Hampton Court Palace

Unmissable things to see and do at Hampton Court Palace, including our newly opened Chocolate Kitchen.

Your ticket includes access to the palace, maze and gardens, plus a multi-language audio guide, costumed guided tours, children's activity trails, entry to a living Tudor world, the Young Henry VIII exhibition and much more!

Hampton Court Palace is a royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, Greater London, in the historic county of Middlesex, and within the postal town East Molesey; it has not been inhabited by the British Royal Family since the 18th century. The palace is 11.7 miles (18.8 kilometres) south west of Charing Cross and upstream of central London on the River Thames. It was originally built for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, a favourite of King Henry VIII, circa 1514; in 1529, as Wolsey fell from favour, the palace was passed to the King, who enlarged it.

The following century, King William III's massive rebuilding and expansion project intended to rival Versailles was begun. Work halted in 1694, leaving the palace in two distinct contrasting architectural styles, domestic Tudor and Baroque. While the palace's styles are an accident of fate, a unity exists due to the use of pink bricks and a symmetrical, if vague, balancing of successive low wings.

Along with St. James's Palace, it is one of only two surviving palaces out of the many owned by King Henry VIII.

Today, the palace is open to the public, and is a major tourist attraction, easily reached by train from Waterloo Station in central London and served by Hampton Court railway station in East Molesey, in Transport for London's Zone 6. The palace is cared for by an independent charity, Historic Royal Palaces, which receives no funding from the Government or the Crown.

Apart from the Palace itself and its gardens, other points of interest for visitors include the celebrated maze, the historic real tennis court (see below) and the huge grape vine, claimed to be the largest in the world.

The palace's Home Park is the site of the annual Hampton Court Palace Festival and Hampton Court Palace Flower Show.

Source: Wikipedia