Aged sixteen, Princess Victoria made a pencil sketch of herself. Knowing the vividness of the watercolours that she made for her sketchbook and the skilled drawings she made during this time of other important figures in her youth, it is fascinating that she chose to apply the same exactness of observation to herself. It is, of course, however, not the only self-portrait that she made. The date…
Frogmore House, royal residence and regal wedding venue of choice for the Windsors, is throwing open its doors to visitors. The famous building at Windsor will be open for three charity days at the end of May this year.
The visits are part of the annual charity garden open…
Royal births in modern times now take place with a great degree of privacy for both the parents and newborn, but this compares drastically with royal births throughout history. One of the most significant changes is that they do not now require the attendance of a…
QUESTION 1: WHO WAS PRINCESS VICTORIA?
Princess Victoria was eldest child and daughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. ‘Vicky’ as she was known to family was born on 21 November 1840 at Buckingham Palace. Princess Vicky was an HRH from birth and as only child of Queen Victoria, was heiress presumptive (as first in line to the throne) to the throne. At the birth of her brother…
Eternally beautiful, eternally tragic, the Empress Elisabeth of Austria, Sisi, continues to fascinate, over a hundred years after her death. And now the story of this groundbreaking royal is to hit TV screens in a new production.
The new version will be an adaptation of the…
There are thousands of images of royalty but some regal pictures stand out. They capture a moment in time that has its own resonance and which lasts beyond the day on which it was taken. In this occasional series, Royal Central takes a look back at some of the best known…
Whilst researching for a forthcoming academic article on Louisa Louis, the devoted dresser to Princess Charlotte of Wales (1771-1838) who was deeply valued by Queen Victoria, I encountered the name of Mrs Brock. She belongs to that fascinating roll-call of characters that claim a connection with Queen Victoria, who have become all-but historically invisible and are normally banished to the realms…
Now April is here we can say in all confidence that the next royal wedding happens next month. And as Lady Gabriella Windsor and Thomas Kingston make the final preparations for their big day, set for May 18th at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, there’s plenty of…
If you think royal baby mania is a new thing, think again. For centuries, the arrival of a regal bundle of joy has got plenty of people talking. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert kept the papers and the people happy for the best part of two decades as they went about building…
Two hundred years after her birth, Queen Victoria is taking over Buckingham Palace again. As part of the celebrations for the bicentenary of the birth of Britain’s second longest reigning monarch, the most famous royal residence of them all will host a special exhibition focusing on the impact Victoria had there.
The display, called Queen Victoria’s Palace, will show visitors how the young…
