I saw a show about King
Henry VIII's Hampton Court Palace last night, and one of the experts claimed
that when William & Mary lived there, there was a throne in every waiting
room that everybody had to bow before whether it was occupied or not, and that the
whole place was designed to "intimidate the pants off them." So then
I guess the king didn't like people wearing pants in his house, like some
people don't like other people wearing shoes in their houses. But couldn't the
king just say: "Hey, take your pants off!"? Or would that be too
bullying? Maybe they should have just had a sign that says: "No pants
beyond this sign", and in the next room, a sign could read: "This is
a no pants area!" That probably would have worked to get the pants off
them, but without so much expense. Sure, it wouldn't look as impressive, but
what it lacked in design it would make up for in direct application of power.
This is the purported
previously pantsless palace:
