Henry VIII brought back to life during civic event in Exeter
Published: 12 June 2024
Exeter is taking part in a national event to re-enact the steps of Henry VIII on his journeys around his realm and their performance as a spectacle.
Led by Historic Royal Palaces, the project examines the significance of the journeys in demonstrating kingship and queenship and their legacy for the study and interpretation of the Tudors in schools and heritage sites.
Henry VIII’s complete itinerary is being mapped for the first time with the associated landscapes, the routes taken, the venues visited and the palaces, country houses and ecclesiastical institutions that accommodated the royal household.
Henry VIII on Tour will present new stories, posing and answering innovative research questions, and hopefully inspiring greater curiosity about local places and heritage sites.
As well as contributing to understanding of Henry VIII, his wives and court and the relationship with his people in historical terms, the project will reflect on what monarchy and visibility means to us in the 21st century.
Even though King Henry VIII never visited Exeter during his reign, his assumed itinerary will be recreated on Thursday 13 June.
The City Council is joining with the Cathedral in recreating what we would have happened if the famous monarch had come to Exeter.
A reception will be hosted at the historic Guildhall at 11.30am, where two actors who will play a young King Henry VIII and his wife Anne Boleyn.
The Civic party will then process to the Cathedral, at 12.20pm, and will be greeted at the Cathedral’s West Front, at 12.30pm, with ceremonial Tudor music performed by Exeter University Chapel Choir. A Tudor Service will take place inside the Cathedral.
Exeter’s Cap and Sword was gifted to the city by King Henry VII, will be “presented” to King Henry the VIII.
In 1497 Exeter’s citizens successfully resisted the rebel army of Perkin Warbeck, who besieged Exeter in his bid to win the English throne from Henry VII.
Grateful for the city’s loyalty, Henry awarded symbols of his special favour: the Cap of Maintenance and the Ceremonial Sword.
The original cap, of simple black felt without a brim, may have been the king’s own and was intended to signify a close personal tie between the giver and the receiver.
With the Cap of Maintenance, Henry also gave a sword - a symbol of nobility and bravery.
He also ordered that a sword bearer should be appointed by the Corporation to carry the sword before the Mayor in all civic processions.
This tradition is maintained today - the sword is carried by the Senior Mace Sergeant followed by the Lord Mayor and the rest of the procession.
On Saturday 15 June a lavish banquet will take place in the Tudor splendour of Exeter’s historic Guildhall. It will celebrate a lavish feast in 1533, given in honour of King Henry VIII by his cousin Henry Courtenay, the Marquess of Exeter.
It was in July 1533 that the King visited the Courtenay’s manor of West Horsley, near Guildford, a month after his new wife Anne Boleyn’s coronation as Queen.
The couple later came on royal progress to the Westcountry in 1535 but sadly never got as far as Exeter.