Great Gate - Trinity College

You see a statue of Henry VIII above the entrance gate of Trinity College in Cambridge: in his hand is no sword or scepter, but a wooden table leg. Trinity College in Cambridge was founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, by merging two older colleges (King's Hall and Michaelhouse).

The college grew to become one of the largest and richest in Cambridge and bears his name and coat of arms in various places, including the monumental Great Gate on Trinity Street. Above the Great Gate of Trinity College stands a stone statue of Henry VIII, dating from the early 17th century (around 1615-1660).

Originally, he held a royal attribute in his hand: first a sword and later a scepter, fitting for his role as founder and monarch. According to an article in Varsity, a former glazier recounted that when he noticed the statue was “missing something” in its hand, he jokingly removed a leg from an old broken chair and placed it in the statue's hand.

He did this about thirty years before the article (so in the late 20th century), not expecting it to stay; but the “chair leg” became iconic and hung around for decades.

A popular campus legend arose around the statue that students in the 19th or early 20th century had replaced the sword with a chair leg, as an irreverent joke against the powerful king. In reality, the situation was more complex: the original scepter broke in the early 20th century, leaving a stump that resembled a chair or table leg, after which students repeatedly placed an actual wooden leg.

During renovations in the 1950s, a new ceremonial staff was placed, but within a week, a wooden leg reappeared in its place - the motif had already become an established tradition.

When later a storm damaged the statue's hand, Trinity decided to keep the “chair leg” during the repair, as it was such a well-known part of college folklore; only in 2023 was a new gilded scepter placed to mark the 75th anniversary of King Charles III.

Pascal Brackman