The regal tradition of scratching signatures in windowpanes is long established and well known. The windows – particularly when in rooms of royal residences – formed a kind of living ‘guestbook’, often accompanied by the date the visit or signature, was made. These windowpanes are silent witnesses to vanished royal gatherings on long ago summers or essential occasions, represented today by…
Did Queen Victoria and Prince Albert really introduce the Christmas tree to Britain?
24th December 2024
Prince Albert is generally credited with introducing the Christmas tree to Britain, but in fact, it was the work of his wife’s grandmother, Queen Charlotte. Like Prince Albert, Charlotte was born and raised in Germany, where the tradition of bringing a tree inside at…
Of the memorials in Kensington Gardens, many share a close connection with Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, the most important to the latter being the ornate Gothic masterpiece designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott, known as the Albert Memorial, which was unveiled in 1872…
The site of Christchurch Greyfriars, is a strange, haunting place, redolent of history. It is now a ruined, public garden and a popular place for Londoners to take their sandwiches for lunch. Long gone is the atmosphere of bells and prayer from the Middle Ages; although in an odd parallel to its previous use as a church, it manages to be a place of peace in the noise of the City and nearby Stock…
Of the nine children of Queen Victoria’s children, one daughter married in London another on the Isle of Wight and one son in St. Petersburg. The remaining six married at Windsor, five at St. George’s Chapel and one in the Private Chapel at Windsor Castle.
The…
Did Queen Victoria and Prince Albert really introduce the Christmas tree to Britain?
23rd December 2023
Prince Albert is generally credited with introducing the Christmas tree to Britain, but in fact, it was the work of his wife’s grandmother, Queen Charlotte. Like Prince Albert, Charlotte was born and raised in Germany, where the tradition of bringing a tree inside at…
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 coloured wax candles, sweets, toys and artificial snow, whilst the gifts exchanged by the Royal Family were gathered beneath…
While modern royal Christmas celebrations take place at Sandringham, for hundreds of years it was Windsor Castle that was the preferred setting for the festive celebrations of kings and queens.
Victoria and Albert loved to spend the season there but they were only…
Queen Victoria and an empress who set up home for winter in a famous London hotel
16th December 2023
Sometimes known as ‘the annexe to Buckingham Palace’, the classic hotel in London’s Mayfair has time-honoured connections with royalty that exist into the present day. From the earlier single building run by William and Marianne Claridge at 51 Brook Street…
The historic queen who was always treated to handmade Christmas cards from her children
15th December 2023
Some of the earliest Christmas cards to survive in the Royal Collection date from the first half of Queen Victoria’s reign. These were handmade by Queen Victoria’s children and are typical of the sentimental nineteenth century; although in the case of the Queen’s family, everything was preserved and nothing too small to commemorate. The German Christmas was properly introduced into England…
