FeaturesHistoryRoyal Weddings

Queen Victoria's Wedding Dress

Queen Victoria’s wedding dress is a powerful symbol of what she would refer to in her journal as the ‘happiest day of my life’. Most probably, it represents more than any other item of clothing or object, the Queen’s identity as a royal bride. Certainly, she chose to wear it again in 1847, when she was painted in her wedding attire by the fashionable portraitist Franz Xaver Winterhalter…
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Returning to England with Victoria

The Duke of Kent was determined that his unborn child – history’s Queen Victoria – should not be born outside of Britain, to assure its right to succeed to the throne in the British mind. As a true Hanoverian, he was the fourth son of George III, the King who famously…
FeaturesHistory

Six figure sum paid for Queen Victoria coin called 'most beautiful'

It’s been dubbed one of the loveliest coins ever minted and, almost two centuries after it was struck, it’s making headlines again. A rare gold five pound coin, featuring an idealised image of Queen Victoria in the early years of her reign, has sold for a six-figure sum at a private auction. The coin, minted in 1839, went for £204,000 when it was put under the hammer by US firm…
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FeaturesInsight

The queen most likely to grab a Golden Globe

This weekend, Olivia Colman is up for Best Actress at the Golden Globes for her portrayal of Queen Anne in ‘The Favourite’, the first time anyone has been nominated for playing the last Stuart monarch. Anne, who ruled between 1702 and 1714, hasn’t found favour with…
FeaturesHistory

Queen Victoria's Winter Sledge

Queen Victoria’s winter sledge became synonymous with the Windsor Christmas, at least during the lifetime of Prince Albert, who is rightly credited with popularising Christmas traditions in England, including that of the Christmas tree. The royal trees were decorated with…
FeaturesHistoryRoyal Weddings

Bringing Queen Victoria's wedding to life

It’s one of the most famous events in royal history, and now the wedding of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert is being brought to life once more. A new TV programme, presented by historian Lucy Worsley, will reconstruct the marriage that began years of happiness for a young couple and changed the idea of royal weddings forever. Every aspect of the celebrations, represented at the time by…
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FeaturesHistory

The death of Prince Albert - Part One

In a two-part series, our Historian, Elizabeth Jane Timms, looks back at the death of Prince Albert: Prince Albert, the beloved husband and Prince Consort of Queen Victoria, died on 14 December 1861, at Windsor Castle. So enormous were the consequences of this death, both…
FeaturesHistory

Royal Snow and Snowmen

The onset of winter provides another opportunity to look again at the links between the many fascinating outdoor pastimes and pursuits enjoyed by royalty, which I touched on in my article of December 2017, Snow and Royalty. Whilst the German Christmas was much popularised by Prince Albert, the preference of Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort to spend Christmas at Windsor Castle with the royal…
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