Royal Palaces with Historic Royal Palaces – Details, episodes & analysis

Join Zac as he explores the famous home of King Henry VIII, Hampton Court Palace.

In this episode Zac is going back in time and learning all about the kitchens that would feed the people of Hampton Court Palace.

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Join Zac as he explores the famous home of King Henry VIII, Hampton Court Palace.

In this episode Zac is going back in time and learning all about the Georgian period at Hampton Court Palace.

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Join Zac as he explores the famous home of King Henry VIII, Hampton Court Palace.

In this episode Zac is going back in time to find out all about the many wives of Henry VIII!

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Join Zac as he explores the famous home of King Henry VIII, Hampton Court Palace.

In this episode Zac is going back in time and learning all about the birth of Henry VIII's son!

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Join Zac as he explores the famous home of King Henry VIII, Hampton Court Palace.

In this episode Zac is going back in time and learning all about Cardinal Wolsey who was the king's right hand man... until he wasn't anymore! 

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Join Zac as he explores the famous home of King Henry VIII, Hampton Court Palace.

In this episode Zac ends up going back in time and learns all about how King Henry VIII would entertain his guests and spare no expense while doing so!

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Guy Fawkes is famous to this day – or should that be infamous – for his attempt to blow up Parliament with gunpowder, on November 5th 1605.

He was a tall striking-looking man, with a big red bushy beard. 

He could speak Spanish because before the plot, he had lived in Spain working with others who wanted a Catholic monarch to take the English throne.

He was part of a group of 13 conspirators, led by a man called Robert Catesby.

It was Catesby’s idea to try to blow up Parliament, and in doing so they hoped to kill the King and members of the Royal family, who were Protestant, and not Catholic.

Guy Fawkes’s job was to guard the 36 barrels of Gunpowder that had been stored in a basement under the House of Lords. 

That’s where he was discovered on the night of the plot. An anonymous letter had been sent to a nobleman, sending a warning of the conspirators’ plans. We still don’t know who sent the letter, but it meant the plot could be foiled, and Guy Fawkes and his co-conspirators arrested.

At first, he gave a false name – John Johnson, and even when his true identity was revealed, he did not show any signs of being sorry for his crimes, nor did he seem afraid of his fate, which was to be executed at the Tower of London on 31st January 1606.

You might think that it’s the plot itself that we celebrate on the 5th November each year, but that’s not quite true – it was King James’s  decree that celebrations would be held because the plot was NOT successful!

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The Tower of London has imprisoned several monarchs, and one of the first was John Balliol, who became King of Scotland in 1292. 

Whilst the Scottish and English Kings and Queens had lived peacefully side by side, Balliol and his Scottish noblemen were not always loyal to the English. 

They were angry about laws made to tax and control them, and some of the nobles even made alliances with the French, who were sworn enemies of the English at that time.

This betrayal was too much for King Edward of England.  He decided to take action and invade Scotland.  

On 12th March 1296 the English troops invaded Berwick, a Scottish town.  After a bloody battle the Scottish refused to surrender and so the troops ransacked the remaining population and John Balliol was captured and stripped of his Royal Badge. 

He became a prisoner of the Tower but because he had been a King, he was permitted to bring a large amount of staff.

These included:

• Lord William de Froxfelde, his chaplain
• Richard, his pantler
• Henry, his butler
• John Clyware and Gantroni, his treasurers
• Henry, the clerk of the chaplain
• Peter, his barber
• Adam, his tailor (a second tailor named Robert also appears later)
• Three grooms
• Two esquires
• A carter
• A miller
• A cook and a porter
• A laundress
• An officer of the saucery
• A hunter and his page
• Two greyhounds
• Ten running dogs
• At least two horses (his own palfrey and one horse belonging to Alexander de Balliol ‘who at present has rebelled’!)

Although his treatment seems like luxury compared to many of the poor prisoners, it would not have felt particularly luxurious to a King who was used to his own palaces, and who answered to no one.

After his release he was able to live out his days in France.

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William Maxwell was part of a group who didn’t think that the English King, George I, nor his descendants, had the right to the English throne. 

They had schemes to restore their chosen monarchs to the throne.

When captured, some of the group, many of whom were noblemen were released, but William Maxwell was singled out for harsh treatment. 

He was to be executed as a warning to others who would plot against the King.

On hearing the news about her husband’s fate, Lady Nisdale was desperate to travel to London to see George I to beg for her husband’s life.  It was a tough journey with heavy snows blocking the roads.  

She begged the King so much that she had to be dragged from the room.  It was no use. The King was determined that William Maxwell would hang.

She hadn’t given up.  In a letter to her sister, which was later found, her plot was described.  

One evening, close to the time of execution, two women accompanied Lady Nisdale to the Tower. 

She told the guards that she meant to petition the King one last time to release her husband, and that her serving maids wanted to bid farewell to their master.

This was a lie. The first maid went in to William’s cell with Lady Nisdale and left a spare cloak.  The second maid then went into the cell. She had an extra set of clothing on and left this, taking the spare cloak to cover herself before she disappeared into the crowd in the bustle of the Tower.

Lady Nisdale convinced her husband to put the spare clothing on, and putting on makeup, and covering his face and beard with a handkerchief, he pretended to be the second maid, and was able to sneak past the guards.

Lady Nisdale then pretended to talk to her husband to make it seem that he was still in the cell, before making her own escape. 

She instructed the guards that he must not be disturbed because he was praying and they believed her – buying her time for her and William to get clear of the guards.

A cloak used in this amazing escape survives to this day, and William Maxwell was lucky to be one of the few prisoners to ever manage to evade the fate of a Tower execution.

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Hugh Draper was a wealthy innkeeper from Bristol.  He was popular with his neighbours and was quite an ordinary person. 

So how did he end up in the Tower of London?

Hugh was interested in sorcery and the occult – these are theories about magic.

Just like today, in centuries past, some people have found it interesting to think that they might be able to predict the future or cast spells. 

The difference being that it was thought people practicing magic could cause serious harm to others – and if those people were rich or powerful you could expect a harsh punishment.

Hugh, with some other men, was accused of casting spells against two members of Queen Elizabeth’s Court and he was imprisoned in 1560. 

Although he pleaded his innocence and had burned all his magic books, whilst he was in the tower he carved many strange symbols on the walls of his cells, which you can see to this day if you visit the Salt Tower.

The strangest thing of all is that, other than his imprisonment, we don’t know what happened to Hugh Draper after that. 

There are no records of his release, or his execution, and there is no trace of or where he went, or how he lived out his life. 

The Lieutenant of the Tower, William Warner was thought to be too lenient to prisoners, and had previously disobeyed his orders so perhaps he allowed Hugh Draper to escape… or perhaps Hugh cast a spell and really did disappear in a puff of smoke!

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