FeaturesHistory

#OnThisDay in 1515 Mary of Guise, mother of Mary, Queen of Scots, was born

By
22nd November 2016
#OnThisDay in 1515 Mary of Guise, Mother of Mary, Queen of Scots, was born. Mary of Guise was born the eldest daughter of Claude of Lorraine, Duke of Guise, and his wife Antoinette de Bourbon at Bar-le-Duc in Lorraine on 22 November 1515. A member of the prominent Guise family, Mary (known as Mary of Guise, Marie de Guise, and Mary di Guise depending on the source) was born into a house of…
Read more
FeaturesHistory

Royal Burials: Basilica of St Denis

By
31st October 2016
The west facade of the Basilica (Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons). The Basilica of St Denis, the burial site of the Kings of France, is located in northern Paris, in the suburb of Saint-Denis. Saint Denis is a Christian martyr and patron saint of France and served as the first bishop of Paris in the third century. The Basilica dedicated to this famous French saint is an architectural landmark, as…
Read more
FeaturesHistory

Royal Burials: Fontevraud Abbey

By
11th October 2016
You may think that all the Kings and Queens of Great Britain are buried somewhere in our sceptre isle, even if in the case of some efforts are still going on to work out exactly where. In fact, two of our Kings and one of their wives at buried at the Royal Abbey of Our Lady…
History

Royal Burials: Westminster Abbey

By
7th October 2016
Westminster Abbey has been entwined with royalty since its foundation. All but two coronations have taken place there, as have 16 royal weddings (beginning with that of King Henry I of England to Matilda of Scotland, and most recently that of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in 2011). There is a long and storied history of the monarchs who rest at Westminster Abbey, stretching from the 1060s to…
Read more
British RoyalsFeaturesHistory

Who was Adela of Normandy?

By
6th October 2016
Though many of the details of life are unknown or disputed by historians, Adela of Normandy is a saint of the Roman Catholic Church and was the daughter of William the Conqueror, the first Norman King of England and his wife, Matilda of Flanders. Adela was born in the years…
HistorySweden

In the beginning: The Bernadotte dynasty

By
30th September 2016
In this edition of “In the beginning”, we focuson the Bernadotte dynasty which currently rules over Sweden. The Bernadotte’s first began ruling over the Kingdom of Sweden in 1818 with King Karl XIV Johan (also called King Charles XIV John), who was also the…
History

#OnThisDay in 1240 Margaret of England, daughter of Henry III of England and Eleanor of Provence, was born

By
29th September 2016
Margaret Plantagenet was born on 29 September 1240 at Windsor Castle to King Henry III of England and his wife, Eleanore of Provence. The second of five children, the first few years of Margaret’s life were spent quietly in the care of her affectionate and close family. Her first appearance in historical record came when she was three years old and she took part in a royal event in London with…
Read more