It was during the reign of Queen Victoria that many interpretations of modern Christmas traditions took hold. The Royal Family was at the heart of some of them with Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert, seen to popularise the Christmas tree. Prince Albert was an enthusiastic skater. And the romance of a snow draped festive season was integral to Victoria’s Christmas season.
By the…
Queen Victoria spent her last Christmas at Osborne in 1900. It was forty years exactly since Prince Albert had celebrated his final Christmas in 1860 at Windsor, the setting for so many happy family festivities in the past. Prince Albert did not live to see Christmas 1861…
Snow has provided enjoyment for countless generations of children and adults alike; royalty, of course,is no exception to this time-honoured rule. English monarchs have wintered at Windsor since the twelfth century.
Windsor Castle was the preferred royal
residence…
The royal who really brought the Christmas tree to Britain
4th 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 Christmas time, decorated with lights and sweets, is believed to date back to the 16th century. As a child, Charlotte’s family…
After the wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten at 11:30 am in Westminster Abbey on 20 November 1947, the bridal gifts given to Princess Elizabeth were exhibited at St James’s Palace, numbering over 2,500. Like the gifts, Princess Elizabeth’s…
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…
A little known royal plaque that marks the arrival of an embattled but defiant queen
5th October 2023
A plaque can be found in the garrison walls at Portsmouth at the location of the old ‘Sally Port’. Its patriotic inscription proclaimsthat “from this place naval heroes innumerable were embarked to fight their country’s battles” but that also, “near this spot, Catharine of Braganza landed in state, May 14 1662 previous to her marriage with Charles II at the Domus Dei a week…
The relationship of Henry VIII to the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth of York, raises possible interesting psychological theories about his behaviour towards the six women he later married. These are fascinating to suggest, but will only ever remain speculative…
Anne Neville: Richard III's lost queen and Westminster Abbey
1st August 2023
Amidst the chronicle of lost tombs at Westminster Abbey is that of Queen Anne Neville, wife of King Richard III. Queen Anne’s invisibility in these terms underlines the purported neglect on behalf of Richard III; this lack of a memorial was rectified however when a bronze…
The British love of dogs is, of course, well established, the royal affection for them as faithful companions being no exception to the rule. Corgis officially entered the British Royal Family when George VI, then Duke of York, gave two corgis named Dookie and Jane to his daughters, Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret in 1933; Dookie being a name that the dog was given after the Duke of York. The…
