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 undertaken by the young Princess Louise and her husband, the reigning Prince Leopold III Friedrich Franz of Anhalt-Dessau…
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…
In a continuation of our two-part series, our Historian, Elizabeth Jane Timms, looks back at the death of Prince Albert:
The passing of the Prince Consort is, of course, synonymous with the Blue Room at Windsor Castle, where it took place, a room which I have researched for…
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 for the British monarch publicly and Queen Victoria privately, that we can sometimes overlook the death itself, although any…
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…
With the announcement that Frogmore Cottage will become the residence of The Duke and Duchess of Sussex at Windsor, it is perhaps interesting to briefly review Frogmore Cottage’s history. Contrary to popular imagination, it is not the first time that the building has…
The Story of the Effigies of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert
3rd December 2018
The effigy of Queen Victoria has its own story. It rests next to that of the Prince Consort in the Royal Mausoleum at Frogmore, one of the most remarkable buildings that was ever to be built in Victorian Britain, constructed as a burial place for Prince Albert and Queen Victoria. The recumbent effigy of the Queen was made at the same time as that of Prince Albert, although Queen Victoria was to…
Displayed as part of the London Science Museum’s exhibition on the Russian Imperial Family, The Last Tsar: Blood and Revolution is a pearl earring. This extraordinarily poignant object has its own silent story to tell, concerning the fate of the Romanovs. Believed to have…
Currently displayed in the special exhibition at London’s Science Museum, The Last Tsar: Blood and Revolution – exploring the role of medicine in the lives of the Russian Imperial Family as well as the use of modern science involved in the investigation concerning…
The first thing that Princess Victoria did on the morning of 20 June 1837 was to reach for her dressing gown. This historic moment in the Queen’s life has always held a particular fascination for me, and I have regularly revisited it from various angles, from profiling the Archbishop of Canterbury who knelt before her that morning with the Lord Chamberlain, Lord Conyngham, to the staircase she…
