United Kingdom: Warwickshire – Kenilworth Castle

🏰 Kenilworth Castle — The Star of the Show

Now, if you’re only going to visit one place in Kenilworth — and to be honest, there isn’t much competition — it has to be Kenilworth Castle and its Elizabethan Gardens. It earned the rather grand description of “the finest surviving example of a semi-royal palace of the later middle ages,” and we’d say that’s not far off the mark.

From its origins as a medieval fortress, Kenilworth Castle had been squarely at the centre of English affairs for the best part of nine centuries. The Normans got it started — the original castle was built around 1120 by Geoffrey de Clinton, treasurer to Henry I — and it barely had a quiet moment after that.

The castle was at the heart of the Siege of Kenilworth in 1266, which is reckoned to be the longest siege in Medieval English history. It dragged on for nearly six months — from June to December — with the castle’s Montfortian garrison holding out against the royalist forces of Henry III. The poor souls inside were eventually done in not by the army outside the walls, but by disease and starvation. Not the most glorious of endings, but impressive staying power all the same.

The castle also served as a base for Lancastrian operations during the Wars of the Roses — that particularly nasty family squabble between the Houses of Lancaster and York that tore England apart between 1455 and 1487. And it was here, in January 1327, that Edward II effectively had his reign brought to a rather abrupt close, forced to abdicate the English throne in favour of his son, Edward III.

Then there was the business in 1414. Henry V received what can only be described as a cheeky diplomatic insult from the French — a gift of tennis balls, no less, mocking his youth and frivolity. The chronicler John Strecche recorded that this affront was one of the things that fired up Henry’s determination to press his claim to France, setting in motion the campaign that led to the famous English victory at the Battle of Agincourt in October 1415. So in a roundabout way, Kenilworth Castle had a hand in one of England’s greatest military triumphs.

And then came what was arguably the castle’s greatest moment in the spotlight. In the summer of 1575, Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester and long-time favourite of Queen Elizabeth I, laid on an astonishing reception for the Queen that lasted nineteen days. No expense was spared — there were fireworks, pageants, bear-baiting, music, and enough feasting to keep the whole court well fed for a month. It was, by all accounts, a spectacular attempt by Dudley to impress the Queen, though whether he ever quite managed to seal the deal is another matter entirely.