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Hatfield House - Hatfield (England), September 2018

Hatfield House is yet another example of these aristocratic country houses which are an inherent part of the history of England throughout the centuries -- and in which, to a large extent, this very same history was made. The house, although built in 1611 by the first Earl of Salisbury, Robert Cecil, is actually located on the site of the former Royal Palace of Hatfield, in which Henry VIII's children spent their youth and his daughter Elizabeth learnt of her accession to the throne as Queen Elizabeth I in 1558. The palace was subsequently given to Robert Cecil by King James I. It remains the home of the illustrious Cecil family to this day.

In the North Gallery of Hatfield House, dramatically backlit, stands a Chair of State which was created for Queen Anne's coronation in 1702. How the chair ended up here is not entirely clear. However, at this point, romantic fancy, probably prompted by an overflow of royal associations, takes precedence over historical truth, and timelines collide... and I imagine a young, red-haired princess sitting in this chair, in this house which did not exist at the time, having just learned that she was to become the queen of England, pondering the solitude of power and the burdens of her incoming, 45 year-long reign.
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Description
Hatfield House - Hatfield (England), September 2018

Hatfield House is yet another example of these aristocratic country houses which are an inherent part of the history of England throughout the centuries -- and in which, to a large extent, this very same history was made. The house, although built in 1611 by the first Earl of Salisbury, Robert Cecil, is actually located on the site of the former Royal Palace of Hatfield, in which Henry VIII's children spent their youth and his daughter Elizabeth learnt of her accession to the throne as Queen Elizabeth I in 1558. The palace was subsequently given to Robert Cecil by King James I. It remains the home of the illustrious Cecil family to this day.

In the North Gallery of Hatfield House, dramatically backlit, stands a Chair of State which was created for Queen Anne's coronation in 1702. How the chair ended up here is not entirely clear. However, at this point, romantic fancy, probably prompted by an overflow of royal associations, takes precedence over historical truth, and timelines collide... and I imagine a young, red-haired princess sitting in this chair, in this house which did not exist at the time, having just learned that she was to become the queen of England, pondering the solitude of power and the burdens of her incoming, 45 year-long reign.
.