The name of Miss M. Hope Robson belongs to that both visible and invisible host of British royal nannies and governesses which appeared at the royal courts of Europe in the nineteenth century, known to their charges but in some cases, almost forgotten to biography. Correspondence sent to them in burgeoning childish scrawl and later in a mature script, chart the chronology in pen or pencil of the…
Aged 10 ¾ years old, Princess Victoria composed a story. This delightful children’s tale, written by the future Queen, survives in its own little red ‘Composition’ notebook in the Royal Archives. To understand how it was made and the full significance of it, we need…
Princess Alix of Hesse, later Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna, visited the Yorkshire spa town of Harrogate in 1894 to take a cure for sciatica, during which time she became godmother to the Allen twins, born in the house where she was staying, to her landlady, Mrs Allen. These…
Charlotte Heidenreich von Siebold (1788-1859), referred to in most biographies of Queen Victoria simply as Madame Siebold, is a name often treated as a historical footnote, but is in fact, one of quite astonishing importance. It was Madame Siebold, the skilled German obstetrician who successfully helped to deliver the future Queen Victoria, born on 24 May 1819, at Kensington Palace. I recently…
On 24 May 1819, a baby girl was born whose birth would be of overwhelming importance but on whose delivery it was by no means certain that she would succeed. This, despite the proud boast of her father, the Duke of Kent, who was determined in the royal marriage race that…
Mrs Brock was the future Queen Victoria’s nurse. Called by her ‘dear Boppy’ (op. cit., Christopher Hibbert, Queen Victoria, A Personal History, 21), she remained Princess Victoria’s nurse until the age of five, after which she passed into the better-known hands of…
Soft, striking and above all, symbolic. The wedding bouquet carried by the future Queen of Spain, Letizia Ortiz, at her royal wedding on May 22nd 2004 was filled with significance. From personal touches to nods to one of the oldest ruling dynasties in Europe, Letizia filled her posy with meaning.
At the heart of her cascading bouquet were the iris and the lily, closely associated with the House…
Queen Victoria is for many, synonymous with the notion of afternoon tea, probably because the social ceremony became properly established during the later years of her reign. The Queen’s evident love of tea, however, reaches back much further than this elegant ritual.
The Not Forgotten Association: Close to the Royal Family’s hearts for a century
20th May 2019
The Royal Family are associated with a large number of organisations and charities, with these relationships often dating back many years. This is particularly true of the Not Forgotten Association, for whom a garden party will be held at Buckingham Palace on 23 May, to be…
It’s been used once before and yet we’ve all been talking about it for months as if it were a royal regular. After a gap of almost two centuries, we have a new Duke of Sussex. The Queen has granted that title to Prince Harry who becomes just the second man to hold the dukedom while his bride, Meghan Markle, is the first ever Duchess of Sussex. As we celebrate the Royal Wedding and this royal…
