Uncovering Edward VI's nursery at Hampton Court Palace

Henry VIII’s palace of leisure

By the late 1520s, Hampton Court Palace was one of the finest residences in England and the courtiers’ house that Henry VIII visited more than any other. However, Wolsey fell foul of the King when he failed to secure an annulment from his first queen, Katherine of Aragon. As punishment, Henry took many of Wolsey’s properties from him, including Hampton Court.

The King loved his new residence and used it frequently for hunting, feasting and sport. An open-air tennis court – the ‘Open Tennis Play’ – already existed near the palace’s north-east corner and, in 1530, a bowling alley seems to have been added here too.

In 1532-33, a new, roofed tennis court – the ‘Close Tennis Play’ – was also built in this corner of the palace. It still stands today, though it was later converted into lodgings. Next to the Close Tennis Play, a two-storey building probably contained accommodation for the keeper of the tennis court. This corner of the palace had thus become a hub for sport and recreation.

The Tudor Tennis Court Gallery

As the Close Tennis Play neared completion, a gallery was built to connect it with the Open Tennis Play, and probably the bowling alley too. But this wasn’t just a corridor – it was a two-storey, brick building with stone windows and painted and gilded vanes. It allowed courtiers to move between the courts without braving the weather and it may have also provided a platform from which to watch games in the Open Tennis Play.

The new gallery stood on the site of the old boundary wall and its construction completed the courtyard, which is today known as Chapel Court.

A royal nursery on the clock

In May 1537, Henry VIII visited Hampton Court Palace with his new queen, Jane Seymour. Four months pregnant, Jane was carrying the long-awaited male heir to the Tudor throne. The couple chose Hampton Court as the future home for their child and, upon their departure, the palace was thrown into a frenzy of activity. 

Over the next five months, a massive building campaign prepared the palace for the birth of Prince Edward – who would later ascend the throne as Edward VI.

The decision was made to move the nursery, which had been built under the Queen’s Apartments for Anne Boleyn, to a new, standalone building. The location chosen was the Tennis Court Gallery, built just four years earlier.

Why the move? Maybe for security. Maybe to provide a more impressive suite of apartments for the heir. Or maybe they wanted to surround and inspire the young prince with sport. This may be why a tiltyard for jousting was built at Hampton Court Palace at the same time.

The Tennis Court Gallery was probably also chosen as it would be faster to remodel and extend an existing structure, rather than build a new one.

The Prince’s Lodgings take shape

Construction was fast and furious, with craftsmen frequently working overtime and even during the night. By October – just in time for Edward’s birth – the ‘Prince’s Lodgings’ were nearly complete.

'The new building ran east to west and was two storeys tall, like the gallery before it. However, it was wider and longer than its predecessor and was well-lit by numerous windows, many of which were filled with stained glass. Some of these survive, including two of the three bay windows, but all the glass has been replaced over the centuries.

Inside the Prince's rooms

The new building contained a miniature suite of royal apartments, which were reached via a large staircase in the north-west corner of Chapel Court. 

The rooms ran east from there along the first floor and comprised:

• The Prince's Watching Chamber: the guard room of the apartments, where bodyguards stood ‘watch’.
• The Prince's Presence Chamber: a large textile canopy with a backcloth, known as a ‘cloth of estate’, was probably hung in this room, below which the Prince could be placed to ‘receive’ important visitors.
• The Nursery: which contained trestles for baby care.
• The Rocking Chamber: where four ‘rockers’ were employed to rock the Prince to sleep.
• My Lord Prince's Jakes: the royal toilet.
• The Prince's Washing Chamber: possibly a partitioned area within the Nursery.
• The Lodging Next to the Nursery: some of the Prince’s closest servants may have slept here and it may have also functioned as a council chamber. It also provided access to the Queen’s Apartments.

Downstairs, there were lodgings and jakes for Edward's household, and probably a kitchen and laundry.

Prince Edward at Hampton Court

Henry VIII was paranoid about the health, safety and security of his only son. He had the Prince’s Lodgings swept and soaped down before Edward moved in and then strictly controlled access to him.

Edward never knew his mother, as Jane Seymour died just 12 days after his birth. Over the next decade, Henry married three more times, giving Edward a series of stepmothers. During this period, he probably used his lodgings at Hampton Court frequently.

In 1547, Henry VIII died and Edward, just nine years old, became King Edward VI. He moved into his father’s former apartments, stepping into a role far beyond his years. Sadly, Edward’s reign was short-lived. He died in 1553 at the age of 15.

Elizabeth I’s stay

After Henry VIII’s death, the fate of the Prince’s Lodgings at Hampton Court becomes something of a mystery. For much of the later Tudor period, we simply don’t know how these rooms were used – with one notable exception.

In early 1554, Thomas Wyatt led a rebellion against Queen Mary I, Henry’s eldest daughter. The uprising was quickly crushed, but suspicion fell on her half-sister, Princess Elizabeth (later Elizabeth I). Though never proven guilty, the Princess spent the next year under house arrest.

In April 1555, Elizabeth was summoned to Hampton Court. Queen Mary, believing herself to be pregnant, wanted her sister close by for the anticipated birth. Elizabeth arrived with only a small retinue of attendants and soldiers. According to one account, she ‘entered Hampton Court on the back side, into the prince’s lodgings, the doors being shut to her’.

Elizabeth remained confined in the Prince’s Lodgings for several weeks. Eventually, it became clear that Mary was not pregnant after all – it was a phantom pregnancy. Soon after, Elizabeth was released.

A new chapter begins

In 1603, the Tudor dynasty came to an end with the death of Elizabeth I. Her successor, King James VI of Scotland, became King James I of England, uniting the crowns and ushering in the Stuart era. With this change, the Prince’s Lodgings once again found themselves at the heart of royal life as the residence of heirs to the throne.

But that’s a story for another time!

James Shemmonds
Assistant Curator of Historic Buildings, Historic Royal Palaces