It is fitting that this Hessian granddaughter of Queen Victoria was christened ‘Irene’ – a name meaning “peace” – an appropriate choice in more ways than one, as her character and the circumstances of her birth would prove. Perhaps one of Princess Alice’s surviving daughters about which least is known, she was destined to outlive all her immediate family, dying in 1953.
Princess…
In the British Museum, there is a locket containing hair traditionally said to be that of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France and Navarre.
Donated to the museum as part of the Hull Grundy Gift (Gere, Charlotte; Rudoe, Judy; Tait, Hugh; Wilson, The Art of the Jeweller, A…
“For dear Miss Jackson, with loving Xmas wishes from Alix, 1900”.
With these words, inscribed as a dedication in pencil and today preserved in a frame of its own, Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia (1872-1918) sent her Christmas gift of 1900 to Miss Margaret…
In the Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection at Kensington Palace is preserved one of the most important wedding dresses in British history. Worn by Princess Charlotte (1796-1817) for her wedding on 2 May 1816 in the magnificent Crimson Drawing Room at Carlton House to Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. It was a wedding dress to celebrate not only the personal happiness of the popular Princess…
Following the success of his first debut in Munich, playing for the musically-gifted Elector Maximilian III Joseph of Bavaria, the six-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart set out for the imperial court of Vienna, arriving on 6 October 1762. He was accompanied by his parents…
Mozart’s musical debut, anticipating his journey to the imperial court at Vienna by seven months, took place, somewhat predictably, before royalty. This was, had he known it, the beginning of what would prove to be many performance-based trips throughout Europe…
Louisa, fifth and youngest daughter of George II and Queen Caroline, was Queen of Denmark and Norway from 1746 until her premature death five years later, in Copenhagen in 1751. Today in Great Britain, Louisa is a virtually forgotten figure – overshadowed by her mother, the brilliant Queen Caroline, a woman of high culture, sophistication and outstanding intellect, rightly recognised now as…
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 in…
Lady Charlotte Fitzroy, was – as her name suggests – the daughter of a King, but not by his queen. Charles II’s queen, the Portuguese-born Catherine of Braganza, was apparently barren and miscarried after six years of childless marriage in 1688. This is something which…
At St George’s Chapel, Windsor is a remarkable Oriel Window
which has a fascinating history of its own and a unique connection with royal
weddings.
The high, wooden Oriel Window on the north side of the altar was added in the 1510s when Henry VIII made the Edward IV Chantry into a royal pew for the use of his first queen, Catherine of Aragon, who watched Garter ceremonies in the Quire…
