Henry on Tour

Henry on Tour is a multi-disciplinary investigation of the summer progresses of King Henry VIII being lead by Professor Magnus Williamson. Summer progresses are the royal journeys or tours that King Henry VIII took in the summer.

Led by Historic Royal Palaces, Henry on Tour has considered royal itineraries as:

• logistical feats
• performed spectacles
• assertions of kingship and queenship, and
• important opportunities for interpreting the Tudors in schools and at heritage sites

We've mapped Henry VIII’s 38-year itinerary, its associated landscapes, venues visited, and the palaces, country houses and ecclesiastical institutions that accommodated the royal household.

The architecture of these and the archaeology of certain ‘lost’ palaces and former monastic buildings has been digitally visualised. The spatial and repertoire considerations for sacred and secular musical performance has also been tested and recreated in appropriate venues.

Attention is especially on the communities associated with the progresses. This is not only the relationship between the crown and the courtiers, clergy and civic hosts, but also the peripatetic Chapel Royal and hidden histories of understudied groups, such as: servants, suppliers, craftspersons, musicians.

Shedding new light on royal itinerancy, HoT transforms our understanding of Henry VIII, his wives, his courtiers, and the relationship with his subjects.