The Duke and Duchess of Windsor on their wedding day in 1937
It was a love story that changed the course of British history and rocked the monarchy. This is perhaps why a car, said to have been used to sneak Wallis Simpson in and out of Balmoral during her relationship with Edward VIII, is expected to fetch a whopping six figure sum when it goes up for auction in just a few weeks time.
The…
The Execution of a Queen
29th May 2015
Anne Boleyn is probably best remembered as the most controversial Queen in British history, which is perhaps not entirely deserved. Even though much is said about her, there are a lot things we don’t know, such as her birthday. Unfortunately for women of that time…
On 17 November 1558 England’s first undisputed Queen regnant, Mary I, died, paving the way for the accession of her half-sister Elizabeth I. Mary had been a staunch Roman Catholic and she had been determined to bring England back to what she believed to be the true…
‘Fat Mary’ - The last Princess of Cambridge
9th May 2015
by Alexander Bassano, half-plate glass negative, circa 1888
It has been quite some time since the last Princess of Cambridge – 132 years to be exact. Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge was born in 1833. She had earned the nickname of Fat Mary and is recorded as a “jolly old maid” in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
Luckily for her, that was not her only nickname.
The King that stormed the Commons
7th May 2015
Charles I was never popular with his Parliament. Upon his accession to the throne in 1625, members made clear that they would not be bullied. In an unprecedented break with tradition, England’s law-making body decided to allow the king to collect customs duties for only…
Charlotte, a name with royal pedigree
4th May 2015
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge named their daughter Charlotte. It’s not a big shock – the name has been one of the favourites with the bookmakers almost since Kate announced she was expecting back in September. And one of the reasons it’s always been such a popular…
Richard III - Myth or Monster, Saint or Sinner
3rd May 2015
Although one of our more controversial monarchs, Richard III has been ill-served by history. On the basis of very little evidence, he has been portrayed as a child-killing monster who waded in blood to a throne that wasn’t his to take, but the facts show that relatively little blood was shed as Richard of Gloucester assumed the crown. Far less was shed during his reign than ever was to flow…
After Richard III: The reign of the Tudor rose
23rd April 2015
On 26th March, thousands came together to say goodbye to the last Plantagenet King, Richard III. The King’s much-publicised reburial marks the first time since 1485 that the two opposing sides in the Wars of the Roses, the Yorks and the Lancasters have met at…
Stories of the Stuarts: Queen Anne's 18 pregnancies
22nd April 2015
Queen Anne quite frankly had a tremendous reign becoming the first monarch of a united single sovereign state, known as Great Britain in 1707 as well as showing her worth as a Queen Regnant in a male-dominated society. Though tragedy was never far away from the last of the…
What really happened to the Princes in the Tower? The Richard III Society seeks answers
13th April 2015
There have been many great mysteries in history. Perhaps though none greater than that of the Princes in the Tower – the two young sons of King Edward IV, who disappeared into the Tower of London and never seen again.
According to Shakespeare, the boys were killed by their uncle, King Richard III, a view that is shared by most historians. Members of the Richard III Society – a society…