The mandatory palace tour
I live in a part of the world that has adopted placenames from elsewhere. In particular, Great Britain. When I hear of local communities like Kensington or Hampton, I don’t associate them with palaces. At least, I didn’t; after watching a documentary from PBS, some of that has changed.
Now, my own interest doesn’t lie with the fashions of the court, or the way that buildings are repurposed, but the effort was worth my time. The promise of a “look behind the closed doors” was fulfilled, given that this documentary is very recent, and marks the drastic drop in tourism for 2020. Under the watchful eye of the chief curator (Lucy Worsley), we had a chance to see stuff (no better word is possible) that has been around the place for more than ten centuries.
I don’t intend to head off to London, short term, but I now have a passing familiarity with structures that served every purpose. Home, prison, nursery, party place. The monies didn’t permit new structures for every whim, and now (again, I need to mention that parts of these halls date back almost a millennium), they are cared for with the sort of attention that none of us will ever bestow on our own homes.
It must have been special to arrive on a barge at a water gate, be shown up long, wide staircases to rooms that were finished in opulence. I mean, I assume so. Beyond my own ken. I should mention that we used to have a collection of miniature buildings, back when I was younger. Also to be visited in a sense of awe…
