Contained within the report made by Nicholas Sokolov, who was charged with conducting the official investigation into the fate of the Russian Imperial Family by the White Russian Government in February 1919, is an extraordinary set of four images, listed as ‘Nos. 15, 16, 17 and 18’ in my copy of The Sokolov Investigation, translation and commentary by John F. O’ Connor (1971).
It is a…
I first encountered this hitherto neglected and virtually ‘forgotten’ letter, categorised as by Tsar Nicholas II, within the volume The Complete Wartime Correspondence of Tsar Nicholas II and the Empress Alexandra April 1914-March 1917, skilfully edited by Prof Joseph T.
With the forthcoming exhibition of the Royal Collection George IV: Art & Spectacle set to open later this year, I want to take a brief look at the relationship between the future Queen Victoria and her paternal uncle, the Prince Regent, later George IV.
The Duke of Kent…
Queen Victoria’s mother, the Duchess of Kent, died on 16 March 1861 at her residence of Frogmore House, in Windsor Great Park. Frogmore had been occupied by the Duchess since May 1841 when Queen Victoria asked her mother whether or not she would like to use Frogmore House and its grounds as a country retreat on the death of George III’s daughter, Princess Augusta. The Duchess accepted Clarence…
Included amongst the works read as a young woman by Princess Alix of Hesse, later Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna (1872-1918), were – according to letters that she wrote to her eldest sister, Victoria, Princess Louis of Battenberg – Guizot’s Reformation de la…
'My darling Auntie': Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna and Princess Louise
21st February 2019
Amongst the extensive collection of letters left by Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, the sixth daughter of Queen Victoria, are at least two from her niece, Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna (1872-1918).
Two of Alexandra’s letters to her aunt were reproduced in the admirable…
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…
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…
I first encountered Princess Louise Henriette Wilhelmine of Anhalt-Dessau (1750-1811) in Wörlitz, on an excursion from Berlin as part of a cultural travel programme in 2009. The English landscape gardens were the main reason for the Englandreise, or journey to England…
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…
