Ghost stories from Hampton Court’s grace and favour community

Few places collect ghost stories like Hampton Court Palace. From unexplained noises to spectral Tudor queens, spirits from the palace’s past are still said to walk the courtyards on quiet, moonless nights. Many of the best-known ghosts were first reported by the grace and favour community, who lived here long after the royals left the palace in the 18th century.

Here, Assistant Curator Minette Butler unravels the Victorian origins of Hampton Court’s most famous ghost stories and Memories Project Volunteer Tessa Westlake explores strange tales from the palace’s 20th century residents.

View of clocktower illuminated at light. — *Image: The Clock Tower, Hampton Court Palace. © Historic Royal Palaces.*

Early sightings

By Minette Butler

Witnesses have reported ghost sightings at Hampton Court as far back as the eighteenth century, including unexpected encounters with the palace’s historic inhabitants.

In 1777, a letter to the Morning Chronicle described a gentleman who, whilst walking through the cloisters (covered walkways) one evening, stumbled upon a mysterious light and a ‘deep groan’ near the Chapel Royal.

Suspecting a practical joke, the man tried to strike the form with his cane. However, to the man’s horror, his weapon fell straight to the ground. The strange phenomena resolved into a tall, majestic figure dressed in a long reddish robe – identified by some as the spirit of Cardinal Wolsey.

Did you know?

Some claim Wolsey haunts Hampton Court in the form of its famous ‘Cardinal Spiders’.

An atmospheric wooden staircase — *Image: The Silverstick stairs at Hampton Court Palace. © Historic Royal Palaces.*

Who haunts Hampton Court Palace?

Today, the palace is best known for three spirits, including two English queens of Henry VIII. Invoking scenes from their final days, the condemned Catherine Howard is said to run ‘shrieking’ down the Haunted Gallery, while Jane Seymour glides down the Silverstick stairs from the room where she died just twelve days after giving birth to Edward VI.

The third of these famous ghosts is Sybill Penn, who served as Prince Edward’s nurse after Jane’s death. Sybill died of smallpox at Hampton Court in 1562 after attending to Elizabeth I, who fought off the disease. Sybill allegedly began to walk the grounds as a hooded ‘grey lady’ after her tomb was disturbed in 1829. When noises were heard behind the palace walls, legend has it that authorities discovered an old, much used spinning wheel – said to belong to Sybill.

An early postcard depicting a 'ghost' in the Horn Room.
The ghost is that of King Henry VIII's fifth wife, Catherine Howard. Charged with adultery, the young queen was placed under house arrest at Hampton Court. The story goes that she managed to escape from her rooms and run to the Chapel where the King was at Mass. Before she was able to reach him, she was seized by the guards and dragged screaming back to her rooms. It is said that her ghost still haunts the palace today.

Image: An early postcard depicting the 'ghost' of Catherine Howard at Hampton Court Palace. © Historic Royal Palaces.

A long corridor with paintings on the walls and chandeliers hanging from ceiling.

Image: The Haunted Gallery at Hampton Court Palace. © Historic Royal Palaces.

Ghost stories of an antiquary

These three iconic accounts took shape in the late 19th century, principally under the pen of historian, barrister and grace and favour resident Ernest Law.

In 1885, Law published the first of his three-volume History of Hampton Court. Writing in an age fascinated with seances and spiritualism, Law wove his historical narrative with ghostly anecdotes, including sightings of Catherine, Jane and Sybill.

Law’s History was influential and his ghost stories were widely repeated in newspapers, guidebooks and postcards. This cemented the three spectres into Hampton Court’s legend to this day.

What was ‘grace and favour’?

Grace and favour apartments were lodgings given by the monarch, usually to recognise a person’s service to the crown.

Paranormal witnesses

Ernest Law collected these stories from his neighbours in the grace and favour community, where unexplained apparitions seemed to be part of palace life.

Law used testimony from Mrs Rose Cavendish Boyle, who lived in an apartment near the Haunted Gallery. Both she and her friend Lady Eastlake swore they’d been awoken by an ‘unearthly shriek’, and sent Law written statements with permission to name them in his book.

Similarly, Law attributes sightings of Sybill Penn to multiple eyewitnesses, including a newly arrived resident, reportedly ignorant of the legend, and a palace sentry on duty. The soldier was so terrified he ‘ran in abject terror to the guard room, declaring he had seen a spectral form pass through the wall’.

In 1871, two skeletons were discovered beneath Fountain Court. Far from alarmed, one resident was relieved. According to Law, she’d been telling the authorities about ‘two invisible beings’ knocking on her walls for years!

Two transparent white 'ghosts' overlaid onto a black and white image of a Tudor hall with high wooden vaulted ceiling — *Image: An early postcard depicting 'ghosts' in the Great Hall at Hampton Court Palace. © Historic Royal Palaces.*

Living with the dead

Not everyone at Hampton Court appreciated their neighbours’ ghost stories. In 1893, one resident informed the Lord Chamberlain of an article ‘on supernatural appearances’ at the palace, asking for ‘steps to be taken to discover the author of this nuisance’.

Published in The Daily Graphic, the article stirred spirits in the palace and the press. Written by an anonymous grace and favour resident, it recounts both the infamous ghost of Catherine Howard and more anonymous terrors – strange noises, self-opening doors and spectres lingering over children’s beds.

One night the author was awoken when a pillow was yanked out from under her head. She lay there for ‘some time’, convinced an unseen figure gazed at her in the darkness.

You can’t get the staff

Such happenings upset the author’s whole household. Servants complained of footsteps up and down the stairs all night, while the cook had no choice but to resign. ‘If you please, mum’, she reportedly trembled, ‘I must leave you this very day… I can’t stay no longer in a place such as this, where the partition of Anne Bullion walks… it worrits me dreadful to think of it’.

It’s no wonder the palace community weren’t happy. When a similar article, probably written by the same resident, was published about a year later, the Housekeeper urged the Lord Chamberlain to suppress it as ‘it was so difficult to get servants’.

One cold night in winter, a gentleman was sitting by the fire in this room, reading a book very comfortably, when lo! To his great astonishment, the candles were suddenly extinguished by an unseen hand, leaving him in utter darkness. There was no wind, and nothing to be seen, but feeling that there was something “uncanny” about it, he took to his heels and for the future avoided sitting in the “Panelled Room” at midnight.

An unnerving occurrence in the Wolsey Rooms, taken from the Atalanta c. 1894.

20th century tales

By Tessa Westlake

Historic Royal Palace’s Memories Project collects people’s special memories of Hampton Court Palace from the 20th century, and we have received many strange accounts. Some of the grace and favour ladies experienced unusual goings-on, but many were untroubled by their supernatural encounters. Some were even disappointed that they had not received an otherworldly visitor.

Lady Dorothy Hume's hairdresser visited her regularly in her apartment. One day, while working, the hairdresser heard footsteps approaching along the corridor. She thought it was Mrs Taylor, the Palace Housekeeper, coming to visit, but no one appeared. Lady Hume simply commented, 'Don’t worry, it’s just the Lord Privy Seal. He lived here and is just passing through'.

Mrs Robinson, wife of the Palace Superintendent, was walking arm in arm through the palace with one of the grace and favour ladies. Her companion suddenly took her arm away and said, 'Just move apart, and let this person come through'. She then linked arms again and they carried on walking. The lady was convinced that somebody had walked between them - but Mrs Robinson had not seen anyone.

A white sketch of a ghost overlaid onto a black and white image of an old palace room displaying swords and guns. — *Image: A 'ghost' in the King's Guard Chamber at Hampton Court Palace. © Historic Royal Palaces - Memories Project.*

Supernatural servants?

Mrs Caroline Offley Shore lived in the Clock Tower overlooking Clock Court. She believed she had a ghostly servant. The apartment was very cold, so she had a heavy eiderdown blanket on the bed. If this slipped off during the night, Mrs Offley Shore said someone would always come and quietly cover her up again – even though she had no live-in staff.

In an apartment near the Tudor Kitchens, the Palace Housekeeper found water pouring out of the bathroom hot tap. She reminded the cleaners to ensure that the taps were off, but they denied being in the apartment that day. The Housekeeper did not mention the incident until two other staff members reported the same experience. Each time the hot tap was on so tightly it was difficult to turn it off. Was it a careless member of staff, or a former resident trying to get on with the cleaning?

*Image: The North Cloister at Hampton Court Palace. © Historic Royal Palaces.*

Animal intuition

Although pets were normally forbidden for palace residents, some exceptions were made. People have reported both dogs and cats reacting strangely to things unseen by their human owners.

Alan Heath, as a boy, lived with his parents in Master Carpenters Court. His father told him that there was a ghost in the cloisters near the kitchens. Alan decided to investigate, taking his dog, Prince. They began to walk down the North Cloister, but on reaching the entrance to the kitchens, suddenly the dog froze, the hair on his neck rose up, and there was a cold breeze. Prince would not move until the breeze died away, when he returned to normal.

Lady Fisher’s grandson would visit with his dog but always had to carry his terrified pet past the kitchens. Once past, the dog would completely recover, scramble to get down and happily run off.

Fountain Court phantoms

One apartment off Fountain Court is mentioned frequently. It was once part of Henry VIII’s private apartments and visitors and residents have often reported uneasy feelings of being watched.

Occupants have also reported that pictures would be taken off the wall in one particular room, and that children especially did not like to go upstairs alone. The final grace and favour resident said she sometimes saw a figure in black. Other people seem to use the apartment untroubled, however. Who or what may be causing these feelings is a mystery.

A simple explanation

But don’t be too worried if you visit the palace. While some apartments seem to have more than their fair share of unexplained events, some do have an earthly explanation.

During a small dinner party in Mrs Mallaby’s apartment, strange noises started coming out of the fireplace. The guests were dismayed, until a duck appeared after falling into the chimney.

Similarly, an inquisitive soldier of the 19th Hussars stationed in the Barrack Block became frightened while exploring the palace by night. While ascending a spiral staircase, he noticed noises behind him as if he was being followed. He took a few more steps and heard the noises again. He was relieved to realise that it was his sword tapping against the wall as he turned around the stairs.

So sometimes ghostly happenings might be your imagination playing tricks. But perhaps sometimes it might not?

A man holding a duck wrapped in a blanket — *Image: A duck mistaken for a ghost. © Historic Royal Palaces - Memories Project.*