Henry VIII’s Joust at Hampton Court Palace

If you’ve been around teenagers, you know that they often have a bit of a “meh” personality. It’s just something about being a teen – nothing is exciting, fun or cool anymore. We are a big adventure household, and though Kai does like going out, a lot of the activities aren’t super Kai focused. Recently, Kai mentioned Jousting as something he would like to see, so obviously we jumped at the idea of taking him somewhere he might really love! We went back to Hampton Court Palace to see Henry VIII’s Joust!

The tickets to Henry VIII’s Joust at Hampton Court Palace does include exploring the entire palace, easily making this a full day out. However, we wanted to come just to see the joust along with the Falconry Display, as both are time limited events happening at the same time. These two events are really close to each other and run with the Falconry Display first, several times a day, then the Joust second. You can easily play your day around what timeslots you want to attend and then see the Falconry first and walk over to the Joust second.

Falconry Display at Hampton Court Palace

We went to the Falconry Display first, which showcased three different birds. The first bird was a Barn Owl named Dizzy. The person from CODA did a fantastic job talking about owls, how they live, and the dangers that the world is creating for them. They also explained the differences between the sounds they make in America and England. Though we have seen this owl before and heard this display, we did learn something new! The next two birds, who’s names I do not remember, weren’t so new to us. One was a falcon that felt lazy today, spending a lot of time doing short flights from side to side, then doing big dives for food thrown in the air. This falcon was quite fun and moody to watch, and again we learned a lot about them! Apparently they are extremely fast – possibly faster than a cheetah. The final bird had a mask on, which was very interesting to see, as this bird loves food so much. They were a hybrid between two falcons, making them a fast flyer that was here to not only fly and sit on the palace, but also play a hunting game where the handler spun a treat on the end of a rope and the falcon would dive and try to get it! This falcon flew out of the arena and above our heads, which was fantastic to see. CODA did a good job of being informative, but at the same time, seemed to mainly be referencing the morning show a lot, which felt strange and unneeded. The seats were all flat on the grass, but there was plenty of seating for everyone.

Henry VIII’s Joust at Hampton Court Palace

Once the Falconry show was done and dusted, we moved on to the joust! Seating was very much the same, with a slight sloop to the hill, but there was plenty for everyone. This joust was significantly longer than the Falconry display and it was really a lot of fun. One of the royal members of staff came out first, to introduce the joust, before the king came on his horse and said hello to everyone. Then, the Queen arrived, and boy was she a character! The Queen played the role of the bored, uninterested women who was there to possibly entertain Henry VIII. She requested fights between some of the other knights and often asked if her very inexperienced brother could joust. At one point, her brother scored no points in jousting against a very old, basically retired knight, and an actor playing a peasant came into the arena to heckle him, so the queen ordered him to battle against one of the servants!

There were a lot of different fights, not just jousting at Henry VIII’s Joust at Hampton Court Palace. There was hand to hand combat using these big metal spiky things, fist fights, sword fights, and some sort of long spear throwing thing as well. The King made demands, changing the layout of the day, by suddenly wanting a simulation hunt, that required everyone to ride their horses and throw spears at targets. Later, two drunk peasants came into the arena looking to have a sword fight, and suddenly the Queen wagered some money on one of them. Often the King would be losing and suddenly declare he had to win, and that his servant should come in and fight with him. Nobody ever broke character and it was absolutely fantastic.

Kai took tons of photos, videos, and really enjoyed the entire thing. Robin also liked it far more than I thought she would and Amelia enjoyed herself too. It was fun to see so many actors so dedicated to the performance and to see so much action up close. It was really, truly a fun time and as Henry VIII’s Joust at Hampton Court Palace is only here for a few weekends each year, you should see if you can make it along!

You can check out our other Days Out to see what else we’ve been up too!