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| APRIL 2008 |
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For two weeks over the cusp of July and August 2007 the
population of England temporarily swelled with the invasion of Stanley &
Jane Wilderoter and their extended family of twenty-two, first for a
week in the Lake District, then for a week in London. Apparently England
survived with minimal wear and tear, despite reports that petrol prices
soared in the weeks following the family’s travels around England with
five Hyundai Santa Fe SUVs. |
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headquarters was Home At First’s
LAKEVIEW APARTMENTS
near the traffic-free village of
HAWKSHEAD
near Lake Windermere in the southern
LAKE DISTRICT.
(The family occupied all eight Lakeview Apartments plus a neighboring
cottage!) |
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congestion without incident, delivering them to their
LONDON
apartments at
HOME AT FIRST’S ST. KATHARINE’S MARINA
location on the north side of the River Thames and one of Home At
First’s apartments near the Tower Bridge on the south side of the river.
In London the family used Underground (subway) trains and buses to get
around. Apparently none of the group became lost from the others, at
least not for long — everyone made their return flights home to the
States. |
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After nearly 500 years, Anne Boleyn’s sister Mary is making
headlines of her own. Subject of a best-selling book that is currently
in theaters as a major motion picture, Mary Boleyn was “The Other Boleyn
Girl” in the life of King Henry VIII. The movie, shot at period
locations throughout the English county of Kent southeast of London,
chronicles the era when Henry, already in his forties, was pursuing
affairs with various courtiers, resulting in the end of his marriage of
24 years with
Catherine of Aragon.
The film is heavily fictionalized —
Henry is portrayed as a younger man, and Anne and Mary of similar
age and involved with Henry almost simultaneously
— but, otherwise, critical political
issues of the day are addressed. The practice of paring off daughters to
powerful men — even
already married ones —
by ambitious families is the dominant theme. The great concern of
the English monarchy —
that healthy male heirs be available to provide for political
stability across the generations —
receives proper attention. The period costumes and locations also
lend historical accuracy to the film. |
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removed at the TOWER OF LONDON, as did another of Henry’s six queens, Kathryn Howard, Anne’s younger cousin. The rooms where these wives of King Henry VIII were imprisoned, and the gravesites of both these queens may be visited at the Tower. |
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Following the 10 episodes of a first season, television’s
Showtime (SHO) Channel screens a second season of ten new episodes
devoted to the dramatic presentation of England’s royal Tudor dynasty.
Like the current movie, “The Other Boleyn Girl” (see above), “The
Tudors” takes lots of liberties with the historical record to ensure a
lively, lusty drama every week. Still, Henry VIII, his six wives and
numerous mistresses, his powerful daughters, and endless court intrigues
provide the perfect platform for modern popular theater: illicit love,
intense jealousy, high-level power struggles, sudden violence, and
sumptuous costumes with plunging necklines. The second season begins
with the divorce between King Henry VIII and his first wife,
Catherine of Aragon,
a divorce which forces England from the Church of Rome, a divorce that
permits the king to marry his pregnant mistress,
Anne Boleyn,
while the queen of 24 years is exiled from London and the court. Who
knew history could be the stuff of soap operas? |
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turbulent reign of Henry VIII and the other Tudor monarchs still stand.
All are easily reachable from
HOME AT FIRST’S LONDON
apartments near The Tower of London. |
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GETTING THERE: Home At First London
guests: Tube from Tower Hill (9 stops; 14 minutes) to Victoria Station.
Take the train from Victoria Station 45 minutes to Edenbridge Town, then
take a taxi three miles to the castle. Trains run hourly, with a change
of trains necessary at East Croydon. Entrance fee charged. |
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Boleyn,
and
Anne of Cleves), and their children.
Henry VIII, and his daughters Mary I and Elizabeth I were born at the
palace, and his son, the teenaged King Edward VI, died there. The
Queen's House was built during the reign of King James I (son of
Elizabeth I). The old palace was torn down after the Restoration, and
replaced with a new royal residence that is now the Maritime Campus of
the University of Greenwich. Visitors can wander the grounds where
medieval jousts were regularly held, and can explore the NMM, with its
treasury of art, including some of the best remaining Tudor portraits on
display in the Queen's House. |
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Telford,
Trevithick,
Darwin, John & Charles
Wesley, Fox, Handel, Johnson, and Jonson, even Oliver Cromwell and Major
John André) are buried or commemorated in the abbey. |
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at Leeds Castle. Younger sister
Anne Boleyn
may have attended the jousts as
a lady-in-waiting of the French court. Maybe she first met Henry VIII
there. |
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corridors while chased by the king's guards. While the palace has
changed over the years, it still has much of its Tudor architecture.
Palace guides dressed in Tudor fashions lead tours of the Tudor
apartments and play the roles of major and minor castle residents from
the 16th century. |
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one of many treasures you may visit there, if the current monarch is not
in residence. Henry himself lies interred in the
chapel, as does his third wife,
JANE SEYMOUR.
It is expected that Britain's current monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, will
be laid to rest here when she dies. |
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— Discover the Tudors on their home turf: ENGLAND — |
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