Food and feasting
A substantial part of King Henry’s vast expenditure came from feasting.
“We’ve got some surviving menus from the 29th and 30th of December 1529 for when Henry was entertaining,” said Anthony. ”They’re three courses of about 14 or 15 dishes each, involving things like swan, venison, various types of pies and pasties, heron, lark, pheasants and rabbits.”
Given his portly stature in later life, unsurprisingly Henry really enjoyed his puddings. ”He particularly liked quince tart which often features on his menus and, of course, plenty of wine and ale to drink,” said Anthony.
Guy Walters, who presented Castles: Britain’s Fortified History, estimated that King Henry’s meat bill in a year would have come to £3.5 million in today’s money, while the drinks bill would be around £6 million as the Tudors preferred wine and ale to often-polluted water.
Banquets involved large quantities of ox, mutton, pork, beef and venison accompanied by 600,000 gallons of beer, coming to a staggering total of £5.8 million.
And let’s not forget the famed Tudor Christmas pie, which consisted of a chicken stuffed inside a goose stuffed inside a turkey, encased in a ‘coffin’ of pastry.
As well as the actual Christmas Day celebrations, there were feasts held almost every day across the period between Christmas and the Twelfth Night – an expensive time for the King.
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