DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.67417#0126
92
HAMPTON COURT
Immediately after Cromwell’s death, Parliament
ordered Hampton Court to be sold, and the sale
was only stopped by Ludlow’s prudent inter-
ference. In February 1660 Parliament offered the
palace to General Monk, who declined the gift, but
was made Steward of the Manor, an appointment
which Charles II. confirmed.
With the Restoration a period of revived splen-
dour and prosperity dawned on Hampton Court.
The King had come into his own again, and a
passion of loyalty thrilled the nation’s heart. “ I
stood in the Strand,” wrote John Evelyn, on that
memorable 29th of May, “ and blessed God. It was
the Lord’s doing; for such a Restoration was never
mentioned in any history since the return of the
Jews from the Babylonish captivity, nor so joyful
a day and so bright ever seen in this nation.” 1
The first members of the royal family to return to
Hampton Court were the widowed Queen—“ la reine
malheweuse” as she called herself—and the charm-
ing young Princess Henrietta, who slept herein the
2nd of January 1661. They were then returning
to France, after paying their first visit to the newly
restored King, who escorted his mother and sister
to Portsmouth the next day. Charles himself was
fond of Hampton Court, and often went down
there from town to play tennis and take early
morning rides in the Park. He was, as Pepys tells
us, a good tennis-player, and in this first year of his
reign he rebuilt the tennis-court on a larger scale,
in the style of those at Paris and Bruges, where he
1 “ Diary,” ii. 146.
HAMPTON COURT
Immediately after Cromwell’s death, Parliament
ordered Hampton Court to be sold, and the sale
was only stopped by Ludlow’s prudent inter-
ference. In February 1660 Parliament offered the
palace to General Monk, who declined the gift, but
was made Steward of the Manor, an appointment
which Charles II. confirmed.
With the Restoration a period of revived splen-
dour and prosperity dawned on Hampton Court.
The King had come into his own again, and a
passion of loyalty thrilled the nation’s heart. “ I
stood in the Strand,” wrote John Evelyn, on that
memorable 29th of May, “ and blessed God. It was
the Lord’s doing; for such a Restoration was never
mentioned in any history since the return of the
Jews from the Babylonish captivity, nor so joyful
a day and so bright ever seen in this nation.” 1
The first members of the royal family to return to
Hampton Court were the widowed Queen—“ la reine
malheweuse” as she called herself—and the charm-
ing young Princess Henrietta, who slept herein the
2nd of January 1661. They were then returning
to France, after paying their first visit to the newly
restored King, who escorted his mother and sister
to Portsmouth the next day. Charles himself was
fond of Hampton Court, and often went down
there from town to play tennis and take early
morning rides in the Park. He was, as Pepys tells
us, a good tennis-player, and in this first year of his
reign he rebuilt the tennis-court on a larger scale,
in the style of those at Paris and Bruges, where he
1 “ Diary,” ii. 146.