King For A Day

Some of the best themes for trips come from our clients. Case in point, one of our favourite expeditions we worked on recently was set in the teeming streets of the UK capital for some history buff clients of ours. These particular clients are seriously interested in the great Henry VIII and we wanted to bring London to life for them through eyes of the famed 15th C monarch. For this adventure, we gave our trusted partners at Context London a ring. They’re aces with ideas and have some of the best docents (basically, a turbo charged guide) we’ve ever come across. Together, we planned out a truly entertaining trip around London that started by exploring Westminster. Here’s how the day flows:

First stop, National Portrait Gallery (NPG), where you can steep yourself in the world of Holbein & Henry VIII at the magnificent Tudor Galleries. Containing some of the oldest (and most striking) portraits of that era, you can mingle with history’s most popular and powerful characters including Mary Queen of Scots, Elizabeth I and William Shakespeare.

From the NPG, head on through Trafalgar Square, the site of the first Royal Mews, where Henry VIII would have kept his hunting bids, and then on to Whitehall, the site of the great Palace of Whitehall. The palace was largely destroyed by fire in 1698, but the Banqueting House survived, and remained in use for the next 25 years. From there you can dip into the Horse Guards Parade–Henry VIII’s tilt yard, and then move into Parliament Square, to see the Great Hall of the Palace of Westminster.

The last stop before a gastropub lunch is a quick jaunt to Westminster Abbey–the site of Henry’s coronation, and the gravesite of his grandmother Margaret Beaufort, his parents Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, his fifth wife, Anne of Cleves, and all three of his children.

After lunch, it’s time for the more gruesome bits of the tour, with a trip to the Tower of London, the site of the execution of two of Henry’s wives, followed by a visit to St Bartholomew’s Hospital, to see a very rare surviving statue of Henry VIII. And finally, a stop off in Charterhouse, the site of one of bloodiest episodes in Dissolution of Monasteries.

Want more? You can always tack on another day of medieval haunts with a day trip to the outskirts of London with a short train ride to Hampton Court—the spectacular home of Henry VIII, followed by a visit to the magnificent Windsor Castle, where you can visit the St George’s Chapel in order to see Henry VIII’s final resting place, buried in the same tomb as his third wife, Jane Seymour.

Anton calls London home and as much as he loves the modern vibe of his thriving city, he enjoys living in the past every now and then.