The Ghosts of Hampton Court
Over the years, many residents, staff and visitors to Hampton Court Palace have reported strange sightings and sounds. And of course, who doesn’t love a good ghost story? From Jane Seymour and Catherine Howard, Queens of England, to the white cat that palace visitors step over, there are many strange stories of hauntings at the palace.
Image: Jane Seymour, by Hans Holbein the Younger
Jane Seymour, Queen of England
Jane Seymour was the third wife of Henry VIII, following Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn. She was Henry VIII’s fifth cousin and shared a great-grandmother with both Anne Boleyn, the Queen who she replaced, and Catherine Howard, who would be King Henry’s fifth wife. She was a gentle and simple person, and although not very learned was said to be exceptional at needlework. Jane lived in the apartments above the archway and died after giving birth to Edward Tudor, King Henry VIII’s son and heir. She was buried at Windsor Castle, where Henry VIII was also later buried, but her heart and some of her organs were buried at Hampton Court Palace in the Chapel Royal somewhere underneath the high altar. It’s said that around the anniversary of her death Jane Seymour, Queen of England, has been seen wearing a long white gown and carrying a tapered candle down the stairs into Clock Court in the direction of her son’s rooms.
Image: Portrait miniature of a lady, perhaps Catherine Howard, by Hans Holbein the Younger
Catherine Howard, Queen of England
Catherine Howard was the fifth wife of Henry VIII, after Anne of Cleves. She was about 17 years old at the time of her marriage to 49-year-old Henry VIII. Catherine was a first cousin to Anne Boleyn; her father was the sister to Anne Boleyn’s mother. She was a second cousin of the previous Queen, Jane Seymour, and the first cousin once removed of the future Queen, Elizabeth I. Catherine was a young teen who married an aging impotent King Henry VIII, who had an ulcerating and stinking leg wound. Perhaps she was looking for love, for she made grave mistakes before and during her marriage to the King that would cost her her life. She was arrested and placed under lock and key in her apartments at Hampton Court. While waiting to go to the Tower of London, she managed to get out of her room and ran to the hallway outside of the Royal Pew where Henry was praying. If he heard her screams, he ignored them, and the guards dragged her back to her rooms screaming. In February 1542, she was beheaded for treason, for committing adultery with Thomas Culpepper, her distant cousin.
Visitors and staff have heard her screams, felt chills and even fainted in that hallway, now called The Haunted Gallery.
Sybil Penn
Sybil Penn, the nurse of Edward VI, lived in the corner of Base Court (turn right as you enter the palace via the main gate) at Hampton Court. She died of smallpox in 1568 and was buried at St. Mary’s Church in Hampton. Her tomb was destroyed during a storm in 1829, just before the Ponsonby family moved into Hampton Court. The Ponsonby’s lived on the first floor and complained about strange disturbances, including the sound of a spinning wheel and a woman's voice. When investigated, a hidden chamber was found behind a wall, containing an old spinning wheel. Around that time, a guard reported seeing a woman in a grey hooded robe who disappeared after leaving the rooms. Since then she has been seen by many people, both visitors and staff.
Robed Figure
In 2003, a CCTV camera caught modern, solid fire doors bursting open day after day. One day a tall figure appears after the doors open and closes them. This has never been explained.
Other Ghostly Sightings at Hampton Court Palace
In the 1990s, a large dog was heard and seen in William III’s apartments and in The King’s Staircase.
In Queen Caroline’s private apartments, warders have reported being followed by a scent of lavender and rose petal perfume.
In the 1980s and 90s, visitors stepped over a white cat in the Clock Court and some of the ground-floor apartments. However, there was no cat there.
Fountain Court - A grace and favour resident, Lady Hildyard, reported that two unseen presences often visited her rooms, and she frequently heard the sound of knocking. When workmen were brought in to install new drains, they uncovered the skeletons of two men buried beneath the pavement. They were two workmen who had been killed when William III’s new apartments collapsed in 1689.
White specters moving down staircases.
‘Spirits’ in the Georgian Apartments.