Wren's London: Hampton Court Palace...

..there is just too much history in this palace to do it justice in the length of a blip so as usual i'll keep it down to the vaguely amusing stuff,. I was feeling a bit of pressure with this blip as one blipper has been anxiously waiting for this venue since my series started (you know who you are), how do you sum up a palace in one shot without turning it into, as another well known blipper describes it, the 'blue plaque' shot or as I would phase it the 'postcard' picture I constantly try to avoid. I don't know if I have managed to achieve it but it was my best try with this shot of the Fountain Courtyard.

The Palace hasn't been used by the monarchy since the 18th century and is mainly now a tourist attraction, it most famous resident was Henry VIII, although the palace was originally built to his grandeur by and for Cardinal Wolsey, until Henry decided to take it for himself.

The palace saw the reign of two royal dynasties as with the death of Elizabeth first the Tudor reign ended and the Stuart reign began. Within months of their accession a massive rebuilding project started with the intention of demolishing the Tudor palace a section at a time, while replacing it with a huge modern palace retaining only the Great Hall.

It was during this period that Wrens alterations to the palace were made with the creation of the Fountain Court pictures and the south gardens frontage. Wrens plans originally set out the creation of a domed palace (shock, surprise I hear you shout, I mean this guy really knew how to milk an idea, I am surprised that London isn't completely domed like a middle ages version of centre parcs),

Our then French rulers ruled out this idea because it didn't look enough like Versailles (insert your own 'French' "arrogant' xenophobic remark here, I'm of French heritage so I'm allowed), which also got me thinking that with the Romans, Vikings, Scots, French, Germans (including the current incumbents), have the English ever ruled England?(being slightly flippant but still).

Another back to school reminder like the 'oranges and lemons' test the other day, can you remember the sequence rhyme that sets out the fate of Henry's six wifes??

But recently there has been one king at the Palace as it was the starting and finishing point of the 2012 Olympics cycling time trail race.......go on Bradley, yeah!!!!!!.

p.s. Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded.......survived