Not to be outdone by his French counterpart, on the other side of the English Channel, Henry VIII (1509-47) was a skilled practitioner of the sport and famously built a court at the RoyalPalace of Hampton Court, which still survives today and is used for modern competition.
That, and his experience as a wartime officer in the Royal Navy, meant that a clash with the stuffier members of the court at Buckingham Palace was inevitable.