On 21 April 1770, a
procession passed by the imperial summer palace of Schönbrunn, consisting of 21
state coaches, followed by 36 fine carriages, with a total of 450 horses and an
accompanying personal suite of some 257 people. This was the beginning of a two
and a half week journey for the future Marie Antoinette, already French
Dauphine by proxy, from Vienna to Versailles.
She was…
Situated between Abergeldie and Balmoral is a house and little shop which claims a charming association with Queen Victoria’s grandchildren. The shop was originally owned by Mr and Mrs Symon, who were related to Queen Victoria’s devoted Highland servant John Brown and a…
The unique drawings of the highly accomplished amateur artist Ella Taylor (1827-1914) represent a rich portfolio of royalty in an informal pose. Carefully preserved in the Royal Collection, they are little known but of quite remarkable value. Ella Taylor sketched herself as…
Uniquely among the early modern kings, Frederick II – King ‘in’ Prussia until ‘of’ Prussia was finally adopted in 1772, who was already known as ‘the Great’ by an admiring Europe – does not rest in the ancestral vault of the royal house to which he belonged, nor is his tomb to be found within a mausoleum or church built to house his remains. Instead, Frederick’s grave is to be…
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…
With the birth of a new royal baby, I would like to explore the history of royal wet-nurses. Why were they once a perceived necessity?
In historical terms, a wet-nurse would have been engaged for a royal baby and taken on as part of an official appointment. The wet-nurse…
Consigned to Sotheby’s London auction Russian Works of Art, Faberge & Icons on 5 June 2018, was a quite remarkable object offering unique insight into the private gifts of the last Tsarina of Russia, Alexandra Feodorovna. I ‘discovered’ its existence whilst browsing past auctions for research. Lot 429, it was one of the Tsarina’s personal ledgers dated between 1897 and…
At Hughenden, the Buckinghamshire manor and former home of
Benjamin Disraeli, arguably Queen Victoria’s favourite Prime Minister, is a
room with a poignant link to the family of the Queen’s second daughter,
Princess Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse. The story behind this…
A monument to a royal child: Princess Elizabeth of Clarence
21st August 2019
In the entrance hall of Frogmore House in Windsor Great Park is a sculpture of a royal child, remarkable in the sensitivity of its execution and the fineness of its detail. It may seem on first glance no more than a sentimental monument made to memorialise a beloved child…
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…
