A biography for Lucy Worsleyhasn’t been written yet.
“If you lived in 18th-century England, you probably lived in a village, worked on the land, and your greatest fears were probably dying in a famine or of disease or in a war.”
“If you work as a curator, as I do, at Hampton Court, you sometimes wonder if there might be more to life than Henry VIII.”
“It's very hard for me to find any other job that I would ever want to do because I love the one I have so much.”
“One of the great privileges of my job as a curator is occasionally taking people up onto the roof of Hampton Court for a tour.”
“I have a cup of tea in my hand at all times. I have about 10 a day. I don't go for this hipster coffee nonsense. No flat whites for me!”
“Historic Royal Palaces is an independent charity without funding from the royal family or the government. But I have met the Queen, she comes to open projects, and she is always very interested.”
“Mum encouraged my love of history. She was always dragging me off to visit historic properties, and then I reached an age when I suddenly appreciated it. We have a big overlap in interests and often work together.”
“My favorite thing is talking to people about history - that's what I like doing. The sort of history I do isn't just for professional historians.”
“Two hundred years ago, bathrooms didn't exist. The bathroom's development has not been a straightforward matter, and you might be surprised to learn that many Tudor people had worse personal hygiene than their medieval ancestors.”
“I want to look like I'm friendly, approachable and jolly.”
“When it comes to history I am shameless. I will do whatever it takes to get people involved.”
“People often misuse the term 'Regency' to describe art or antiques dating from a vague period between the 1790s and the 1830s, but technically the period only lasted between 1811 and 1820.”
“My parents weren't keen on me watching television when I was growing up, in the 70s and 80s, which is ironic given that I've ended up working in it.”
“My dad wanted me to be a scientist and I was set to study science A-levels. But after the first term I realised it would be much more enjoyable to study English and history, which didn't seem like work - so I switched.”
“I think you can be happy every day, if you are in the flow.”
“It's our job as curators to open up Hampton Court to visitors, and to look after the buildings and collections for the future.”
“You would think that the weapons of a king and queen were perhaps their armies or centuries of tradition but what they have is the power of the media. The visual is almost more important than words because they don't have that many opportunities to speak.”
“Medieval and Tudor people didn't treat buildings as a semi-disposable resource like we do.”
“As a child I ate all sorts of veg because my mother was a hippie and grew them all and made our clothes.”
“I'm very interested in Queen Victoria's younger years at Kensington Palace. She was born in the dining room because it had stairs down to hot water in the kitchen.”