In November 1558, within days of her half sister Mary’s death, a young woman held the first Council of State of her reign in the Great Hall of the Old Palace at Hatfield. Elizabeth I had spent part of her childhood in this house, and the room where she first governed still stands in the grounds of Hatfield House in Hertfordshire. Today it seats 280 guests for a wedding breakfast.
Hatfield offers two licensed wedding venues in its grounds, the Old Palace and the Riding School, and a house with a story that runs from the Tudors through the Jacobean court to the present Marquess of Salisbury.
The palace a cardinal built
The Old Palace was built in 1497 by Cardinal John Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury and minister to Henry VII, as the Royal Palace of Hatfield. It had four wings around a central courtyard. Henry VIII took it, with other church properties, and it became a home for his children. Mary lived there from 1533 to 1536, until she was sent to attend the young Princess Elizabeth, and in 1548 Elizabeth herself was questioned at Hatfield over a suspected secret engagement to Thomas Seymour.
Elizabeth’s association with the place never left it. An oak in the park, still called Elizabeth’s Oak, is traditionally linked to the news of her accession, although the dates make the story unlikely.
A house built in exchange
The present house belongs to a different century. In 1607 James I gave the old palace to his chief minister, Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, in exchange for Theobalds, Cecil’s own house, which the king wanted. In 1608 Cecil pulled down three of the four wings and used the bricks for a new house. It was finished in 1611, and Robert Lemynge supervised the work, with Simon Basil and, on a visit in October 1609, Inigo Jones also involved.
The Jacobean house keeps its original character. The Grand Staircase and a rare stained glass window in the private chapel are both original, and the Marble Hall holds the Rainbow Portrait of Elizabeth I. The library has a 22 foot illuminated pedigree of the queen’s ancestry, and the house displays Elizabethan relics, among them gloves and silk stockings said to be among the first worn in England.
The Long Gallery, about 170 feet long, runs the length of the first floor and has stayed unaltered since it was built at the start of the seventeenth century, apart from a later gilding of the ceiling. The Great Hall has a minstrels’ gallery on its eastern side, hung with carved pilasters and panels. These are the rooms that make Hatfield a house for visitors as well as a wedding venue, and the Old Palace stands close by in the grounds.
The gardens
The gardens extend over 42 acres and date from the early seventeenth century, when they were laid out by John Tradescant the Elder, with orchards, fountains, water parterres, terraces, herb gardens and a foot maze. They declined in the eighteenth century and have been restored since Victorian times. For weddings, the Knot Garden beside the Old Palace is the setting for drinks receptions and photographs, and the wider park of 250 acres is available for outdoor settings. Outdoor music is permitted in the Knot Garden until sundown, which gives a drinks reception its own pace before the guests move indoors.
Two wars, two uses
The house has also been used in unexpected ways. During the First World War the grounds were used to test early British tanks, and a Mark I tank stood at Hatfield from 1919 to 1970. In the Second World War the house hosted the first Civil Resettlement Unit for repatriated prisoners of war, and King George VI and Queen Elizabeth visited on 12 July 1945. More recently it has appeared in film and television, including Shakespeare in Love, Sherlock Holmes, Bridgerton and The Crown.
How a wedding works here
The two venues suit different days. The Old Palace seats 280 for a banquet, 300 theatre style for a ceremony and holds 350 standing. The Riding School, in the courtyard of the Stable Yard, combines original beams and leaded windows with a glass roof, a mezzanine and modern lighting, and it seats 100 at a banquet, 150 theatre style and holds 200 standing. Both are licensed for civil ceremonies, so the vows, the wedding breakfast and the evening can share one setting.
The two feel quite different. The Old Palace is a Tudor hall beside a historic garden, while the Riding School is a converted working building in the Stable Yard, with a mezzanine and its own sound system.
Hire runs from 10am to midnight, with a late night extension available until 2am. Catering can be provided by the in-house team, which offers buffet, two and three course and bowl food menus with vegan, vegetarian and halal options, or by an approved outside caterer. An events coordinator works with each couple from six months before the date.
A few practical points shape the choice between the two. The published rates assume at least 60 guests, with a ceremony only option available from Sunday to Friday. A £1,000 set up fee applies when the ceremony and the sit down reception take place in the same venue, so couples who want both in the Old Palace should include it in the budget. Each venue is hired for 14 hours, from 10am to midnight, which leaves time to move from the vows to the wedding breakfast and the evening without a change of site.
What it costs
The venue fee depends on the day and the season. From Monday to Thursday it runs from £4,000 in January, February and November to £8,000 from May to September and in December, and from Friday to Sunday from £5,000 to £10,000, all for a minimum of 60 guests. Catered packages start from £10,000 for the venue plus £120 per guest in the Oak package, and £10,000 plus £210 per guest in the Wisteria package, with 12 hours of use. The Elizabeth package is £25,000 including 100 guests and 14 hours. A ceremony only booking of four hours, Sunday to Friday, is £6,000.
Getting there and staying nearby
Hatfield station is a five minute walk from the gates, with trains from London King’s Cross taking under 30 minutes, and the A1(M) is five minutes by car. There are no bedrooms at the house, so guests stay in partner hotels within 20 minutes, and the events team can arrange executive cars. Parking is free for wedding guests.
A house with a long memory
Hatfield suits couples who want a wedding with real history and a setting on a grand scale, and who are comfortable that the house itself has no rooms for guests. It works for large parties, which the Old Palace was built to hold, and for smaller ones in the Riding School. The practical questions are the minimum of 60 guests, accommodation nearby and the season, and each is worth settling early.
See the Hatfield House profile, read the Hatfield House issue of the magazine or browse wedding venues in the United Kingdom. When you are ready, Check your date.
