell-shaped metal bell) was rang to let other servants know the food needed to be picked up and taken upstairs through a short-cut stairway intended for service only. The kitchen system is a clear example of techniques applied to improve quality and quantity while minimizing time; it was also a great representation of an early assembly line, storage systems, project management, planning and applications of statistics to figure out how much food to make based on previous data. A true living factory.

It was such an unforgettable place, and to me, a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

God save the King!