Historic Royal Palaces

People sweated in them, spilled things on them, and occasionally had to have them altered when they no longer fit.

The collection itself dates to the early 1980s when historian Audrey Bowden loaned historic royal palaces a significant collection of court uniforms.

It has since grown to include evening gowns, court suits, photographs, letters, diaries, and scrapbooks.

One of the most fascinating pieces belonged to a ten-year-old Princess Elizabeth.

That appearance eventually gave the gown its nickname inside the collection, the Liza Minnelli dress.

Most visitors to Hampton Court will never see these garments in person.

The archive itself isn't open to the public, although Historic Royal Palaces has made a selection of about 200 pieces available to view digitally.

And there you have it.

Like, dude had a good run.

According to Historic Royal Palaces, quote, Sir Walter Raleigh faced his fate with brave resolution and supposedly told his executioner when waiting for the axe to fall, strike, man, strike, end quote.

Then it gets kind of weird.

After his execution, Raleigh's head was embalmed, right? It was, like, preserved and given to his wife, Bess, who kept it in a red velvet bag until she died 29 years later.

It's lovely to be here, Charles.

I'm also delighted to be joined by Professor Tracey Borman, our own chief historian at Historic Royal Palaces and author of the excellent Matilda of Flanders, Queen of the Conqueror.

Nice to see you too, Tracey.

It's great.

It's been great.

Join us next time as we head to the Tower of London to take a deep dive on the building of that most famous Norman fortress and what it was like for Londoners living in its shadow.

In the meantime, thank you for listening to the Historic Royal Palaces podcast.

If you enjoy these types of topics, please let us know by leaving us a review and tell us what you'd like to hear more about.

It was [laughs].

So from there, being a tour guide, how did you progress then to being Chief Curator of Historic Royal Palaces?

Well, then I had to get a proper job.

[laughs]

And after that, I sort of progressed, and I got jobs at English Heritage and Glasgow Museums, and I did my PhD.

I did it as a, a mature student a bit later on, which I think is a kind of a superpower because once you're grown up, you realize you can't mess around if you get the opportunity to learn like that.

So I zipped through my PhD, and then I moved from Glasgow Museums to Historic Royal Palaces in 2003.

And that is where your new book actually begins, isn't it? As you're walking into your apartment.

But what do we really know in depth about Henry VIII's wives? Well, there's a campaign to make sure that children learn an awful lot more about the queens than those six words.

And Nuala asked Tracey Borman, chief historian at the historic royal palaces, about the campaign.

Historic Royal Palaces is launching a campaign to teach the six queens differently.

And you're quite right, that rhyme is how most people know the six wives of Henry VIII.

And they're called six wives, more than six queens.

And in the case of the last queen, Catherine Parr, she died in childbirth, although not from her marriage to Henry VIII.

He was just a third of four husbands.

Tracey Borman from Historic Royal Palaces talking to Nuala.

This next one.

Um, Historic Royal Palaces have launched a campaign, uh, in the UK, obviously, to basically ensure pupils learn more about Henry VIII's wives.

Interesting.

Because they say the only thing we know about them is the rhyme, divorced, beheaded, died.

Divorced, beheaded, survived.

And Historic Royal Palaces are basically saying, "Well, you know, people say the only reason we know about the wives is 'cause of Henry VIII." They're like, "The only reason we know about Henry VIII is 'cause of his fucking wives."

I mean-

And you're like, "Absolutely." The only reason-

But what do we all really know about the wives of Henry VIII? Well, there is a campaign to make sure that children learn more in the future than those six words.

Let me bring in Tracy Borman, chief historian at the Historic Royal Palaces, to tell us more.

So there is a campaign underway, Tracy.

You're very welcome.

What are you hoping to achieve?

That's right.

So today, Historic Royal Palaces is launching a campaign to teach the six queens differently.

And you're quite right, that rhyme is how most people know the six wives of Henry VIII.

Um, and then The Mystery and Lore of Perfume was the one that I was talking about that came from the 1920s.

And, um, Historic Royal Palaces, which, you know, owns Em- Hampton Court and all those places, they actually recreated it in 2009, and that one was slightly different from her other perfume.

That one is, "Take eight grains of musk and put it into eight spoonful's of rose water with three spoonful's of damask water and a quarter of an ounce of sugar.

Boil this for five hours, and then strain it." So you'll notice in that one rose water, damask water.

She said, "It's been my dream for it to be seen in public so people can see her life and legacy up close.

It's so incredible to get these pieces back together and to see it come to life after all these years for the public." The Travolta dress itself is being loaned by Historic Royal Palaces, which acquired it in 2019.

The exhibition will recreate some of the context surrounding that famous White House evening as well.

On display will be the state dinner invitation and menu, along with sheet music for Staying Alive, which the Marine Band learned for the occasion.