The Unofficial British Royal Family Pages

Monday 21 February 2005

Royal Homes: Hever Castle and Hatfield House

Childhood Homes of Anne Boleyn and Queen Elizabeth I

Mention British royal homes and most people think almost exclusively of the Queen’s official royal residences – Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and The Palace of Holyroodhouse – or of private royal homes like Sandringham House and Clarence House. While these are all incredibly important and significant places, a slew of important historical residences once inhabited by royalty go almost unnoticed by both travelers and armchair tourists alike. Among these are the childhood homes of two of the most memorable royal women in the history of the English Crown – Anne Boleyn and Queen Elizabeth I.

Like many travelers, I make a point of going to the key sites at each destination I visit and have been to a great many of them in Britain, but my favorites are invariably those that are popularly ignored. Unfortunately, many tourists either don’t know where to find such places or think they’re too far away, but finding them is often easier than most people suspect. In fact, in about the same time it takes to get from central London to Windsor Castle, visitors can get from central London to Hever Castle or Hatfield House, and enjoy far better scenery along the way. A visit to Hever or Hatfield can also be a lot more gratifying to discerning travelers and royal history lovers than other royal homes, since both places are generally less crowded and boast a longer past than some of the relatively newer, more popular royal residences in and around London. Of course, some may argue that places like Hever Castle and Hatfield House aren’t royal enough for their taste, but I find they provide a unique insight into the early lives and personalities of their former royal inhabitants.

Hever Castle

Anne Boleyn’s childhood home is tucked away near Edenbridge in the beautiful Kent countryside, which is justifiably referred to as England’s garden. By train, the journey to Hever Castle (seen above right) shows off the green fields and expansive farms of Kent to their best advantage, while a car ride off the beaten track takes you through narrow country roads completely enveloped by trees. Once there, the initial approach to the castle itself strikes you with how perfectly it fulfills childhood ideals of the way a castle should look – moated and crenellated, flanked by twin towers dotted with cross loops, and made complete by a wooden drawbridge and imposing portcullis. But the best part is this is no reproduction castle, it’s the real thing. In fact, the most commanding part of the castle – the gate house – is much the same as when it was built as a defensive fortress by William de Hever, a sheriff during the reign of Edward I, around 1270. William’s heirs continued to fortify the castle further and it eventually came under various owners until it was purchased in 1451 by Anne Boleyn’s great-grandfather, Sir Geoffrey Bullen (Boleyn). Geoffrey’s increasing wealth and rise to prominence as Lord Mayor of London in 1459 allowed him to convert and expand the castle into a comfortable private residence. By 1505, Sir Thomas Boleyn had further expanded the castle and was living there with his wife Elizabeth and their three children, including Anne.

Since Anne’s birth year has never been confirmed, it’s difficult to say for certain if she was born at Hever Castle. If she was born in 1501, as some scholars suggest, then it’s more likely that she was born at the other family home, Blickling Hall in Norfolk. On the other hand, if she was born in 1507, as is also strongly suggested, then it would be possible that she was born at Hever. In any case, we do know for certain that Hever Castle was Anne’s childhood home, although she spent a great deal of her young life elsewhere. She first left England in 1513 for the Netherlands, where she was placed in the court of the Archduchess Margaret of Austria, who was Regent of the Netherlands. By the fall of 1514, she was a lady-in-waiting at the court of the Queen of France – Henry VIII’s sister, Princess Mary. She stayed on as lady-in-waiting to Mary’s successor, Queen Claude, until 1522, when she returned to England. Even after more than eight years away from home, Anne returned not to Hever Castle, but to the Court of Henry VIII in the service of Queen Katherine. Finally, in 1523, she returned to live at Hever Castle when she was exiled from the English Court following her thwarted attempt to marry Lord James Percy.

It was probably just as well for Anne that she spent much so much time away from home, particularly if her life there was as uninviting as both her living quarters and reportedly frosty family life seem to suggest. By all accounts, the interior of the castle had been made into a very comfortable Tudor manor house, but it was still relatively small, especially when you consider that the expansive Tudor outbuildings (seen in the left half of the picture at left) were only added in the early 20th century. In fact, once you step inside Hever Castle, any sense of awe you may have experienced on the outside is somewhat diminished as you find yourself ducking to avoid hitting your head on the top of the low doorways. Certainly, grand public rooms like the Long Gallery are something special, but it was, after all, a castle, and impressive public areas often came at the expense of the private rooms – especially the private room of a mere daughter. As a result, Anne’s bedroom, which can be seen by visitors to Hever Castle, was most certainly cramped and small. As for the outside of the castle, it’s difficult to say what the castle grounds looked like in Anne’s time, but there’s no doubt that they didn’t include the magnificent 20th century gardens or the Yew Maze, Splashing Water Maze and Adventure Playground. Nevertheless, Anne managed to amuse herself during the time she did spend at Hever Castle, likely by refining her talent for music or reading from her personal Books of Hours, which are on display there today.

When she returned to Court in 1525, Anne was still in the early stages of the drama that would consume the rest of her life and end in her execution in 1536. Not surprisingly, Hever Castle played an important role in that drama. Although Anne spent a great deal of time at Court, Hever was still her home and Henry VIII almost certainly visited Anne there in his quest to gain her as his mistress. The story from here needs little retelling, but the long and drawn out courting of Anne by Henry did prove beneficial for the Boleyn family and left an indirect mark on Hever Castle. The royal favor granted Anne with the title of Marchioness of Pembroke in 1532, her father with the title Earl of Ormonde and Wiltshire in 1529 and, by connection, her brother George became Viscount Rochford. Anne’s sister Mary received a �100 a year pension and Mary’s son – widely believed to be Henry’s bastard – was given an excellent education. All of this good fortune and prosperity certainly helped to improve and distinguish Hever Castle, especially when Anne’s marriage to Henry made it the family home of the Queen.

Of course, all of this marvelous good fortune came to an abrupt end when Anne was executed on May 19, 1536. Two days earlier, Anne’s brother had been executed after being found guilty of committing adultery with Anne (false though those charges were). His death effectively ended the continuation of the peerage conferred on his father at the height of Henry’s infatuation with Anne. The line went permanently extinct when Anne’s father died in 1539. With his death, Hever Castle passed to the Crown. Ironically, the castle was given to Henry VIII’s fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, in 1540 as part of her divorce settlement. Anne owned the castle until her death in 1557, although how much time she actually spent there is unknown.

For the next three and a half centuries, Hever Castle went through a series of owners and an eventual decline that ended in 1903, when it was purchased by the American millionaire, William Waldorf Astor. Astor went about meticulously restoring Hever, carefully maintaining the original external appearance and staying as true as possible on the interior to the Tudor style. Although many of the rooms were converted into more modern living areas, others, like Anne’s bedroom, were kept largely intact, and all the rooms today include art and artifacts either from Tudor times or related to the Boleyn family and Henry VIII and his six wives. Outside the castle, Astor improved and expanded the grounds, including the creation of a 35 acre lake, a walking path called "Anne Boleyn’s Walk," and several beautiful gardens dotted with classical Italian sculptures. Anne’s spirit must approve of these modern additions because her ghost reportedly still wanders the gardens and bridges surrounding the castle.

Because of the size and space limitations of the original castle, Astor also expanded Hever by adding the 100 room Tudor Village to accommodate guests. The result is surprisingly authentic and charming and the Village today serves as a conference center complete with 20 bedrooms, a dining room for 64 guests, boardroom for 25 people and presentation room for 60. More importantly for travelers, the castle has been open to the public since 1983 and is very family friendly, which might actually be considered a downside to some visitors. But if you can look beyond some of the more "touristy" elements and rampaging children – perhaps by escaping to the Rose Garden (seen above right) – Hever Castle is a must-visit destination for all lovers of royal history.

Hatfield House

On November 17, 1558, Lady Elizabeth Tudor was sitting beneath an oak tree at her Hatfield estate – either reading or eating an apple – when she received the news that she was Queen of England. We’re told that as the courtiers who came bearing the news bowed before their new queen, Elizabeth got on her knees and said in Latin, "This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes." Within hours, Queen Elizabeth I’s councilors had gathered around her for her first Council of State, held in the Great Hall of The Royal Palace of Hatfield (seen here). One of those councilors was William Cecil, Elizabeth’s trusted friend and chief advisor whose family name would eventually become closely tied to Hatfield. For several days, Hatfield played host to the influx of courtiers and the Great Hall was the forum for the many meetings, appointments and confirmations vital to a new reign. Elizabeth officially addressed her councilors and courtiers for the first time as Queen in the Great Hall, seated on her throne under the canopy of estate. On November 23, barely a week after she sat unknowing under that tree, Elizabeth left Hatfield, accompanied by her entourage of more than 1000, for London, returning to her childhood home only rarely.

For many, this is the sum total of their knowledge of Queen Elizabeth I’s connection to Hatfield, but there is far more to it than that. Unlike her mother, who spent precious little time at Hever Castle, Elizabeth perhaps spent more time than she might have liked at Hatfield. At only three months old, she was given the royal palace as her own private household away from her parents and managed by a staff of nurses, courtiers and tutors. A little over 20 miles from London in Hertfordshire, Hatfield was just far enough away to be the ideal location for the superfluous little princess. It was also the ideal location for Henry VIII to place his now illegitimatized daughter, Lady Mary, as lady-in-waiting to her younger half-sister. It’s unlikely the situation was a very happy one, as Mary must have resented both her demotion and forced service the child who had displaced her. On the rare occasions that Elizabeth’s mother, Queen Anne, visited her daughter at Hatfield, the tension between Mary and Anne must have been bitterly palpable. Not that Elizabeth would have noticed it much – she was far too young to comprehend the situation and, before she was even three, her mother had been executed and Elizabeth illegitimatized alongside Mary.

Now a mere "Lady," Elizabeth was virtually ignored by her father and for some time lived an isolated existence at Hatfield, often lacking what was essential to daily life, including clothing that fit her. She did manage to get an excellent education, however, and her life gradually began to improve with the birth in 1537 of her half-brother Edward, who also lived at Hatfield for some time, and with Henry VIII’s marriage to his sixth wife, Katherine Parr, in 1543. Thanks to Katherine, both Elizabeth and Mary were reunited with their father and, in 1544, reinstated in the line of succession after their younger brother. After Henry’s death in January 1547, Elizabeth lived for a time with Katherine Parr at Sudeley Castle in Gloucestershire, but following allegations that Katherine’s new husband, Lord High Admiral Thomas Seymour, was becoming a bit too intimate with Elizabeth, she returned again to Hatfield.

Under the reign of her sister Mary, Elizabeth alternated between a seemingly pleasant virtual imprisonment at Hatfield and real imprisonment at the Tower of London and Woodstock. The official guide book to Hatfield House tells us that, while there, Elizabeth is known to have enjoyed "a gorgeous masque and play being given for her entertainment in the [Great] Hall" (seen at right). That masque prompted Queen Mary to send Elizabeth a message that "such frivolous activities must be discontinued," although Mary visited Elizabeth at Hatfield the following year and was "entertained by a varied programme including a play, a bear-baiting and the singing, accompanied by Princess Elizabeth herself, of a famous boy soprano called Maximilian Poynes." Such contradictions seem to reinforce the idea that Mary was struggling with a great many conflicting emotions. Even still, dealing with the nuances of Mary’s personality from the relative safety of Hatfield must have been far more preferable to Elizabeth than facing an unsure future as her prisoner elsewhere.

Today there are actually two Hatfields – the newer Hatfield House and the original Royal Palace of Hatfield. Unfortunately, all that remains of the old palace that was inhabited by Elizabeth is the Great (or Banqueting) Hall where she held that historical Council of State in 1558. The Great Hall was just one side of the old palace, originally called Hatfield Palace, which was built between 1485 and 1497 by John Morton, Bishop of Ely, but was confiscated by Henry VIII after the dissolution of the monasteries. After Elizabeth’s death in 1603, Hatfield passed into the hands of her successor, James I of England, but the new king didn’t care for it, so a trade was arranged with Robert Cecil – James would take the Cecil family home, Theobalds, and Cecil would take Hatfield.

It was an interesting twist of fate considering that Robert Cecil was the son of William Cecil, Elizabeth’s trusted advisor and Chief Minister who had joined her at Hatfield on the day of her accession to the throne. Robert had proved himself an equally trusted advisor to Elizabeth and was appointed Secretary of State in 1590 and the Queen’s Chief Minister after the death of his father in 1598. Robert continued on in that capacity under James I, who raised him to the peerage in 1603 as Baron Cecil of Essendon, then Viscount Cranborne in 1604 and, finally, Earl of Salisbury in 1605. As the new owner of Hatfield, Robert expressed little sentimentality over the palace’s historical or familial connections and, in 1608, demolished three sides of the old palace to make way for a more modern structure, Hatfield House (seen above left), which was actually built with the bricks from the old palace. The Great Hall alone was left standing and for centuries it served the undignified function of a stable. The beautiful original roof timbers bear the scars of that period – according to the guide book, they’re "peppered with gunshot, apparently because sparrows flew in and out when the stable doors were left open."

For centuries, life at Hatfield went on in this way – the beautiful new Hatfield on one side and the misused old Hatfield on the other. The fortunes of the Salisbury family continued to rise and, in 1789, the 7th Earl, James Cecil, was elevated in the peerage to a marquess. Eventually, the 4th Marquess of Salisbury (1861-1947) saw fit to restore the old palace to its former glory. Today, the Great Hall has regained its dignity and is home to Elizabethan banquets, weddings and other special events. It’s also surrounded by a stunningly beautiful knot garden (seen below right), which was created in 1984 by the 6th Marchioness. The "newer" Hatfield House is today occupied by the 7th Marquess of Salisbury and his family.

Like Hever Castle, Hatfield boasts extensive grounds that are absolutely saturated with exquisite gardens – including a Maze Garden – as well as parkland and its own lake. Also like Hever, Hatfield is supposedly haunted by its former royal resident, as well as by a "veiled lady," and a mysterious "spectral coach" led by "ghostly horses" that occasionally makes its way up the drive to the house, through the doors and up the stairs. Back in this world, Hatfield is almost entirely devoid of the more touristy aspects on offer at Hever. Perhaps this is why there seemed to be a calm and tranquility at Hatfield that was missing on my visit to Hever. My only disappointment at Hatfield was that touring of the Great Hall was limited to viewing it at a slight distance from an alcove. That sense of disappointment was somewhat assuaged, however, by both the beauty of Hatfield House, which is an excellent example of Jacobean architecture and interior design, and by the many reminders of Elizabeth I that are scattered throughout. Among these are a hat, pair of gloves, and pair of silk stockings that are said to have belonged to her, and the impressive and iconic Rainbow Portrait of the Queen, which was painted around 1600.* But perhaps the most important aspect of Hatfield is that it is one of the few former residences of Elizabeth I that still exists, even in part, today.

For me, it’s this feeling of personal connection with both Anne Boleyn and Elizabeth I as I walked through Hever Castle and Hatfield House that makes both places so special among Britain’s many historic royal homes.

Until next week, 

- Tori Van Orden Mart�nez 

************

* For more on Queen Elizabeth I’s Rainbow Portrait located at Hatfield House, read my analysis in "Royalty – From Reverence to Obsession" at http://www.etoile.co.uk/Columns/RoyalScribe/040405.html, and view the painting online at http://www.marileecody.com/eliz1-rainbow.jpg.

Be sure to visit the official websites of Hever Castle – http://www.hever-castle.co.uk/view.jsp – and Hatfield House - http://www.hatfield-house.co.uk/.

All photos included in this column were taken by the author, are copyright Tori V. Mart�nez and may not be reproduced without her permission.