EntranceHampton Court

When visiting Hampton Court Palace you are actually visiting two palaces in one; a Tudor palace magnificently developed by Cardinal Wolsey and later Henry VIII, alongside a baroque palace built by William III and Mary II. The first buildings at Hampton were acquired by the Knights Hospitallers Of St John Jerusalem in 1236 but Henry VIII remains the Palace’s most prolific occupant and by the time Henry was finished with his renovations the palace was one the of the most modern, sophisticated and magnificent in England. Sir Christopher Wren, under instruction of William III developed the ‘second’ part of the palace in the late 1600’s and transformed the east and south facades of Hampton Court with the grand and elegant baroque exteriors that dominate the Formal gardens today.