Belgium

Who is Queen Paola of Belgium?

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11th September 2019
Donna Paola Margherita Maria Antonia Consiglia Ruffo di Calabria was born on 11 September 1937 at Villa Claudia in Forte dei Marmi, Italy, as the seventh and youngest child of Prince Fulco Ruffo di Calabria, a First World War flying ace, and Countess Luisa Gazelli, a descendant of the Marquis de Lafayette, a hero of the American Revolution. Her grandmother on her father’s side, Laure…
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The Gloucesters

Who is the Duke of Gloucester?

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26th August 2019
Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester was born on the 26 August 1944; the youngest grandchild of King George V and Queen Mary, and the younger of two brothers born to Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester and his wife, Princess Alice. Shortly after his birth, he went to Australia for three years whilst his father was Governor-General there before returning to Barnwell Manor in Northamptonshire where he…
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FeaturesHistoryInsight

A King's last journey

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12th July 2019
Frederick II, accorded the epithet ‘the Great’ already during his own lifetime, had in fact, a whole other life after death, aside from his legacy. The great King’s legend stalks the eighteenth century like a gigantic historic shadow, much as the oversize silhouette of him prowls the terrace at his beloved refuge of Sanssouci, the palace he built for himself at Potsdam, as portrayed by the…
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The Kents

Who is Prince Michael of Kent?

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4th July 2019
Prince Michael (b. 4 July 1942) is the younger brother of the Duke of Kent and paternal first cousin of Queen Elizabeth II. As a five-year-old, he was a pageboy at the wedding of the then Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip. He was educated at Sunningdale School and Eton…
HistoryRoyal Weddings

Flowers from the weddings of Queen Victoria's daughters

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30th June 2019
On the upper floor of the Swiss Cottage at Osborne, a rustic structure carved with Biblical texts in German and built behind the individual garden plots belonging to each of the royal children, today’s visitor finds this large room set as if for tea, with napkins turned to the shape of the Prince of Wales’ feathers, as if the Royal Family are at any moment, expected. An afternoon memorialised…
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