Born at Greenwich in 1491, baptized in the former parish church in a silver font "well padded with soft linen," Henry VIII. spent much of his time at his birthplace. He rebuilt the palace, erecting an unfortified dwelling, the sovereigns no longer requiring to dwell within a castle. His two daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, were born in the palace, their royal father, though disappointed at the non-arrival of a Prince, ordering all reverence to be paid to the infant Princesses. Queen Katharine of Aragon spent some happy years at Greenwich before Henry was led away by the charms of Anne Boleyn. Henry at that time seems to have been full of buoyant life and good-humour, enjoying the rough and tumble of tournaments in the park, riding out in the early morning of the First of May to bring in the blossom, and rollicking in the dances and pageants of the time. It was at one of the tournaments that Henry last saw Anne Boleyn, who was acting the part of the Queen of Beauty. Taking offence at her behaviour, the headstrong King got up suddenly and set off for London, never again seeing his unfortunate wife, who was arrested the following day and carried to the Tower. After the time of James I., who, with his Queen, much delighted in its situation, the palace fell gradually into decay, so that Charles II. pulled it all down and started to rebuild a new one. He never lived in it, for only one wing--that which now faces the building devoted to the Museum--was ever erected, the scheme of the palace being rejected for quite another purpose. The gentle, kindly heart of Queen Mary, the beloved wife of William III., was so moved by the suffering of the wounded sailors after the Battle of La Hogue, that she determined that the neglected palace should be furnished as a hospital for those seamen "who had protected the public safety." Sir Christopher Wren furnished the design, and King William, private donors, and Parliamentary grants supplied the endowment of the hospital, whose first stone was laid on June 30, 1696. For over a century and a half invalided sailors were sheltered within the hospital, which was closed in 1869, pensions being then bestowed instead of residence. The buildings are now used as a college for naval officers. Greenwich still retains a sea-faring aspect; on a bright day the river, full of laden barges and busy little tugs, still sparkles, while "the noblest of European hospitals" remains as "a memorial of the virtues of the good Queen Mary, of the love and sorrow of William, and of the great victory of La Hogue." CHAPTER VII WHITEHALL PALACE