Welcome to this new series on the Historic Royal Palaces podcast.

I'm Tracy Borman and I have the huge privilege of being chief curator here at the Palaces.

In this new series, we'll be exploring the lives of the six Tudor queens. Of course they all have one man in common,

but as we know they are so much more than just wives and Queen's Consort. In this series, we hope to do

these extraordinary queens justice, but this series will not be biographies of our Queens.

We'll be exploring and disputing the interpretations that history has offered of them, as well as

talking about what they might have been like as women in their own time. To get a sense of the context in which they lived, we'll be

stepping into parts of our palaces where they would have walked in a court that was both exciting

and toxic in its temperament. So join me as we dive into the world of the six Tudor queens.

Please be aware that this episode contains some sexual and psychological themes that some listeners may find distressing.

Welcome listeners to the fifth episode in our Six Queens series and I'm standing here in the great

watching chamber at Hampton Court, where in former times,

courtiers would have, as the name suggests, waited and watched for the king and queen to appear

from my favourite doorway in the whole palace just to our right here, which led through into the private

world of Henry VIII and indeed the Sixth Queen's. Well, I am thrilled to bits because I'm joined

by the simply brilliant, Gareth Russell, biographer, historian, broadcaster, and most importantly,

for the purposes of our podcast this evening, expert, not just on the Fifth Queen, we're

going to be discussing, but on Hampton Court. Garret's new book is all about the palace, its people,

its events, its social history. Well, Gareth, welcome.

Thank you so much for having me, and this is an extraordinary space to start our chat about Catherine.

Isn't it?

So you were saying earlier that you feel like you could have a party in here, don't you?

...