Christopher Hatton - Wealth

Wealth

Hatton became very wealthy as a result of his progressing career and the Queen's fondness for him, so much so that in 1583 he embarked on the construction of a magnificent house in Holdenby, Northamptonshire. It was, at the time, the largest privately owned Elizabethan house in England. It contained 123 huge glass windows, in the days when glass was very expensive (indeed, a good show of wealth was how many windows you could afford in your house). It had 2 great courts and was as large as the palace of Hampton Court. It was 3 storeys high and had 2 large state rooms, one for himself and another for the queen should she ever come and stay, which she never did. Lord Burghley, who visited the house in his old age, was immensely impressed with the grand staircase leading from the hall to the staterooms and proclaimed the house so faultless that he forgot the 'infirmity of his legs' whilst he walked around. No expense was spared, and Hatton even paid to move an entire small village because it spoiled his view from one of the windows. The cost of the house drained his purse to such an extent that Hatton was permanently short of money for the rest of his life. To maintain his dwindling wealth, Hatton began investing in some of the voyages of Francis Drake. He helped fund Drake's acts of piracy in Spanish America. During Drake's subsequent circumnavigation of the globe, when he reached the straits of Magellan, he renamed his ship 'The Golden Hind' in Honour of Hatton's coat of Arms - which contained a golden hind - and all the Spanish gold on board. Hatton made a profit of £2300 from this particular expedition.