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We are a bit obsessed with British history and have been fascinated with King Henry VIII’s story along with his six wives. We wanted to see the home of Henry VIII and the Tudor dynasty for ourselves and booked tickets online to the Hampton Court Palace.

There are numerous movies and TV series about King Henry VIII and one of our favorites is The Tudors. If you are a fan of the Netflix series Bridgerton, a number of locations (Fountain Court, The Privy Garden, Master Carpenters Court) were filmed at Hampton Court Palace.

Getting to the Palace

Hampton Court Palace is located 15 miles from central London and it takes about 45 minutes via train. From our hotel, we took the underground to Waterloo Station. From Waterloo, we hopped on a train that took us directly to Hampton Court Station.

Waterloo is Britain’s largest and busiest station, so it can be a little overwhelming at first. There are several platforms and the key is to keep an eye on the time display to see what platform you will need to depart from. If you need help, there are several station attendees nearby to assist travelers.

From Waterloo station to Hampton Court station, the ride was approximately 30 minutes. It’s a lovely ride through the country and to our surprise, the train was pretty empty. We both had an entire row of seats to ourselves and the seats were cushioned and not the uncomfortable plastic seats. For reference, we visited on a Friday in July.

Hampton Court Palace

Hampton Court station
Once we arrived at Hampton Court station, it was a short 5-minute walk to the palace's main entrance. We didn’t see any signs that directed visitors to the palace, but it’s basically straight ahead and hard to miss. If you need to take a bathroom break, the toilets here were very well maintained.

Main Entrance
Since we purchased our tickets online, we simply showed our tickets to the attendees at the entrance and did not have to wait in line. The entrance is gorgeous and at the time of our visit, it was especially colorful with Platinum Jubilee Blooms. This “Mini Superblooms” was a tribute to Her Majesty the Queen to celebrate her 70-year reign.

Base Court
If you would like an audio guide, you can grab one free of charge at the Undercroft Shop at Base Court which is just past the main entrance. They do not have a dedicated app guide, so if you are not familiar with the history, it might be a good idea to borrow an audio guide.

There was a funny statue of a man sleeping on the steps. We couldn’t figure out if he was taking a nap or if he was drunk. In any case, it was a fun little photo op with the statue.

Henry VIII’s Apartments
1509-1547
We started our self-guided tour at Henry VIII’s Apartments. We entered the Great Hall and watched a brief film about the history of Henry VIII and his wives. At certain times of the day, you can also catch a live informal talk from one of the palace’s hosts.

The Great Hall is where we learned about the massive tapestries that were hung throughout the entire room. These tapestries were worth more than the crown jewels and were woven from wool, silk, gold and silver thread.

The cost of making one was equivalent to two warships and they were displayed to show off their magnificence and wealth.

After the Great Hall, we walked around the various rooms and viewed the various paintings, furniture, and artifacts that survived nearly 500 years. The Haunted Gallery is where we saw the famous portrait of King Henry VIII (the original painting is displayed at the Louvre Museum).

This section is called the Haunted Gallery because Catherine’s ghost (Henry’s fifth wife who he executed) can be seen, allegedly, running through this hall screaming for mercy. We didn’t see any ghosts, but we can definitely see this hallway being creepy at night.

William III’s Apartments & Georgian Story
1689-1737

After Henry VIII’s reign, we aren’t very familiar with the history of William III or the Georgian story, so we didn’t spend as much time in these sections of the court. The style of this era was more elegant and was a new addition to the palace.

There was one room that displayed how the king would dine publicly and the napkin folding was incredible. We can only imagine how much time and the skill it must have taken to create such intricate pieces of napkin art.

The Great Fountain Garden

At the end of our tour inside, we decided to sit down at the Great Fountain Garden. This garden is massive and the large yew trees were stunning. The trees also provided a ton of shade so a lot of people were resting or playing underneath the trees.

We decided to rest and eat our snacks here and noticed a lot of other people were doing the same thing. We brought our snacks with us, but there is a cafe on site (The Tiltyard Cafe) that serves drinks, pastries, and light lunch options.

Final Thoughts

We enjoyed exploring the palace at a leisurely pace and didn’t feel rushed as we walked from room to room. Compared to other museums we visited recently, this one wasn’t flooded with tourists, and transportation to and from the museum was a pleasant journey as well.

If you’re fascinated with King Henry VIII and his dynasty, you must visit Hampton Court Palace.

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