Hampton Court Palace Hampton Court Palace Hampton Court Palace is a royal palace in the borough of Richmond upon Thames, south west and upstream of central London on the River Thames. Building of the palace began in 1515 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, a favourite of King Henry VIII. In 1529, as Wolsey fell from favour, the cardinal gave the palace to the King to check his disgrace; Henry VIII later enlarged it. Along with St James's Palace, it is one of only two surviving palaces out of the many owned by King Henry VIII. In the following century, King William III's massive rebuilding
Henry Courtenay, 1st Marquess of Exeter The Marquess of Exeter further served the interests of the King in the proceedings for the annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon and signed the letter to Pope Clement VII in that regard. He was placed second to the King at the Privy Council at which Cardinal Thomas Wolsey was charged with treason and signed the documents for his prosecution. He served as a commissioner for the formal deposition of Catherine in 1533. During the preparation of his Dissolution of the Monasteries, Henry VIII granted to Courtenay the stewardship of several monasteries in 1535, which placed him in