The older part of the palace was built by Wolsey, but by far the greater part of it, as it now stands, is due to William III. Some parts of the entrance gateway and the great hall are all that remain to speak of Wolsey's inconceivable boldness in attempting to build a palace which should outshine that of a jealous monarch like Henry VIII. Skelton's satire, beginning:
Why come ye not to courte?
To which courte?
To the kinge's courte,
Or to Hampton Courte?
showed what everyone thought, and doubtless served to concentrate attention upon Wolsey's temerity. The irony of the matter lay in the fact that the palace was not seized, but that the unfortunate owner was forced to make a present of it to the King:
With turrettes and with toures,
With halls and with boures
Stretching to the starres,
With glass windows and barres;