(soft music) (intense dramatic music) - [Narrator] The history
of the Royal kingdom is rich with pageantry, tradition
and pomp and circumstance. Up and down the length of the country are examples of how the
history of these islands is interlaced with that of the monarchy. Nowhere is that more evident than in the nation's capital, London. It is here that some of the
greatest state occasions in our nation's life, the pomp and circumstance of
state funerals, Royal weddings, and of course the coronation
itself takes place. (soft music) (audience chanting) Westminster Abbey and
the palace of Westminster provide the backdrops and settings to some of the most
important state occasions in our nation's life. Throughout the pomp and ceremony of events such as the coronation service and the annual state
opening of parliament, there were numerous images,
symbols, and messages depicting the relationship
between the monarchy and the country. Of the two buildings we can see today, Westminster Abbey is in fact the older. It was started by Edward the
Confessor in the 11th century. Edward had wanted to make a pilgrimage to the tomb of St. Peter in Rome, but had been prevented
from going by his advisors, who feared disorder in his absence. So instead he built a great
church here in London, dedicated to St. Peter, which would be used as his burial place. The Confesser's church was
actually built on the site of one that had been here
since the seventh century. And there's a legend
about the consecration of the original St. Peter's. (nostalgic music) The story goes that one evening as the sun started to
dip behind the hills, two fishermen were casting
their nets on the Thames when they went beckoned
to by a shadowy figure on the Southern shore. Slowly, they rode over to him and he asked them for a passage
across the thorny island On the journey, the stranger revealed that he too was a fishermen and that he had come
to dedicate the church that was to bear his name. The two locals were dubious
of the strangers tone until he left their boat
and entered the church. At that point, they were
bathed in a heavenly light because it was claimed
the stranger was simply to coming back to earth
for the dedication service. So now to this event,
Edward, one of the fishermen was rewarded with a prize catch of salmon. Edward, the Confesser's church was designed in the Norman style. Edward's mother was from Normandy and he spent much of his
early life in exile there. However, it was perhaps also
a sign of things to come. When Edward died in January 1066, he left neither successor nor instructions on whom should succeed. One of the claimants to
the throne was William, Duke of Normandy. In September 1066, William
landed at Pevensey bay, defeated Harold at the battle of Hastings and was duly acknowledged as King. (soldiers shouting) William then deliberately
chose to be crowned in the church Edward had
so recently consecrated thus beginning an unbroken tradition of all English and British monarchs. (bell chimes) By far the greatest effect of the Crown's closest
association with Westminster Abbey has been to make it the nation's church. While countless event in the nation's life is celebrated within these
spectacular vaulted arches, the most vivid demonstration of this role is the coronation service. - I do solemnly promise, swear to govern the people of United
Kingdom of Great Britain. - [Narrator] One of the other effects of having such a close
association with the crown is that many of the Abbey's
most historic features from its monastic past
have uniquely survived the ravages of time and reform. - Beneath us here is a room
called the Pyx Chamber, which is the oldest area of the Abbey. The Pyx Chamber is a vaulted room dates from the 11th century and it was originally used as a chapel. And it is in the Pyx Chamber that's we have one of the
earliest alters of the Abbey, an early stone altar. After that though, from the 14th century, it was used for the monastic treasury and also there a large
chest called the Pyx, which gave the room its name
was also kept in this chamber. The Pyx used to contain all the standard golden silver coinage of the realm. And so obviously this room had to have a very good security
system to keep it all safe. The huge oak door to the Pyx
Chamber has six locks in it each one had a separate key and each key was looked
after by a separate person. So it was pretty secure in that aspect because you had to have all
those six people together to enable you to open the door. And on the outside of the
door, in the cloister, there is a stone seal
which is in the floor and it means that the
doors to the Pyx Chamber can't open fully. It will open enough to
let a person go in and out of the room, but not sufficiently to let
those huge wooden chests come in and out. So it was pretty fail safe as
far as security was concerned. (ceremonious music) The College Garden is said
to be the oldest garden in this country. It's thought to have been
under continuous cultivation for 900 years and it's where the
infirmarian of the Abbey or the physician of the
Abbey when it was a monastery would have grown plants and
herbs for the care of the sick. The Abbey has been a place
of people finding sanctuary really since the end of the 12th century and criminals could come
to the Abbey precincts and they could claim sanctuary. They could take refuge from the law as long as their crimes
were not anti church and they were not treasonable. And even though the laws
of sanctuary were abolished in the early 17th century, even by 1830, the whole area around the Abbey was still known as the Devil's Acre because of the rather undesirable people who lived in the area. (dramatic music) - [Narrator] There is
another part of London whose name is the only
clue to its connection with Westminster Abbey. Coven garden used to be convent garden and was where the monks from
the Abbey kept their livestock and grew everything
from fruit to vegetables to cereal crops. (bell chimes) (instruments playing) This room is known as the Chapter house. It's the second largest of its
kind in England after Lincoln and is possibly the most
important administrative building in the Abbey's story. The name derives from the practice whereby the monks would
gather here after mass to hear a chapter of the
Benedictine rule (mumbles). However, this was also where for 200 years in the 14th century, the parliament met. It was Edward VI who first made the old chapel of St. Stephen in the palace of Westminster
available for their use. From then on it was the palace which increasingly became
associated with parliament Until then the palace of Westminster had been a Royal residence. Indeed the oldest Royal palace in London for nearly 500 years from
the Confessor to Henry VIII, the crown and parliament had existed within the same set of buildings. From now on the two institutions were to grow further
apart in deed to the point at which parliament summoned
the king here to be tried and convicted of high treason. There have been three
palaces on this site, but sadly, nothing remains of the first, which dated back to the
days of King Canute. There's hardly anything left of the second built by Edward the Confessor. The present palace was
built after a terrible fire destroyed the old palace in 1834. In those days, the exchequer
used notch tally sticks as a form of account, which every now and then
had to be destroyed. On this particular occasion, the heat in the furnaces
burning the tally sticks became so intense that it set light to the old wooden palace. The fire was probably
a blessing in disguise for the Confessers old palace
was not really designed for the machinery of
parliamentary government. Sir Charles Barry won the insteering competition to design the
new houses of parliament, selecting a perpendicular Gothic style in keeping with Westminster Abbey. The foundation stone of
the new parliament house was laid in 1840, and the
last part, the Victoria tower, then the highest tower in the whole world was finished in 1860. The completed building was
allowed to retain its old name and status as a Royal palace. It had 1,100 rooms, 100 staircases and three miles of corridors and covered an area of eight acres. It costs over 2 million pounds in total or 200 million pounds in today's money. (dramatic music) The Clock Tower or Big
Ben as it's better known was completed in 1859. The nickname comes from this huge bell which chimes the hour. And just to give you a sense of the scale, it's 7 foot, 6 inches high, 9 feet across and weighs 13 tons. (clock chimes) The original bell came
from before tiny tins but (indistinct) before
it was hung in the tower so it was recast at the
oldest foundry in London, the white chapel bell Foundry. The clapper was too big, and within a couple of months
it had cracked the bell. They modified the clapper, rehung the bell and it still chimes to this
day complete with crack. (bell chimes) Very few people know that
a third of the way up this famous clock tower is a prison room known as the number one room. Members of either the House
of Commons or the Lords or anyone else for that matter who misbehaved during a debate could well have found
themselves locked up in here. The suffragettes Emmeline Pankhurst was incarcerated here for a brief spell. And although people are still
threatened with it today, it was perhaps surprisingly
last used for an MP over 100 years ago in 1880. The two houses of parliament,
Lords and the Commons evolved over many centuries. The word parliament simply
means an assembly or a council and in this case, it referred to a mixture
of Nobles and Lords gathered at the behest of the monarch. Interestingly, the name of the Commons does not signify the common people. It actually refers to all
the local communities, the counties and towns in the kingdom, which the House of Commons
explicitly represents. The opening ceremony of parliament customarily took place
in the King's presence in the painted chamber. In spite of all the upheavals of history, it still takes place today and is one of the most spectacular, but also one of the
least understood pieces of Royal pageantry, the
state opening of parliament. - Parliament has no idea theoretically why it has been assembled. And if you look back over the centuries, when parliament gathered representatives from all over England and
they arrived in London, they had no idea why their
King had summoned them. They'd received this writ saying, under pain of death you will
attend upon me at my palace at Westminster, where I will tell you as your sovereign what I want you to do. And these representatives are
often in a great deal of awe of that document. And they had no idea whether
they were going to be asked to raise ridiculous amounts of money for sovereigns to go off and
claim more and more thrones around Europe, which
were extremely expensive. They would arrive at parliament and the sovereign would arrive in state, sit on the throne and say, I have summoned you here because, and right up to today,
the tradition goes on. But now we have a constitutional monarchy, there's still a state
opening of Parliament the crown has still
summoned her representatives to parliament and they're still coming into the Chamber of the House of Lords to hear why the sovereign has called them. But the sovereign now speaks with the words of her
Prime Minister and her cabinet. In the early times when Kings went to war, they had a rank them Sergeant-at-Arms, people who stayed
extremely close with arms which were large club
like weapons called maces. And with those maces, they would make sure that anyone who tried to get
close to the Monarch could be clubbed on the
head and sent packing. - The mace is derived from
a mega evil close quarter, battle weapons such as this. From as far afield as
Spain to mogul India, became accepted as a symbol of office. It ceremonially represented the power delegated by the ruler to
the person who carried it. At the start of each sitting
day in the House of Commons, the speaker enters the chamber, proceeded by the Sergeant-at-Arms
carrying the mace. Without the mace being present
on the table of the Commons, the house would not be
properly constituted. For all the Gothic splendor of Barry's palace of Westminster, perhaps one of the least known treasures and most important surviving
parts of the original palace is Westminster hall. It was built around 900
years ago when William Rufus William the Conqueror's son was king. It was thought to be the
largest hall in Europe, but staggeringly, the King was disappointed with its size protesting the great hall
to be a mere bed chamber. The hammer beam roof is
slightly more recent. It dates from Richard II reign at the end of the 14th century, but that doesn't detract
from the scale and prescient of its original achievement. It's a magnificent 240 feet long, and has the widest unsupported
ceilings span in the country. The hall is often used
for great ceremonies. Since 1099, monarchs have held
coronations festivals here, a banquet would be held in the hall when traditionally the King's champion, a Knight on horseback, would ride to the center
of the hall in full armor, there he would throw down his gauntlet to challenge anyone to single combat for disputing the Kings right to succeed. The last time that actually happened was when a coronation
festival was held here in 1821 for George IV. Not surprisingly, it was also the scene
of many famous trials, including perhaps the
most extraordinary of all that of King Charles I. Seven years after his attempt to arrest five members of
parliament on charges of treason against him, he found himself brought to trial for treason against the state. The trial lasted for seven
days in January 1649. Judges were commissioners
appointed by the Commons, but Charles refused to accept
the authority of the court even keeping his hat on
throughout the proceedings. The King was found guilty of treason. Death by execution is the punishment, and Charles was given no chance to speak against his sentence. His death warrant was
signed by Oliver Cromwell amongst others. And the date for the beheading was set for the 30th of January 1649 outside the front of the banqueting house of Whitehall palace. The king was to suffer at his own door. The building epitomized in a
sense the spirit of Charles in the stuarts. Charles I had built up with
magnificent art collection here with over 460 paintings, which were later dispersed
during the Commonwealth era. But the banqueting house
still contains the largest and most spectacular work by rubens. (dramatic music) And it was in this room
that the King staged expensive and spectacular masques, the theatrical experiences of the day, the accounts of one such masque show expenses of over 500 pounds for the King's costume alone, which equates to around 75,000
pounds in today's times. Now it was to be the back cloth first seen very different to the dramas which had previously taken place here. The day before the execution,
his two youngest children, 13 year old princess Elizabeth and nine-year-old Henry,
Duke of Gloucester were brought to Charles
at St. James's palace to say goodbye. On the day of the execution, the barrier around the scaffold
was draped in black cloth so that the crowd would see nothing, but the swift descent of the ax. Meanwhile, a small procession
set out across St. James park to Whitehall. The King was surrounded
by an escort of soldiers carrying pikes. It was a bitterly cold
day and crowds gathered to watch silently, some
on neighboring rooftops they marveled at the
Kings courage and dignity. Charles wore three shirts to prevent him from
getting cold and shivery, which the crowd might mistake for fear. He was brought into this room and then walked the length of it under the ceiling he had commissioned. He stepped out onto the
scaffold from a window. He instructed the executioner
to wait until he was ready, when he would stretch out his arms. When the ax fell, the crowd
let out a terrible mourn. The banqueting house that we see today is in fact the third, this version with its
ruben ceiling and finery was begun in 1619 on the same
site as the previous house and it is almost exactly the same size. It's modern appearance dates
from the early 19th century, when it was rephased. The palace started as the London residence of Henry VIII first Archbishop of Yolk otherwise known as Cardinal Wolsey. Wolsey was one of Henry's closest advisers and the Chancellor for 14
years during which time he became one of the most
powerful and wealthy men in the kingdom. Wolsey furnished York place
with a lavish splendor, but in a way he did too good a job and made it a most desirable residence. And although King Henry was renowned for owning more palaces
than any other monarch, he was actually in need
of a central London based. - Well, Henry III had a
terrible crisis in 1512, because his principal palace burnt down that was Westminster palace,
and he got nowhere to go. And it was a crisis that
he could only resolve by actually staying over the river with the Archbishop of
Canterbury in Lambeth palace. And this went on for about 15, 20 years until eventually Cardinal Wolsey who had been made Archbishop of York was forced to leave his house, Yolk place, which subsequently
became Whitehall palace. And what Henry VIII
did was took Yolk place from the Cardinal as he fell and turned it into his own palace. That's solving the problem
that he'd had since 1512. After the death of Queen Elizabeth, Whitehall had become really quite run down in her later years Elizabeth
more or less ignored all sort of building maintenance and James I came from Scotland, he was staying in a very small, very unglamorous palace
section he's gotten. He came down, he must've
thought he'd won the jackpot. I mean, it's unbelievable. He came to say, incredible
palace, huge, wonderful building, slightly decayed, but what he thought he'd
do is start to develop it and actually start to turn it into something even more magnificent. And the banqueting house was
the very first part of that. When James I built the banqueting house, he really intended to be the
first part of a complete scheme to totally rebuild Whitehall palace, but there were terrible
financial problems in his reign and he was unable to do it. And when Charles I came to the throne, he actually commissioned Inigo Jones to design a massive replacement for the whole of Whitehall palace. But as we know, Charles I run into a little bit of difficulty and was really completely
unable to do anything. But what's fascinating is that
while he was an imprisonment in Carisbrooke castle
in the Isle of Wight, he summoned Indigo Jones
to his prison cell. And in his prison cell, he sat down with the architect and tried to design more
buildings in White hall, which really shows that
really as late as that, the king was thinking about
coming back to Whitehall and rebuilding it. Charles II had the same ambition, he wanted to rebuild it as well. And in fact, eventually the only person who might have had any
success here was James II and of course he left England in disgrace just as his buildings were
rising from the foundations. - [Narrator] Sadly
Whitehall is a lost palace for in 1698 it caught fire. Over 1000 apartments were destroyed. - On a fateful day in 1698, a maid was drying linen
over a charcoal brazier. She left the room and the
palace went up in flames and whatever they'd try to
do to stop it, it failed. They got big barrels of gunpowder and to blow up into the
building to make a fire break and all the gunpowder did
was actually set more bits of the building alight. And ultimately the only part
of the building to be saved was the banqueting house. - [Narrator] The fire
of 1698 damaged so much as it effectively ended
the role of the palace and the story of the crown. The court moved instead to
another of Henry VIII residences here at St. James's. The magnificent Tudor gatehouse faces up to St. James
street rarely seen by many as the road is now one way up the hill and away from the palace. However it gave access to and from the bustling commercial village, which grew up around the court. In the early days, it was peddlers, traders and farmers. By the 1700s, it was coffee houses and specialist shops,
sports and gaming houses. - The layout subtly the courtyards are exactly the same as they
were when Henry VIII built it. It was a Stewart who used it intensively. Charles I lived here and his sons, Charles II and James II
played here as children. There was no mal therefore they played
in the park a great deal so that when Charles I
went to his execution, he was able to point to trees in the park that his sons had climbed. After the restoration,
Charles II came back here. And it was in his heart I think to bring back those childhood memories of his games in the park and yet to erase the tragic memory of his
father's walk across that park to his death that he
created Bird Cage walk. It literally, he had bird
cages in all the trees. All the beauties that we
see in St. James Park now were created by Charles II,
almost in memory of his father. - [Narrator] In this way, St. James park became
the first royal park. During the civil war in 1642, the youngest son of
Charles I, prince James was captured at the battle of Edgehill. - James was captured by Cromwell and he brought him back
here as a prisoner. Now this was no ordinary boy. He decided to play games with his jailers and the other children, and they played hide
and seek every evening. Gradually, James made it
last longer and longer found odd places to hide. Who would know that garden
better than James for hiding and the jailers, the Cromwell's
men weren't at all perturbed when it took longer
and longer to find him. And then one evening
James locked up his dog in case it followed him, got
the key from the gardener, slipped out of the gate into
what is now the five lane now and escaped down river. And it was apparently a half an hour before the jailers realized
he wasn't just hiding he had gone. - [Narrator] With his headstart, James was able to board
a ship for the continent returning to England only when
his elder brother Charles II regained the throne. After Charles had returned from exile, he asked Le Nostre, a famous
French landscape architect responsible for the Tuileries
and Versailles gardens to lay out a design for the park. However, Nostres refused to disturb a place of such natural beauty and Charles extended it by 36 acres and restored it to its former glory, planting it with fruit
trees, stocking with deer and he built a tree lined avenue
with powdered cockle shells where he could play a game very
similar to modern day bowls called pall mall. No one plays pall mall but the name of one of
London's most famous roads still bears its name. The canal in the middle
of St. James's park became one of Charles
second favorite spots and he could often be seen
accompanied by his mistresses walking his dogs around and
sometimes even swimming in it. The present park and the layout of the map is largely the result of more recent times the work of George IV. But George also had huge plans to seriously change
the face of the Capitol by constructing a palace in Regents park and a triumphal route or Regent street to his London residence, Carlton house. Due to the huge rising cost, George IV was forced to
abandon his grandiose plans, which would have changed the nature of this part of the country. Instead, he opted to turn
Buckingham house into a palace. - Before it became a Royal property, there had already been
three houses on the site. The original house was built
in the 1630s by Lord Goring. He built a little brick
house facing south, not facing over the park, that burnt down. And then it was the site
was bought by Lord Arlington who rebuild the house after
the restoration in the 1670s. And he in turn sold that house
to the Duke of Buckingham. And the Duke of Buckingham
was extremely ambitious and as well as the Mulberry garden, he wanted to lay out a
great forecourt in front facing over the park just on the site of the present forecourt of the palace. And that was actually a prime property because it was part of the park. So he was squatting, you know, he was sort of filmed
encroaching into the park, but it was made right,
and he was given a lease, so the lease expired in the
middle of the 18th century. It was acquired for George III
after he came to the throne and after his marriage in 1761, and it was a series of circumstances, the part of the property was crown lease and the lease came up at that time and that enabled the crown estate to acquire the whole property. And George III newly married wanted a private house of his own, but wasn't away from St. James's palace, which was the old Whitehall palace. And this provided a perfect opportunity. It wasn't a large house. I mean, some of them,
or particularly grand, I mean, some of the money was
spent making it less grand. For instance, before
George III acquired it, there was a very elaborate
forecourt in front with a fountain and railings. They were all taken away
and so on with the house. I mean, there were statutes on the roof, which were taken off. So it was made, you know,
more like modest prototypes. - [Narrator] George III had
no fewer than 13 children. He obviously had to
make room for them all, but he also had a passion for his library. - He collected books and
books tend to grow as well. And so he kept adding libraries on. So on one side of the
palace, on the north side, he was adding rooms for the children, and on the south side he was adding on rooms for the library. He ended up with huge, a huge library. I mean, sort of 60 or 70,000
books in four separate rooms. - [Narrator[ So the books
had the better rooms and the children while it was a private house, but it was one of those
children, George IV, who when he became king began the transformation
from Buckingham house to the palace that we know today, George IV started a major building program which was only completed after his death but the only part of the
house which still exists today is this wall and fireplace
just inside the grand entrance. The majority of the conversion
was designed and carried out by John Nash, although
not completed by him. He exceeded his budget by so
much, he was taken off the job. The building has never been
a particularly popular one. William IV never liked it and when the old palace of Westminster, which had been used as a
permanent home for parliament since 1550 burnt down in 1834, the king offered Buckingham
palace as a new home, parliament refused and the palace became the
accepted official London residence of the monarch. William was therefore
forced to carry on the work, his brother George IV had begun. Queen Victoria was equally
unimpressed with the building and even more with the
bureaucratic staffing arrangements, for instance, to have a fire
required three departments, the parks and foresters
to supply the wood, the housekeepers to clean and lay it, and the master of the
households to light it. Originally, the palace had
a three sided open courtyard and in the front it was a huge gateway modeled on the famous arch in Rome. Much of the intended effects
and grandeur of the palace was lost because during
Queen Victoria's reign, a new wing was built across
the front of the courtyard, creating a quadrangle. So they removed the archway and had it placed at the
top end of Hyde park. This is what we now call Marble arch, and of course it's still there today. Standing inside the quadrangle today, the difference between the old
and the new is very obvious. The present facade is even more recent. Originally the palace had an
Italian stucco stone facade, which collapsed due to pollution. And in 1913, George V
commissioned Aston Web to replace it with the
familiar Portland stone facade, which we know so well today. At about the same time, the
railings, the Queens gardens and the Victoria Memorial were completed to create a whole new frontage. Buckingham palace is now
one of the musty locations at the very top of any
visitor to London's list. But alongside the palace is a list of more modern attractions in Kensington that owe their existence to the monarchy, the science museum, the
Victoria and Albert museum, the Royal Albert Hall, the
Imperial College of Science, the natural history museum,
the Royal College of Music, were all inspired by
Queen Victoria's consort, which is the key reason
why the Albert Memorial is here at the heart of an area that could be called
Albertopolis in his honor. Considering prince Albert
only lived in the country for a mere 20 years, this area of Kensington is
a truly remarkable testimony to his imagination and energy. Yet there is no evidence of the one idea from which all this stems,
the great exhibition of 1851, the concept was both revolutionary
and highly controversial. Even now it's difficult to imagine that they really propose building a giant fan and glass conservatory
in this part of Hyde park and then turning it into
the greatest trade show the world had ever seen. At first there was a public
outcry when Queen Victoria gave permission for Hyde
park to be used as its site. People felt that the whole area would become a bit of a
whack of all vagabonds. They were afraid that Kensington
would become uninhabitable. A competition was held to find a design for the exhibition building,
and 230 entries were received. Joseph Paxton, one with a design based on a conservatory
at Chatsworth house over 2000 men were employed to construct a monumental building made from 4,000 tons of
iron and 400 tons of glass, which incorporated the trees in the park. However, the building was
overrun by plague of sparrows, which no one could remove. They couldn't shoot them
because of the gloss. It was the Duke of Wellington who proposed a solution to the queen. Try sparrow hawks mom. Once built, it was necessary to test whether the Crystal Palace could withstand the thousands of expected visitors, squads of soldiers were marched in in order to jump up and down, shouting at the tops of their voice. - The queen of course came
to the official opening and several times beforehand
to see how it was going. The British section was
very highly organized with a classification
system of 36 sections ranging from everything
from very heavy machinery to the products that people
use in their ordinary life, China stationary clothes and so forth. And the them section, the forum section, it was simply too
difficult to arrange that within the 36 classifications. So each nation was given the
amount of space it needed and they showed all their
stuff muddled up together. - [Narrator] When the exhibition
closed five months later, it had been visited by
more than 6 million people. The following year, Crystal
Palace was taken down and re-erected in Sydmum in south London, sadly, it was destroyed by a fire in 1936, but the area still takes its name. The exhibition was a huge success and Albert was given a title of Consort for his involvement with it, a profit of 186,000 pounds was made a huge and completely
unforeseen fortune for the time. Albert used the money to
fulfill one of his dreams. He devised a concept for an establishment, which would apply art and
science to industrial pursuits. First thing he needed was a plot of land. - There were expenses of market gardens not far from the site of
the exhibition in Hyde park, stretching down the hill towards Brompton, and they decided to buy
up a lot of land here. And that's the land on which the Victoria and Albert museum now stands, and the other museums of south Kensington. Prince Albert's idea was that this land would be a great cultural
center for London and he wanted to group all
sorts of cultural organizations on it. His first choice was the national gallery, but the national gallery wouldn't move. And that held things up
for a number of years. The Albert Hall was a project
like the Great Exhibition where public subscriptions were sought as the financial basis of the thing. And they would only
able to get enough money by selling the rights to
the seats, to the boxes. - [Narrator] Victoria bought 26 which make up the present Royal books and the commissioners
for the 1851 exhibition, who was still the landlords of the hall, promise the sites to peppercorn
rent of one shilling a year. The hall is designed from the inspiration which Cole had taken from
the Roman amphitheaters. Facing the great hall is a
gilded Memorial to Prince Albert, which was designed by
George Gilbert Scott. The site of the Memorial
was carefully chosen. It stands on the bisecting
point of two lines, one that runs through the
site of the great exhibition and one that runs through
the heart of Albertopolis. The Queen took a close personal interest in the building of the Memorial. And although rather strangely, she never expressed an
opinion of the finished work Scott was knighted for his efforts. Unlike the hall though, the Memorial never had an
official unveiling ceremony. Alberta shown reading a catalog
from the 1851 exhibition with emblems and motifs of his influences and interests surrounding him. (piano playing) Victoria made rather a
habit of renaming places she was asked to visit. In 1899, a new extension was needed for the south Kensington museum, and the queen laid the foundation stone. It was one of the last
official duties of her reign, and it seems appropriate
that she chose to rename it the Victoria and Albert museum. It was also her final opportunity to pay tribute to her beloved husband and their life together. One of the main features
Victoria would have seen when visiting the museum
was the cast courts. These contained replicas of
famous pieces of architecture and statues from around the world. They were assembled for
the benefit of art students who were seldom able to travel to the actual works themselves, A magnificent replica
of Michel Angelo's David still stands as it would have done at the time of Victoria's visit. The only difference being that he no longer wears a fig leaf, the leaf had been specially
designed and added in order to avoid the
Queens embarrassment. There was another reason
that Queen Victoria always had a special
affection for Kensington. It was her birth place and childhood home. She was born at Kensington
Palace on the 24th of May, 1819. Her father died nine
months after her birth and so she was brought up by her mother and by her governess, Louise
Lehzen under a strict regime. Her life here was simple, consisting mainly of schooling,
walking and family meals. She had a passion for ponies and would often be seen
riding in a little trap through Kensington gardens. Although she describes
her childhood as lonely, she always had a great
fondness for the palace. As a young teenager, Victoria
was made quietly aware of how close she was to the throne when her mother inserted
a page into her book on English Kings and Queens, it added the names of her
uncles and then her own. When Victoria found the book, she was reported to have wept, raised a finger and said, I will be good. - She commissioned a man
called Wilkie to paint the accession council. And it's a very accurate
reflection of the room, the Red Saloon here and it has looking glass in its position, it has the Duke of Wellington, has the Prime Minister holding the first state paper she signed. One big mistake, because
they're all wearing dark colors, Wilkie put her in white, which she could have worn for morning, but she actually wore black
and the dress survives in fact, and she wasn't best pleased. You know, she could notice details and she certainly noticed which
color she should be wearing. - [Narrator] By the time
of Victoria's accession, Kensington was no longer the
monarch's official residence. She was only to spend a couple more weeks at her childhood home before
moving to Buckingham palace. She records in her diary
the sadness that she felt leaving her poor palace. It had been a place of special memories and none more so than her first meeting with Albert of Saxe Coburg,
which took place here in 1836. Now of course the palace
is most closely identified with Diana, princess of Wales and the extraordinary events
that followed her death in 1997. Even now a day does not pass without someone leaving
a plant to pay tribute. The palace is still a Royal home and is where the Duke
and Duchess of Gloucester and prince and princess
Michael of Kent live. But London's Royal palaces are not confined to the
center of the capital. Following the river Thames
west from the Capitol, one arrived at Hampton court,
a truly spectacular palace. One of the most striking
features of Hampton court today is this magnificent clock. It was installed by Henry VIII in 1540 as part of his remodeling of the palace, which removed all traces
of its previous owner. The Hampton court was not built by Henry, but by one of his most
trusted friends and advisors, Thomas Wolsey. Wolsey was the King's right-hand man and most trusted advisor. When Wolsey built Hampton court, he placed a huge set of
his coat of arms here by the entrance to the palace. Henry VIII made his prime task as soon as he took control of the palace to totally remove all
traces of Wolsey's stay. Laborers worked by
torchlight, day and night on the huge canvas because. They defaced Wolsey's
arms over the entrance and above them installed
the astronomical clock. The clock itself is fascinating as well as telling the hour, day and month and faces of the moon, it also tells the time of
high tide at London bridge. Another features in the clock face, the sun revolves around the earth because the clock was designed before the discoveries of Galileo. The reason for all this to
the vandalism is quite simple. Within the space of six months, the two men had completely fallen out. Wolsey descended from being
the most powerful minister in the kingdom to being tried for treason. Both Hampton court and
Wolsey had humble origins. In the 13th century, the palace had been a manor
owned by the night's hospitalist of St. John of Jerusalem. A succession of manor houses
followed until in 1514, Thomas Wolsey bought the lease. - Well, Wolsey, he was an
extraordinary character. And it was really, he became,
almost came from nowhere. He came from Ipswich
where his later critics said he was the son of the butcher, but his father was an Ipswich grazier. And he joined the church, which was the opening for
anybody who wanted to get on in those days, become a church man. And he joined the household,
at an early age, of Henry VII but his real break came with
the succession of Henry VIII. He soon recognized that in Wolsey, he had somebody who would
take on the burden of running, essentially running the state. Wolsey became indispensable to the King and he became very powerful and very rich. And he incurred, eventually he incurred
jealousy of the king. He built what was a very
great house, indeed, a rival to anything,
anything the King owned. Wolsey lived here in immense style and it was quite clearly
rivaled anything that happened to any of the courts of Europe,
it was on a quarterly scale. - [Narrator] Rumors of Wolsey's lifestyle prompted the king to ask him why he had built a palace
that far outshone his own at nearby Richmond. Wolsey reputedly replied to show how noble a place a
subject may offer his sovereign. These turned out to be prophetic words. Soon after, the lease of Hampton
court was given to the king and in return the Cardinal was allowed the use of Richmond palace. In fact, they shared the two. - Well, the fallout was catastrophic, but it took a long time. And Henry was very reluctant
even at the very end to lose the services of the minister who was quite exceptionally able. And I think that the real
problem began with Anne Boleyn. She bore a grudge against Wolsey and that had a very serious effect on the King's view of the minister. I think his decline in large measure can be attributed to her
influence over the king, trying to drive a wedge
between these two individuals who had previously worked
very, very closely together. He lost Hampton court. He was deprived to various offices and he retreated to, he
retreated northwards to York. He lived in some style in York and that was reported back to the king. And by this time the king more suspicious of what he was up to, and so officers were
sent north to arrest him. Wolsey traveled south, he
got as far as Leicester, he stayed in Leicester Abbey and that's in fact where he
died en route back to London where almost certainly he would
have been tried for treason with the usual two to result. - [Narrator] One problem of coping with a household of five or 600 is ensuring an adequate
supply of fresh water. One of the features of Wolsey's palace was an elaborate water supply system, but Henry had to extend it further. After only a short stay, the court would leave and
not return to the palace until it had been made hospitable again. With a supply of fresh water, large amounts of people
could stay for longer periods in one place. Wolsey had already introduced
a system of water conduits, but Henry needed to improve on it. He constructed further
conduit houses at Kuhn, three miles from here, so that fresh water could flow downhill from Kingston to the palace. 100 pounds was set aside for construction. Three miles of pipes
using 150 tons of led, took the water via
Kingston under the temps to Hampton court. king conduit, it's still in working order, although it hasn't supplied
water to Hampton court since 1876. Many of the original pipes still run under the houses of Kingston. At the time when the water
system was being improved, Kingston was already a busy
and prosperous market town, although it is the oldest
of the three Royal burrows in England, it was not until 1927, that King George V confirm the title. It was given in recognition
of Kingston's Royal heritage for it was here that the ancient
Saxon Kings were crowned. Edward the Elder was the
first he made king here in 900 and the last was Ethelred
the Unready in 979. The coronation stone is
thought to be the remains of the ancient thrown
upon which they served. A silver coin from the reign of each king is set into the stone plinth. It is likely that the
actual coronation service would have taken place in the chapel, which once stood on the
sight of All Saints Church, then the king would be
crowned in the open air for the public to see. From the towers of the church, there is a great view of the river and in the 16th century, the bell ringers would pay
to welcome Queen Elizabeth I as she passed by on the river
on her way to Hampton court. It is also recorded that they were paid not to ring the bells
when her successor James I passed by as he was not so popular. Kingston bridge has also
played an important role in the fortunes of the town. Along with London bridge, it was one of the only two
bridges across the Thames from medieval times. It has been rebuilt over the centuries, but during the 16th century, it was deliberately
destroyed by the locals. They were trying to prevent
the passage of Sir Thomas Wyatt and his followers who were fighting to stop
the marriage of Mary I to the King of Spain in 1554. The citizens managed to
stall him for several hours, which helped towards
Wyatt's eventual defeat As a sign of gratitude, Queen Mary granted the town a charter, allowing them a third fish
ware and an additional fair. It just said that there was
such an abundance of salmon that even the workers complained
of being fed too much. This prosperous trade is represented in the town's coat of arms, along with the crown to
indicate its Royal status. Mary's father Henry VIII
used Kingston bridge for his artillery train, as he feared for the
safety of London bridge under the excessive weight. The King's procession also
crossed it on its way to France in 1520, and the field
of the cloth of gold. In 1546, Henry was again
entertaining French ambassadors, this time Hampton court was the venue and the palace was surrounded
with gold and velvet tents. For six days, they housed the ambassadors
retinue of 200 gentlemen, and the 1,300 members
of Henry's own court. This sort of event was not
unusual and to meet such demands, the palace kitchens were immense. They were divided into
19 separate departments overseeing all aspects of the Royal menu. - In Wolsey's time and in Henry VIII time, the ceremonial center of the
palace was the great hall. But what is interesting
is that by the 1530s, the emphasis on great hall in
general terms was declining. And in Hampton court, it's something, a revival of what Henry viewed as the great medieval tradition
of having a great hall. And one could imagine him
harking back to it to Henry V, great medieval Royal heroes, and having this huge berenil
hall in the middle of in the middle of his palace. But it was there that the
lower court has at least dined hundreds and hundreds of
them up to 600 and sitting up to twice a day. - [Narrator] During the
reign of Elizabeth I, the great hall was
often used as a theater, featuring sumptuous costumes and scenery, ingenious lighting effects were created. And on one occasion,
artificial snow was produced. The palace was also the
scene for real life dramas, several of which include Henry VIII and his success of wives. He spent three out of
his six honeymoons here, including the one with
the young Anne Boleyn. He had their entwined initials
carved throughout the palace. As soon as she fell from grace, these were rapidly changed
to Jane for his next wife, Jane Seymour. The work was undertaken with great taste and many were missed. So the initials of Henry and Anne still remain inseparable to this day. Jane Seymour gave Henry his
much wanted son and heir, Edward VI was christened
here in the chapel with much pomp and ceremony. He was carried beneath a rich
canopy and a great procession, but only a few days later, Jane Seymour died following
complications with the birth. The joyful celebrations within the palace were brought to an abrupt halt. The Bible still stands open as it did in the day of Henry VIII when
he insisted that all visitors should be able to enter any church and read the Bible in English. The book today is the authorized
King James version of 1611, which was conceived at Hampton court. Henry would take mass and daily prayer and the holy day closet
overlooking the chapel. It was while in here that he
chose to ignore the screams for mercy from his fifth
wife, Catherine Howard. It was a tragic end to what had been a promising new beginning for the King. Henry and Catherine were
married in a quiet ceremony at Hampton court, but she
was young and he was old. She assumed preferred the company, rather unwisely of some
of her former lovers, these included Thomas Colepepper. It was not long before reports
were leaked to the King of Thomas being smuggled
into the Queens apartments. At first, Henry would not believe it and was devastated by the news. A public declaration
of the Queens adultery was made in the great watching chamber and her household was
immediately dismissed. The queen was arrested and
held captive at the palace. Catherine felt that if she
could only talk to the King, she would be able to
persuade him of her honor and save her skin but she
was forbidden from seeing him This frustration and the fear
of following the same fate as her cousin, Anne Boleyn drove her to take desperate action. Familiar with the King's routine, she knew when he would be in the chapel. This was only a short distance from where she was being held. She managed to break away from her guards and run as fast as she
could down the corridor towards the chapel doors. She hammered at the door, pleading with the king to let her in. It stayed firmly shut, the guards seized her
and dragged her screaming back to her quarters. The next time she left her rooms was to start her journey to the
tower and then to the block, she was beheaded on the
13th of February, 1542. She was just 20 years old. The eerie sound of Catherine
supposed tricks and moans had been heard so often in this corridor that had just been renamed
the haunted gallery. William III and Mary II
were the next monarchs to change the fate of Hampton court. So Christopher Bran was
chosen to completely renovate the now run down through the palace. They had grandiose plans
for the old palace, but cashflow was a problem and many of her dreams were compromised. Fountain court, which
replaced Henry VIII courtyard was one of the very few aspects that was completed exactly
as they had wished. - In many ways, their paths I suspect didn't quite go as far as their ambitions. At Hampton court, what they proposed to do was demolish the entire purse with the exception of the great hall and that as a nucleus
for grand Brock pedes was their initial intention. However, I'm afraid that reality struck and what we see now at Hampton court is a reduced version of
that initial intention. - [Narrator] William and
Mary are the only monarchs in British history to rule
as joint heads of state. As the daughter of James II, Mary was Parliament's first choice, but her husband William of Orange, refused to go to England unless he was given
equal status with Mary. William and Mary began their
work on Hampton court in 1689, 5 years and millions of pounds later, it was still not completed. Then long before her rooms
at the palace were finished, Queen Mary died suddenly of smallpox. The king was devastated by her death and all work halted for three years. When work resumed again, he oversaw it with attention
to the smallest detail, making hundreds of his own
suggestions along the way. As well as the buildings, William and Mary paid great attention to the ground surrounding the palace. In fact, the gardens became so well known that the king and queen were acknowledged as two of the greatest
gardeners in Europe, they experimented with
rare and exotic plants from all around the world. Mary would send collectors to
the Canary islands in Virginia to gather native samples. These were then kept in
specially built hothouses at the palace. All the loving care
William showed his grounds, sadly ironic. This was where he was outraged when his horse stumbled on a mole hill and threw the King from his saddle, he broke his collarbone and
retired to Kensington palace to convalesce. He died from pneumonia three weeks later. The next and last monarchs to
use Hampton quarters as a home was George II. He added to and refurbished the palace for his queen Caroline, and
also for their eight children, but all was not domestic bliss. The king and queen were not
fond of their eldest son, Frederick, Prince of Wales. The queen was quoted as
calling him the greatest ass and the greatest liar and the greatest beast in the whole world. The final straw came when he
was expecting his first child with his third wife Augusta of Saxe-Gotha. At first, Frederick tried to
keep the pregnancy secret, but when the queen found out, she insisted on being
present at the birth. She did not believe that her son could father a healthy child and wanted to make sure that a changing wasn't put in its place. The prince and princess were
staying at Hampton court with the king and queen when
the princess went into labor, Frederick dragged his poor
wife out to the palace to go to St. James's. When the queen was told
of their departure, she set off in hot pursuit, but did not arrive in time
to see the child born. She met with a chili reception and returned to the king saying, I hope to God, I never
have to see him again. Her wish was granted. Queen Caroline died two months later without a reconciliation. After Queen Caroline's death, the palace was not used
as a royal home again, it was divided into grace
and favor apartments, and there are still residents today who keep Hampton court as a living home. One survivor of the
palace's sporting heritage is the Royal tennis court, Royal or real tennis has
been played in England since the 14th century
and predates lawn tennis by almost 600 years. Henry VIII was an accomplished athlete and loved to play the game. The King had the first covered
court built here in 1532. Hampton court is full of
echoes of its rich history and close links with the crown, whether it be tennis or ghostly screams it's gardens or the grace
and favor apartments, but it's perhaps ironic that
there is no trace at all of Thomas Wolsey, the man who built it and was responsible for it
becoming a Royal Palace.
