SPELTHORNE HUNDRED 



She had the ' Duke of York's Apartments ' in the 

 south-east angle of Wren's building from about 

 1 86 1, and died in 1900 in her hundredth year. 

 The rooms are now occupied by Mrs. Creighton, 

 widow of the late Bishop of London. 



H.R.H. Princess Frederica of Hanover, daughter 

 of His Majesty the late King of Hanover, second 

 Duke of Cumberland, K.G., married Freiherr von 

 Pawel Rammingen, K.C.B., K.H., &c., and was 

 given the ' Lady Housekeeper's Lodgings ' in the 

 south-west wing of the west front in 1880, soon 

 after her marriage. Her daughter was born in this 

 apartment, 7 March 1 88 1, but died three weeks 

 afterwards. Princess Frederica gave up the apart- 



HAMPTON 



tress ' and her attendants to uncouth attempts at 

 regal dignity, and such alterations and losses as it 

 has experienced in its existence of nearly four hun- 

 dred years have assuredly not been due to neglect. 

 When Wolsey began his great work in 1514, 

 the site was already occupied by a building consist- 

 ing of a hall with a parlour, kitchen, buttery, and 

 stable, and a chapel which had a tower containing 

 two bells. After the fashion of the camerae of the 

 Hospitallers, the buildings differed in no essential 

 way from those of an ordinary mediaeval manor- 

 houss, except, perhaps, in the relative importance 

 of the chapel. It is not likely that they were of 

 sufficient importance to influence the setting-out of 



HAMPTON COURT PALACE : ENTRANCE COURT, LOOKING TOWARDS THE MOAT 



ment in 1898, and it is now held by Lady 



Wolseley, wife of F.M. Viscount Wolseley, K.P.,&c. 



With such a history as 



ARCHITECTURAL it can boast, having been 



DESCRIPTION built and furnished in the 



most magnificent and 



sumptuous manner that the taste and ambition of 

 its first owner could devise, and having passed 

 from him into the hands of a king whose love of 

 splendid buildings became proverbial, it is not to 

 be wondered at that Hampton Court has always 

 been a favourite and carefully-maintained possession 

 of the Tudor, Stuart, and Hanoverian dynasties. 

 Even in the days of the Commonwealth its atmo- 

 sphere and traditions moved the ' Lady Protec- 



Wolsey's buildings, or that their incorporation in 

 the new work was ever contemplated ; at any rate, 

 they have long ceased to exist, leaving no trace 

 behind them. 



From 1514 to 1529 the work of building went 

 on under Wolsey's direction and at his expense, 

 although during the last few years the palace had 

 become the property of Henry VIII, and it is 

 hard to say at what point the king took up the 

 cardinal's design. The general setting-out of the 

 plan shows none of the passion for symmetry which 

 was to influence the English architects of Eliza- 

 beth's day, although the first or base court follows 

 a regular scheme, having a great gateway tower in 

 the middle of its west or outer side, and a second 



371 



