History

The Queen, Eighty Years a Subject

When a new portrait of the Queen is unveiled it joins a catalogue of work that began in 1933 when the seven year old Princess Elizabeth sat for Philip Alexius de László, who had been commissioned by her mother, the then Duchess of York to paint the first portrait of Princess Elizabeth. Since then, the Queen has sat for a total of 139 official portraits, only two of them with the Duke of…
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Other

Palace moves in to protect online name of Royals

EXCLUSIVE: Buckingham Palace has taken the step of registering web addresses for members of the Royal Family this month, in what appears to be a bid to protect the online image of the family, The Courtier has discovered. The websites were registered by Buckingham Palace…
FeaturesPalaces & Buildings

King Charles II's house goes up for sale

Malmesbury House, in Cathedral Close Salisbury, was once owned by Charles II. It has now been put up for sale at the 'bargain' price of £5 million. This piece of architectural history was used in for about a year 1665 by the 'Merrie Monarch' to escape a bout of Plague in London.   Originally built in 1416 on the site of 13th century Copt Hall, the country pile was owned…
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History

Anne of Cleves, A Flanders Mare: Part 3

In July 1540 Anne of Cleves – the fourth wife of Henry VIII – went from being queen of England back to Anne, the Daughter of Cleves, with alarming speed. Life as an ex-queen of England was very nearly uncharted territory, but, for Anne, who was only twenty-five, her life…
Prince & Princess of Wales

Duke of Cambridge attends symposium against illegal wildlife trade

Prince William was there to discuss the international effort to combat the illegal wildlife trade with leading conservation organisations such as Conservation International, The Nature Conservancy, and WWF-UK, who work with United for Wildlife. William is the President of United for Wildlife collaboration, an umbrella organisation present in areas targeted by poaching and trafficking. Their…
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History

Richard III DNA to be ‘mapped’

It has been revealed that the DNA of the skeleton belonging to Richard III is to sequenced. This could potentially uncover details about the last Plantagenet King, such as his eye and hair colour. This is the next project in a long line of plans to discover more about the…
Insight

The Story of the Peerage: Peers and Parliament

For centuries, the nobility have played a role in creating the laws of the land. From the early days of the Barons under King John who forced him to sign Magna Carta to the modern day with the Lords being able to veto legislation coming from the Commons if not agreed upon by a majority in the Lords. The significance of the House has changed, though the significance of its history remains…
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