The Palace, advertised as 500 years of British history at Hampton Court, is a treasure trove of stories not often found in the individual histories of individual monarchs. Author Gareth Russell writes about the people whose actions had influence not only on the monarchy but on this particular property. Anne Boleyn lived there; James I commissioned the Bible translation that bears his name there; A Romanov survivor of the Bolshevik revolution stayed there; rooms were added and others destroyed. As a lifelong student of British history I found the many tidbits of everyday living during a given period fascinating. This is a scholarly piece but immensely readable. I voluntarily reviewed an advance copy of this book from NetGalley. Highly recommend.

Hampton Court is one of numerous palaces and castles with a history as rich and vibrant as the tapestries hanging inside once were. It would be great to have a series of these books on all the major palaces, but I'm sure most have been documented in one form or another throughout history.