Bettes the Younger).
Henry and Anne were frequently described as ‘merry together’, but after Anne miscarried a male child in January 1536, an accusation of adultery dislodged Anne from her place in Henry’s affections. Although Anne was almost certainly innocent of any sexual misdemeanours, her witty, flirtatious banter with the men of the court — the very quality that had attracted Henry to her in the first place — sealed her fate. Following the execution of the five men accused with her, including her brother, George Boleyn, Lord Rochford, Anne was beheaded at the Tower of London on charges of adultery, incest and conspiring the King’s death on 19 May 1536.
The disgrace of the Boleyns meant that Hever passed into the Crown’s possession, to be given away in turn to Anne of Cleves and, after her death, to the Waldegrave family. The Waldegraves were secretly recusant Roman Catholics, and they built a hidden Catholic oratory chapel at Hever in 1584 — that you can still see — and this in the childhood home of the proto-Protestant who caused the break with Rome.
‘The most noble and royal lodging … that passed all other sights before seen.’
I n this green little corner of England, 6,000 people and 3,000 horses gathered one day in late May 1520. Imagine the hubbub: the frenetic activity of men rushing to erect tents to house everyone before nightfall, the whinnying and stamping of the horses, the impatient demands from the highest nobility in the land as lords and ladies wait around in their silks, velvets and furs, despite the spring sunshine. What could be further from what you now see at Leeds Castle? Peacefully set amidst its pretty Kentish gardens, romantically isolated on an island surrounded by a moat, it is like a miniature fairytale fortress. The only sounds to break the stillness are the cries of the peacocks and black swans that strut around the grounds, and the parrots and cockatiels chattering away in the aviary.
Much of the castle, it’s true, is not Tudor, either inside or out, but the historical pedigree of it is impeccable: six medieval queens, from Eleanor of Castile, wife of Edward I, to Catherine of Valois, Queen of Henry V, made this their home. After Henry V’s death, Catherine would go on to marry Owen Tudor, starting the Tudordynasty, and it is her great-grandson, Henry VIII, and his first wife, Katherine, whose visit to Leeds Castle secures this diminutive fortress an important place in the Tudor story.
In order for this royal couple to stay, certain architectural improvements were required in the original late thirteenth-century gloriette (the name given to any elevated garden building). Under Henry VIII’s orders, Sir Henry Guildford, the Master of the Revels, oversaw the installation of an upper floor, fireplaces and large windows in the newly created Banqueting Hall. Evidence of this renovation remains in the spandrels of the ragstone mantlepiece in the Queen’s Gallery, which are decorated with engravings of the castle of Castile and the pomegranates from Katherine of Aragon’s coat of arms and heraldic badge. There are early Tudor tapestries hanging on the walls, and a Latin service book said to have been owned by Katherine in the chapel, while the four marble busts in the Gallery representing the Tudor monarchs (with Henry VII and Queen Jane silently dropped) date from Elizabeth’s reign.
The central importance of this castle is, however, represented by a large, stunning painting that you can see in the Banqueting Hall. It probably dates from around 1550 (the fashions depicted suggest the date), which is a sister copy to a painting at Hampton Court. This is The Embarkation at Dover , painted by Vincenzo Volpé and his workshop, which depicts Henry VIII and his retinue — including the Mary Rose — setting sail from Dover on 31 May 1520, bound for a meeting with the French King just outside Calais. You can spot Henry VIII ornately dressed in gold; his ship has gold
Henry and Anne were frequently described as ‘merry together’, but after Anne miscarried a male child in January 1536, an accusation of adultery dislodged Anne from her place in Henry’s affections. Although Anne was almost certainly innocent of any sexual misdemeanours, her witty, flirtatious banter with the men of the court — the very quality that had attracted Henry to her in the first place — sealed her fate. Following the execution of the five men accused with her, including her brother, George Boleyn, Lord Rochford, Anne was beheaded at the Tower of London on charges of adultery, incest and conspiring the King’s death on 19 May 1536.
The disgrace of the Boleyns meant that Hever passed into the Crown’s possession, to be given away in turn to Anne of Cleves and, after her death, to the Waldegrave family. The Waldegraves were secretly recusant Roman Catholics, and they built a hidden Catholic oratory chapel at Hever in 1584 — that you can still see — and this in the childhood home of the proto-Protestant who caused the break with Rome.
‘The most noble and royal lodging … that passed all other sights before seen.’
I n this green little corner of England, 6,000 people and 3,000 horses gathered one day in late May 1520. Imagine the hubbub: the frenetic activity of men rushing to erect tents to house everyone before nightfall, the whinnying and stamping of the horses, the impatient demands from the highest nobility in the land as lords and ladies wait around in their silks, velvets and furs, despite the spring sunshine. What could be further from what you now see at Leeds Castle? Peacefully set amidst its pretty Kentish gardens, romantically isolated on an island surrounded by a moat, it is like a miniature fairytale fortress. The only sounds to break the stillness are the cries of the peacocks and black swans that strut around the grounds, and the parrots and cockatiels chattering away in the aviary.
Much of the castle, it’s true, is not Tudor, either inside or out, but the historical pedigree of it is impeccable: six medieval queens, from Eleanor of Castile, wife of Edward I, to Catherine of Valois, Queen of Henry V, made this their home. After Henry V’s death, Catherine would go on to marry Owen Tudor, starting the Tudordynasty, and it is her great-grandson, Henry VIII, and his first wife, Katherine, whose visit to Leeds Castle secures this diminutive fortress an important place in the Tudor story.
In order for this royal couple to stay, certain architectural improvements were required in the original late thirteenth-century gloriette (the name given to any elevated garden building). Under Henry VIII’s orders, Sir Henry Guildford, the Master of the Revels, oversaw the installation of an upper floor, fireplaces and large windows in the newly created Banqueting Hall. Evidence of this renovation remains in the spandrels of the ragstone mantlepiece in the Queen’s Gallery, which are decorated with engravings of the castle of Castile and the pomegranates from Katherine of Aragon’s coat of arms and heraldic badge. There are early Tudor tapestries hanging on the walls, and a Latin service book said to have been owned by Katherine in the chapel, while the four marble busts in the Gallery representing the Tudor monarchs (with Henry VII and Queen Jane silently dropped) date from Elizabeth’s reign.
The central importance of this castle is, however, represented by a large, stunning painting that you can see in the Banqueting Hall. It probably dates from around 1550 (the fashions depicted suggest the date), which is a sister copy to a painting at Hampton Court. This is The Embarkation at Dover , painted by Vincenzo Volpé and his workshop, which depicts Henry VIII and his retinue — including the Mary Rose — setting sail from Dover on 31 May 1520, bound for a meeting with the French King just outside Calais. You can spot Henry VIII ornately dressed in gold; his ship has gold
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