Arts

18 Jun 09

DPhil student Suzannah Lipscomb is curating a Henry VIII exhibition at Hampton Court Palace. Credit John Cairns

This year sees the 500th anniversary of Henry VIII’s accession - and an Oxford academic is playing a key role in the celebrations.

Suzannah Lipscomb, a DPhil history student and former Jowett Senior Scholar Balliol College, is one of the lead curators of a series of new exhibitions and events taking place at Hampton Court Palace, and has published a new book on Henry VIII.

This weekend at Hampton Court Palace (20 and 21 June) will see a Tudor river pageant marking the 500 years since Henry VIII’s coronation and will be marked by a procession of boats travelling from the Tower of London to the Palace.

The palace has been transformed so visitors can see what the palace was like in the 16th century. Henry VIII's Great Hall is set for feasting and the State Apartment Warders wear a red uniform inspired by the livery of Henry VIII’s court servants. As every day at Hampton Court is now the day of Henry VIII’s last wedding, to Kateryn Parr, which happened on 12 July 1543, visitors are even invited to wear Tudor-style gowns for their visit to dress up for the occasion. 

As well as curating the exhibitions, Suzannah has written a new book  (1536 - The Year that Changed Henry VIII) that seeks to explain why Henry VIII changed from an affable, generous and acclaimed prince, to become the fat, ruthless tyrant with whom we're all so familiar.

Suzannah Lipscomb said: ‘This is an important year in which to reassess our most famous monarch, and try to solve what historian Eric Ives once called the 'ultimate unresolvable paradox of Tudor history: Henry VIII's psychology'. This is what I have attempted to do in my book, and all the activities that we're offering at Hampton Court provide different opportunities for the public to engage with history, and with this question - whether through a fun family day out, or a series of serious, thoughtful debates.  

'I really believe in the importance of making profound academic scholarship about history accessible to the public, and there are a variety of ways to achieve this.’

In addition, Suzannah has also arranged a series of public lectures with Peter Furtado, the former editor of History Today. The first took place at the end of May in the Great Hall at Hampton Court and other panels and lectures, including ones by David Starkey and Oxford’s Diarmaid MacCulloch and chaired by Oxford alumnus Dan Snow, follow with the next one taking place on 27 June.She is also organising a major international academic conference on Henry VIII and the Tudor Court at Hampton Court in July on 13 to 15 July. Speakers will include her former undergraduate tutor, Oxford’s Dr Susan Brigden, and a number of eminent historians from Oxford.