Thread by @MikeStuchbery_

THREAD: On Monday I took the opportunity to head over to @Hatfield_House, home of the Cecil family for a good 400-odd years!

Quite an important place in the scheme of things...

Before there was a Hatfield House, there was a palace, built by the Bishop of Ely, John Morton in 1497. During the Dissolution of the Monasteries, Henry VIII nabbed it.

Henry's kids, Elizabeth, Mary & Edward, all spent time at there as kids - Elizabeth more than the others.

Indeed, during the scandal involving her step-father, Thomas Seymour - basically, there is the heavy suggestion he attempted a sexual relationship with the 15 year old Elizabeth - she was incarcerated and questioned here.

She escaped. He lost his head.

In fact, it's said that in 1558, it was at Hatfield that Elizabeth I learned she was queen - her sister, Mary having died.

According to the story, she was under a tree on this spot when she was told, and proclaimed (basically) 'This is the Lord's doing and it is good!'.

The 'modern' Hatfield House was built in 1608 by Robert Cecil, Elizabeth's Chief Minister & Earl of Salisbury, using much of the building materials of the old palace.

It has a stonking number of windows - proof that we are talking serious wealth and prestige here.

Upon entering Hatfield House you're met with the Marble Hall - it is still decorated much as it was back in the early 17th century.

The Marble Hall holds the 'Rainbow Portrait' of Elizabeth I - one of the major drawcards of the place.

The 'Rainbow Portrait' of Elizabeth I was painted by Isaac Oliver in 1600 - three years before she died at age 69.

Oliver, however, was instructed to paint her as she would have appeared in her thirties. This was more a piece of propaganda than a mere portrait.

The 'Rainbow Portrait' is chock-full of symbolism.

Elizabeth's dress is covered is eyes and ears, symbolising her omnipresence - no secret was kept from her.

Elizabeth holds a rainbow. A Latin phrase reads 'no rainbow without the sun' - suggesting she was bringing stability.

Now here's an easter egg for you - Elizabeth looks suspiciously like Issac Oliver here.

Considering the real Elizabeth was near 70, pockmarked, toothless and bald at the time - who can blame him?

By the 'Rainbow Portrait' are two paintings by Marcus Gheeraerts the Elder showing rural festivals - a really invaluable source As to what everyday life was like at the time.

There's another famous portrait of Elizabeth I upstairs at Hatfield House - the 'Ermine Portrait'. Here Elizabeth wears her face colours - black and gold - and has an ermine with her, a symbol of virginal purity.

Many of the state rooms of @Hatfield_House are so densely packed with art & history that I'd have a really hard time going through it all.

My fave, however, was the long gallery - not just because it's where the ghost of Emily Cecil, the 1st Marchioness, is said to glide...

Another interesting spot at Hatfield House is the 'armoury' - actually a bricked in loggia, or covered entrance.

In previous centuries, this was the equivalent of undercover parking, so you wouldn't get your silks wet arriving for a party.

Across the road from Hatfield House is Saint Etheldreda's church, that has existed even before the palace was built.

The current building dates from the 13th century and there's evidence there was a church here in Saxon times.

The thing to see at St Etheldreda's church is the tomb of that Robert Cecil who first built Hatfield House.

It's a magnificent Jacobean construction, befitting Elizabeth I & James I's chief minister.

The gnarly, awesome thing about Robert Cecil's tomb is that it's a big old 'transi tomb' - an idealised form of the deceased above and a skeleton/cadaver below. These things were popular between 14th - 17th centuries.

St Etheldreda's was also where Lord Melbourne, Queen Victoria's mentor is buried, although in a much less ostentatious tomb.

So that was my day at @hatfield house - couldn't fit in everything I learned, but hope it gives you a flavour of it.

I'll leave you with the ending scene of Terence Malick's 'The New World', that was filmed there - along with many other films. FIN.

PS. If you like me doing these little Twitter tours, you can make suggestions, or give me the inside scoop on a pace through DMs or replies.

You can also buy me a coffee too - that also helps! ko-fi.com/mikestuchbery

PPS. You can next see @Hatfield_House featured heavily in 'The Favourite', which looks utterly bonkers!