The Quire of St. George’s Chapel, Windsor is an area extraordinarily rich in the history of the English Monarchy, yet this sacred and mystical space in the Chapel enshrining the Order of the Garter – the Order’s spiritual home – is as much associated with royal weddings as well as royal burial. The marble floor of the Quire carries with it quite literally, the strata of centuries and…
All Fine on the Day: a look at past royal weddings which have turned out well despite problems
16th May 2018
Being part of a royal family may be a privilege but it does not protect its members from the worries and woes that beset everyone else.
Weddings are famously fraught with difficulties, as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are discovering. Perhaps they can take comfort from the…
On 21 September 1662, Samuel Pepys entered the following words into his Restoration diary: “The Queen coming by in her coach, going to her chappell at St. James’s (the first time it hath been ready for her), I crowded after her, and I got up to the room where her closet…
The portrait by the Parisian painter Jean-Marc Nattier of the 17-year-old Princess Isabella of Parma, (1741-1763) – the best known that was made of her – seems in some ways to symbolise her short life. Today it is kept in the vast collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, the city of Isabella’s imperial marriage. The painting is stored in the Gallery Depot and is not…
It is perhaps the most famous royal wedding dress of them all. The gown worn by Lady Diana Spencer for her marriage to Prince Charles, Prince of Wales on July 29th, 1981 at St Paul’s Cathedral has its special place in royal history. Designed by David and Elizabeth…
It’s a formal moment in a ceremonial event but amidst the ancient language and symbolic illustrations on the Instrument of Consent for the marriage of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are some very personal links between them and the Queen. For this document, revealed…
When you’re marrying into a family with one of the most famous jewellery collections in the world, finding the perfect wedding tiara might seem like a stroll but with so much choice, how do you pick? With just days to go until the Royal Wedding, some regal diadems are getting plenty of attention as speculation grows over which, if any, Meghan Markle will choose.
All of the main candidates…
Comparison between historical personalities should, as a rule, always be treated with caution even if given life circumstances are similar; an example of this might be ‘comparisons’ made between the legendary Empress Elisabeth of Austria and the late Diana, Princess of…
A study of the books owned by someone can open a window into their interests, and a royal personage no less so.
In so doing, the reading material of the last Empress of Russia, Alexandra Feodorovna (1872-1918) charts important events in her life and tells us a lot about what…
It’s the cake that keeps on giving. The flower strewn bake that took centre stage at the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on April 29th 2011 still makes its presence felt with slices of it popping up at auction with what seems like an almost metronomic regularity. But then there was plenty to go round as this was a whopper of a cake. Standing eight tiers tall and weighing in at over…
