It’s a striking example of royal PR at its most dramatic and most powerful, and it’s about to go on public display in England for the first time. The artwork, a tapestry showing St Paul ordering the burning of heretical books, was commissioned by King Henry VIII in the 1530s at the time of his most famous and controversial religious reforms. Feared lost for decades, it has now resurfaced and…
Born a princess, daughter of a feted king and a much-admired queen, this royal Kate seemed destined for a crown of her own. But when civil war once more erupted in England, she found herself on the wrong side of royal favour and ended up a countess instead. This is the…
The relationship of Henry VIII to the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth of York, raises possible interesting psychological theories about his behaviour towards the six women he later married. These are fascinating to suggest, but will only ever remain speculative…
In addition to the six Tudor royal burials at Westminster Abbey, there are several more whose location is either unknown or well-hidden to the immediate eye. These royal children, whilst (almost) invisible in terms of a lack of memorial or a monument that is at best, unseen, we tend quite naturally to only look for those tombs which we know can be found.
All of the (legitimate) children of Henry…
The experience of royal childbirth in the Tudor period was perilous at best, the attitude towards it both anxious and obsessive, most especially because the weight of its outcome would concern the matter of the succession. This is a crucial case in point that royal sex was…
Wolf Hall, the historical drama based on Thomas Cromwell’s rise in King Henry VIII’s court, leads the Bafta nominations with a total of four nominations. The series has been nominated in Best Drama, Mark Rylance, who played Cromwell has been nominated for…
Read part 1 of Britain’s Top Palaces here. Let’s continue!
Buckingham Palace, Westminster
Buckingham Palace may have a bit of a shorter history than other palaces but it doesn’t make it any less impressive. It began life in 1703 as Buckingham House, built for the Duke of Buckingham and was purchased as a royal residence by George III for his ever-expanding family in 1761. Queen…
For those interested in retracing the steps of Henry VIII’s fourth wife in England, they can of course do so at Hever Castle, the Boleyn seat which was granted her as part of her annulment settlement, at the site of Richmond Palace, which remained hers until her death…
Panels from the long-vanished Tudor royal residence Chelsea Place have been discovered in an English country church. The panels bear the insignia of Anne of Cleves, Anne’s monogram, the emblem of the Duchy of Cleves and a snarling lion’s head and were likely made for…
Catherine Howard was born around 1520 as the daughter of Lord Edmund Howard and Joyce Culpeper, and through her father’s side of the family she was a first cousin of Henry VIII’s second wife Anne Boleyn. Though she was of aristocratic birth, her father was relatively impoverished, being the younger son of a Duke. Her mother died in 1528 and Catherine was sent to live in the household…
