In the British Library five letters from
Princess Alix of Hesse, later Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna of
Russia (1872-1918) are preserved. Initially, I thought there were
seven letters of hers at the British Library, but further research
has enabled me to establish that these are instead, two postcards
in Russian, to her only son, Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich
(1904-1918). These letters are…
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…
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 first and only time that the boy
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart visited London occurred between 1764-5, at
about the half-way point of the Mozart family’s monumental European
Grand Tour, which was to prove pivotal in Wolfgang’s developmental
process as a composer, the beginning proper of those childhood
travels he would make on his path towards musical maturity. Over
the fifteen months that…
As Royal Ascot approaches, horse racing
fans begin to anticipate the winners and losers of the event. But
one of the main features of Royal Ascot is, of course, the
attendance of the Queen and members of the Royal family. As the
name suggests, this competition has a rich…
On 29 May 1894, Tsarevich Nicholas of
Russia wrote to his mother, Empress Marie Feodorovna, that he could
see the sea from the room in which he was writing, in the imperial
palace of Peterhof and that he had ‘such a longing for the yacht
and want to fly there to join my…
During the time they were at Coburg,
Princess Alix of Hesse and Tsarevich Nicholas of Russia became
engaged, a date they would treasure for the rest of their lives – 8
April 1894. Whilst they were in Coburg, visited the theatre and saw
an operetta of which they would become affectionately fond, Carl
Zeller’s popular piece in three acts, Der Vogelhändler [The
Birdseller]. Both recorded…
In May 1894, Princess Alix of Hesse
undertook a cure in the fashionable Yorkshire spa town of Harrogate
for sciatica. She had become engaged to Tsarevich Nicholas of
Russia at Coburg the previous month. Whilst she stayed at
Harrogate, she regularly corresponded with her…
Aged 10 ¾ years old, Princess Victoria
composed a story. This delightful children’s tale, written by the
future Queen, survives in its own little red ‘Composition’ notebook
in the Royal Archives. To understand how it was made and the full
significance of it, we need…
Princess Alix of Hesse, later Tsarina
Alexandra Feodorovna, visited the Yorkshire spa town of Harrogate
in 1894 to take a cure for sciatica, during which time she became
godmother to the Allen twins, born in the house where she was
staying, to her landlady, Mrs Allen. These twins were the recipient
of christening gifts and presents from Princess Alix even after she
became Tsarina, with presents…
