Henry VIII’s Warship – The Mary Rose

Historic Royal Palaces Podcast

Historic Royal Palaces

London, Palace, Tower, Historic, Conservation, Royal, Lecture, Learning, Kensington, Hampton, Kew, Banqueting, History, Court, Of, House, Palaces

4.6 • 635 Ratings

🗓️ 24 April 2025

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The story of the Mary Rose, Henry VIII’s favourite ship, is one that is closely connected to the reign of the iconic Tudor monarch, but it is the history of her demise that remains a mystery to this day.

When she sank in 1545, she lost almost her entire crew, but this tragedy would preserve for posterity a remarkable time capsule of Tudor England and beyond.

In this first episode of our mini-series, Chief Historian Tracy Borman takes us on a trip to the Mary Rose Museum to meet Head of Research Dr Alex Hildred. Together they will explore the life of the Mary Rose.

Visit the Mary Rose Museum and discover the largest collection of Tudor objects in the world.

Visit the Tudor World Exhibition at Hampton Court, and see the oldest rooms of the Tudor palace, once lived in by Cardinal Thomas Wolsey.

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's the 19th of July 1545 and the weather is calm and warm.
0:10.0	A striking contrast to the roar of French cannons coming from the Solent at the mouth of Portsmouth Harbour.
0:18.0	Henry VIII stands in all his splendour atop South Sea Castle
0:23.3	to watch the battle that unfolds against the crowning glory of England's naval power.
0:30.4	The French have chosen to invade England in retaliation to Henry's capture of Boulogne.
0:36.5	They are 200 ships strong against the English 80.
0:41.3	The French have the brute strength, the English have the native advantage.
0:46.3	The wind picks up and the Mary Rose, Henry's favourite warship,
0:51.3	chooses this moment to engage the French.
0:55.0	She fires from her starboard side before turning to fire from her port side.
1:00.0	But as she turns, the Mary Rose heels to her starboard side and founders.
1:06.0	Under the horrified gaze of the onlookers, including the wife of the ship's captain,
1:11.6	the Mary Rose goes down.
1:14.6	The disaster sees the loss of all but 35 of her 500 strong crew, the story of why she sank,
1:22.6	lost with them.
1:24.6	But this tragedy would go on to become one of the greatest archaeological maritime
1:30.5	treasures of our time when she was raised almost 450 years after she sank. So in this two-part
1:39.1	mini-series, we're going to explore the life and afterlife of the Mary Rose, Henry VIII's favourite worship.
1:59.4	Well, hello listeners. I am Tracy Borman. I'm the chief historian and I'm here in the Woolsey
2:06.6	rooms at Hampton Court. Very exciting for me as a Tudor historian to be here because in fact,
2:12.8	this is all Tudor. It's really the oldest part of the palace. It's where Henry VIII and Catherine of
2:21.6	Aragon would have spent time visiting Woolsey, Cardinal Thomas Woolsey, the original builder
	...

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