"It's good to be the king."

Mel Brooks' line from History of the World, Part 1 would be quite appropriate for today's visit to Hampton Court Palace. Looking back on this time period, it's rather remarkable to consider the level of sheer luxury and opulence that surrounded the monarchy, and how everything was intentionally designed and styled to reinforce their status as God-granted rulers of the land.

At the same time, it was also interesting to consider that without the king's army of servants waiting on him hand and foot, nor the lines of subjects waiting to have an audience with their ruler, a palace such as this is otherwise a very big, empty space. Most every room in the palace seemed to be designed to accommodate large numbers of people, yet walking through some of the large galleries and sitting rooms, I began to wonder what it must have been like when the crowds of subjects and guests had long gone. Did it ever feel "lonely at the top" for the king and queen to be roaming these huge, elaborately decorated rooms alone?

No less impressive were the gardens behind the palace, that just seemed to stretch on forever in all directions. I was reminded of a similar image of a vast palace garden when I visited Versailles in 2004. Again, it was quite impressive to think that these acres-upon-acres of well-trimmed and meticulously maintained grounds were solely for the monarchs and their heirs. The Hampton Court Palace, like other palaces of the monarchy, is certainly far-removed from the practicalities (and economics) of modern-day, but was definitely a product of its time, and certainly has its place in Britain's history.