Lucy Worsley: “I thought I’d be forever the weird girl“
From lunches with the late Queen to ghostly encounters at Hampton Court, the TV historian reveals the experiences that shaped her life.
Basso Cannarsa
From lunches with the late Queen to ghostly encounters at Hampton Court, the TV historian reveals the experiences that shaped her life.
If you’ve ever watched Steven Spielberg’s ET, I looked like the lead character from that – the alien rather than the child. I had a pudding basin hairdo that my mum did – when people look at pictures of me their reaction is to say, “Phone home”, ET’s catchphrase.
As for personality, my dad says I was very boring because my favourite place to be was with my nose in a book. I can’t remember playing nicely with other children and was quite nasty to my brother, Tom, who is three years younger.
I think he’s forgiven me now, but I was definitely the bossy older sister when we were kids.
There were two influences – both when I was still at primary school. One was discovering a series of novels by an author called Jean Plaidy (the pen name of Eleanor Hibbert). I was spellbound by them and especially The Young Elizabeth. It was about Elizabeth I and partly set at Hampton Court Palace. I still have my copy and think it was destiny that I ended up working there.
The other book that totally captured my imagination was one about King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table. It was a scruffy little paperback given to me by the girl who lived next door.
Recently, I noticed she stole it from our school library – it’s still got the ticket in the back.
You too, bookworm, shall go to the ball! Because I never thought that I would have the sort of life I have now.
I thought I’d just be forever the weird girl with spectacles who was reading books.
For the 21 years I worked as chief curator for Historic Royal Palaces, from when I was 29 until when I was 50, I was contractually obliged not to say. I hate to upset my old colleagues at Kensington Palace and the Tower of London, but the truth is Hampton Court Palace.
It’s the biggest and the best palace and the rose garden is beautiful in June – the scent is magical. It’s got a maze, it’s right by the River Thames and it’s one of those places you can walk in and almost feel the ghosts.
In the Haunted Gallery at Hampton Court, there’s a place where I have experienced a drop in the temperature, a cold spot. A lot of other people have too.
The writer Isaac Asimov said that only time and not space separates us from the people of the past, and at Hampton Court you are walking in the footsteps of both Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, the two wives beheaded by Henry VIII. The Haunted Gallery is the corridor that Catherine Howard is said to have run along as she went to plead for her life.
A lot because when I came out, I sat down and wrote a 3,000-word description of it. Possibly the most special thing was being in the room just before she entered and her three corgis came running in.
Queens and Kings: An Unusually Personal History by Lucy Worsley (Hodder & Stoughton) RRP: £25
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