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Hampton Court Palace was built by Cardinal Wolsey, the last of the ecclesiastical princes of England, as a residence for himself, in 1514, but he had not enjoyed it long before its magnificence excited the envy of his master, Henry VIII., who demanded his reasons for having built a palace surpassing any of those occupied by royalty in England.
To this trying question the astute courtier replied that he had but tried to form a residence worthy of so great a monarch, and that Hampton Court was the property of Henry VIII.
Possibly, even while he made this neatly-turned speech, Wolsey hoped that his gift would be declined; but to his disappointment the King accepted it at once, and gave the Cardinal the manor of Richmond in exchange.