How ghost of Henry VIII’s wife will roam Hampton Court Palace in after-dark event
The ghost of Catherine Howard has long been said to roam the corridors of Hampton Court Palace, screaming for her life.
Now the voice of Henry VIII’s fifth wife will echo through its darkened halls as her story – and those of fellow female inhabitants of the palace – is brought to life in a new after hours audio tour.
The lives of Catherine Howard, who was beheaded at the Tower of London in 1542 for adultery and treason, and Queen Anne, whose reign saw the end of the Stuart dynasty, will be explored in the production.
Other voices will include Sophia Duleep Singh, a prominent suffragette who lived on the estate, and a maid called Nellie Cousins.
Visitors will wander the palace’s dimly lit halls in small groups, guided by the voices of its former inhabitants as they capture the tapestry of women’s life at the palace throughout the ages.
The one-hour experience is narrated by actress Kathryn Hunter, who played Arabella Figg in the Harry Potter film series and Lennie in the Netflix hit, Black Doves.
Two-time Oscar nominated actress, Miranda Richardson, plays Queen Anne while more than 50 female staff working at Hampton Court Palace lend their voices as the ensemble cast.
The production, called Still The Hours, was commissioned by Historic Royal Palaces and runs from March 19-30 to coincide with International Women’s Month.
Artist Claire Doherty, writer and director, said: “Hampton Court Palace is the remarkable stage on which the histories of women over 500 years have played out.
“We wondered if for just one hour the palace gave up its secrets, whose voices might we hear? What sounds might the palace choose to remember – the struggles for survival, the mundane and the remarkable.”
The tour starts in Clock Court, under Henry VIII’s huge clock, and from where the audio of different stories also begins.
The moment the visitors meet Queen Anne, who endured 17 pregnancies and outlived all of her children, comes just after one of her many devastating losses.
Ms Duleep Singh, an Indian princess who used her position to fight for women’s rights, routinely sold copies of The Suffragette newspaper outside the palace and lived at a grace-and-favour home on the estate, given to her by Queen Victoria.
Eva Koch-Schulte, the executive producer of commissioning at Historic Royal Palaces, said that Still The Hours offered “a completely novel way” to experience the palace after dark.
“Under the gaze of the world-famous astronomical clock, time will stutter and history will come to life,” she said.
The women’s stories, shaped by historical research, are said to capture the full spectrum of human experience at the palace, “from the mundane to the life-altering; joy and sorrow, friendship and loneliness, perseverance and surrender”.