Features

Tourism boost expected for the UK following the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II

By
23rd September 2022
Thousands of people flocked to London in the days following the death of Queen Elizabeth II to pay their final respects, which ultimately delivered a significant boost to the tourism sector. Now, it’s expected the UK could be in for another tourism boost following the death of Her Late Majesty. According to RadioTimes, the State Funeral was watched by a peak of 37.5 million people in the…
Read more
CoronavirusPalaces & Buildings

Royal Collection Trust sees operating loss of £36 million due to pandemic

By
16th July 2021
The Royal Collect Trust annual accounts show it experienced operating losses of £36 million over the last year because of the pandemic. The charity warns it’s expecting it will take several years before visitor numbers and trading activity at royal residences return to pre-pandemic levels. On top of that estimate, the trust expects there will be further significant losses over the next…
Read more
FeaturesHistory

The Chapel Royal, St James's Palace

By
29th April 2020
The Chapel Royal at St James’s Palace first and foremost is the name of the Chapel Royal, that establishment of the Royal Household intended to meet the spiritual needs of the Sovereign; the secondary term refers to the building itself – a royal peculiar – in which…
FeaturesHistory

The lost royal 'zoo' at Windsor

By
5th July 2018
Royal menageries became homes for the many animals that were given in previous centuries as political presents from their respective countries and thereby entered a life of exalted captivity, the nature of any zoo now being a controversial one. The oldest baroque zoo was…
FeaturesHistory

To sleep at a palace: Schönbrunn's Grand Suite

By
2nd July 2018
The imperial palace of Schönbrunn in the western suburb of Hietzing on the outskirts of Vienna, was the summer residence of the former Habsburg dynasty. It stuns with its magnificence, but then this, of course, was part of its purpose and is the power of its architecture. It has the glory of the monarch’s glare. The palace, like the great country house in an imperial form, was intended to…
Read more
FeaturesHistory

The Queen's Chapel, St James's

By
16th May 2018
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…
History

Queen Charlotte: A British Queen, 1818-2018

By
5th April 2018
The year 2018 marked the 200th anniversary of the death of the German-born British Queen Charlotte, consort of George III (1744-1818). Her life will be celebrated at Kew Palace, where she died on 18 November 1818, with a new exhibition that explores her marriage to the King, her intellectual and artistic achievements and her last months at Kew. The Queen’s considerable botanic interests could…
Read more